If you’ve ever seen me speak at a conference or if you receive my free newsletter, then you probably know what skiplagging is all about. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post titled: It’s not too early to start booking your holiday travel: 10 tips for finding cheap flights in 2024 and in it, I give 10 tips on finding cheap flights and one of them is about skiplagging, otherwise known as ‘the hidden city trick.’ Warning: The airlines are really starting to crack down on skiplagging so don’t do it on a major carrier, especially if you have a lot of miles in their bank since they could take them away from you.
I personally don’t think there’s anything wrong with the trick and the website Skiplagged.com has made their money from showing the hidden cities. So, what exactly is skiplagginng? The short version is this: If you want to fly between point A and B but a different flight flies from Point A to Point C with a stop in Point B, you would book that flight and forfeit the last leg. If that’s too confusing, here’s the long version on how it works. Just keep in mind, this is only for travelers flying one way and not checking luggage. And while skiplagging isn’t illegal, it may violate the terms and conditions of the airline’s contract of carriage.
As I mentioned, the airlines do not like this at all and if you do it often or make it blatantly obvious, they will catch you and may make you pay the higher fare, take away your miles or, according to a flight attendant, ban you.
A flight attendant (who I think flies for Delta Air Lines because of the destinations and routes she flies) named Tor and who goes by @traveling.mermaidd on TikTok, recently posted a video on the subject. Unfortunately, Tor does a poor job describing skiplagging but you can be the judge.
Her 33-second video is embedded below and here’s the transcript: “This is how one of my best friends got banned from American Airlines and I’m laughing because I know that she’s gonna watch this video. So there are some sites that let you buy flights. Let’s say to New York and there is a connection in Washington DC and it’s cheaper to do the connection to Washington DC then go to New York right? But let’s say your actual destination is Washington DC. If they catch you, not going on that next flight to New York, you’re going to get banned from the airline. This is like a very serious thing because they flag you.”
@traveling.mermaidd how you can get banned from the airlines… #airlines #aviation #flighthacks #americanairlines #cheapflights #banned ♬ original sound – T ♡ | Flight Attendant
I’m not sure if her friend is a flight attendant or not but I’ve never heard of anyone being banned for skiplagging. I do know the airlines frown upon it and are cracking down on the practice but I doubt they would ban anyone for life. Regardless, it’s definitely not worth it unless you do it on an airline you don’t normally fly, don’t put in your frequent flier number, be sure to buy a one-way ticket, don’t check a bag, make sure you won’t have to gate check a bag and have a back-up plan in case the hub airport you’re flying to has a major storm since the airline will rebook you.
Here are some of the comments on Tor’s video:
Patrick: Skiplagging is definitely a no no. If you do it once a year with some normal flights in between you will be okay. But yea lifetime ban and it usually carries over to any airline that codeshares.
Bryceida: omg i didn’t know that they actually ban you for this
mizz_marshie: Some people make it so obvious and come check in a bag and ask to short check their bag to pick up at the connecting flight destination 🤣 We know and the Red Flags go up…
Katie: They only banned you if you keep doing it over and over a lot of times
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