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There is a new travel trend, and it’s ruffling more than a few feathers after a giant airliner company caught on and started banning customers from using their services.
Traveling is expensive these days, but it doesn’t have to be.
Instead, there are a host of options available to you so that you can spend less on tickets and more when you arrive at your destination.
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However, one of the lost-cost tricks has meant that cost-savvy people have been banned for years from flying with the airliner they duped.
It’s so not fair, but it’s probably expected from the company, who is in turn getting less money for their tickets.
But it’s not exactly the faulty of travelers; it’s actually down to what many people believe is extortionate ticket fares.
Logan Parsons was an unlucky individual who was banned from flying for three years after trying out the hack from Gainesville, Florida, to Charlotte in North Carolina.
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Essentially, he realized that a direct flight would have been pretty pricey, but a flight to New York via Charlotte didn't cost quite so much.
So, he booked the cheaper the journey.
But since getting to Charlotte was his goal, he just didn't get on the plane to New York.
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It’s just that simple.
Known as skiplagging, this popular money-saving trend means that passengers will spend less, and miss their connecting flight on purpose, as they don’t need to travel further than their first stop.
There's even a dedicated flight ticket finder that exclusively uses Skiplagging, for those who want to pay less.
However, this method hit a snag for Logan when airport security clocked his North Carolina ID and took him to a security room to be interrogated.
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According to Logan's dad, the teen had his ticket canceled and he was forced to buy the direct flight.
He then told Insider that his then-17-year-old son was banned from flying with American Airlines for three years because he'd tried skiplagging.
Logan's family said the flight the teen booked cost around $150, while the direct flight from Florida to North Carolina was over $400.
Henry Harteveldt, the founder of travel advisory firm Atmosphere Research, actually blames the airlines for skiplagging occurring in the first place, and not the passengers who are being punished for trying their luck.
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He said to the BBC: “Hidden-city ticketing is a problem of the airlines’ own making.”
“I fully understand, as an airline analyst and business person, why airlines extract as much as they can where they have leverage. That is what business is all about,” said Harteveldt.
He added: “But when an airline puts out stupid airline pricing and the fare into a hub [airport] is nonsensically high, it is almost like airlines invite hidden-city booking.”
Someone on Reddit shared that the reason airlines aren’t happy about it is because: “The airline industry will often sell a flight with connection for a cheaper price than the flight directly to that connection airport based on their supply/demand algo that tries to maximize seats sold on each plane. So in their mind a half cucumber is more expensive than a full cucumber so they feel cheated.”
Another shared their own experience: "I skipped the Chicago to Milwaukee leg from the West coast and was threatened with an adjusted one-way fare each way that was about $1k more."
So, if you’re going to try it, be aware of the risks.
Britt Jones