Bailing Out Short [Hidden City Ticketing]

[Cocitus23]

My niece, an American living in America, has posed this question to me. She wants to fly from A to B. The aircraft in question flies A to B to C. For wharever reason, the airline is offering a cheaper fare to fly to C than to B. She is asking me if she can buy the cheaper ticker to C, then simply get off the plane when it lands in B. No, she will not have any check-in baggage.

Have any of you ever done this? Is she likely to come unstuck in any way? Is there an ethical question involved, or would she simply be acting as a smart economic rationalist?

(In case any of you are wondering, in this case A = Raleigh NC, B = Detroit MI, and C = Fort Wayne IN.)

Thanks,

Cocitus23.

 

[markis10]

Throw away last segments are common, if used as a one way, if return there is a very good chance not taking the second leg cancels the remaining legs.

 

[Alanslegal]

Have any of you ever done this? Is she likely to come unstuck in any way? Is there an ethical question involved, or would she simply be acting as a smart economic rationalist?

Yes I have done this previously. I have also booked return tickets that were cheaper than one way's, and thrown away (not checked in/turned up) for the return legs.

 

[harvyk]

They could in theory come after you for the price difference, but in reality provided you are willing to throw away the rest of the itin (not a problem if it's simply a one way A-B-C) then there is no real issues.
It might be nice to let the airline staff know when you are in B that "something has come up and you won't be flying onto C" so that the plane does not sit around at B waiting for your niece and making people who actually want to get to C late.

 

[serfty]

This specific practice in the OP is known as "Hidden City Ticketing".

There's a short Wikipedia entry on this: Airline booking ploys - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Cocitus23]

Thanks to all responders. Serfty, that Wikipedia link was great.

Cocitus23.

 

[Simo]

I would let airline staff know that something has happened.

Only thing is what would be the issue caused if the flight went direct instead of connecting.

 

[Awesom Andy]

If done only once or twice every now and then, the airlines would most likely turn a blind eye to it. If done regularly, and if you're in their FFP, there's a good chance they might send you some nasty letters telling you not to be so naughty again.

 

[NoName]

I asked this in another thread but will re-ask here as it is a similar question.

Is it possible to buy a return ticket and cancel the return leg if it's fully refundable?

The actual situation is as follows:
I have an award booking in F SYD-LAX one way. If I buy a cash return flight LAX-SYD in Y (the SYD-LAX leg being fully flexible) can I cancel the second unwanted part of this return booking for a full refund at a later date? If so at what point should I look to cancel it?

 

[serfty]

Is it possible to buy a return ticket and cancel the return leg if it's fully refundable?

Fully refundable tickets are generally pretty expensive and while such may be possible and savings are likely to be minimal.

Often "throw away ticketing" can be employed when a return fare (generally a restricted "Sale" fare) can be cheaper than a one-way.

 

[Mal]

The recalculation of fare that occurs when you refund a return ticket (having flown at least one sector) means you are unlikely to get much back from the fare as a refund.

 

[Champo]

Yes I have done this previously. I have also booked return tickets that were cheaper than one way's, and thrown away (not checked in/turned up) for the return legs.

Fairly common practice to book a return and only use the one way fare, Have done so through a reputable agent and on my own behalf, e.g. Santiago, Chile to Lima, Peru and from Istanbul to Budapest. (return fare has been much cheaper on each occasion)

 

[justin23]

I've cancelled a return leg before (out of my control, problems with my chinese visa) and I got about 20% of the fare refunded.

As for hidden city ticketing, I understand its probably much more useful in the USA than here, but i have seen some interesting international fares where a stopover in say Singapore or HK was not permitted as the fare to the destination city was cheaper than flying to Singapore or HK. I'm guessing there is a fairly good career in airline ticket pricing for some actuaries or similar.

 

[JessicaTam]

If you are going to leave a journey before the final leg, make sure you can leave the airport. Some airlines may send terminating pax info to the immigration dept of the intermediate leg, and if you are not on the list, it may be difficult to leave!

Edit: I don't know which airports this may apply to.

 

[trentusjuventus]

The recalculation of fare that occurs when you refund a return ticket (having flown at least one sector) means you are unlikely to get much back from the fare as a refund.

I have done this before on SIN, cancelling the return flight a few months after taking the first leg. However their "cancellation fee" meant that my refund was only around 25% of original fare paid.

 

[provedor]

Be very careful on the European flights with their "must fly the complete route".
Recent experience was that I booked a return flight Paris to Athens - starting in Paris then returning form Athens 1 week later.
The reason for this booking was the "ATH" would not show up as initial point of departure so online booked return using Aus site - US site showed ATH as departure point and would have been OK. Unfortunately the 'fine print was in french. The fares were non refundable both ways.
On reading in english the "conditions" I found that if you did not use the first leg then a penalty may apply when you book in for the "return" leg.
So was OK with this until I rang the airline where it was explained that if I did not use the first leg of flight the whole booking would be cancelled and would not be allowed on board unless I purchased a new ticket. I had to then cancel this nonrefundable booking..
The end result: I then purchased a return ticket from ATH to Paris with assistance of the operator - because the return was cheaper!!! but I would not be taking the second leg!.

The only compensation I got was that they would refund the taxes - which were put back on my credit card and made up more than 50% of fare.

Air France!!! used to love them for their combo fares and free Qantas Flights using their points internally in AUS but no more..

 

[drewbles]

Be very careful on the European flights with their "must fly the complete route".
Recent experience was that I booked a return flight Paris to Athens - starting in Paris then returning form Athens 1 week later.
The reason for this booking was the "ATH" would not show up as initial point of departure so online booked return using Aus site - US site showed ATH as departure point and would have been OK. Unfortunately the 'fine print was in french. The fares were non refundable both ways.
On reading in english the "conditions" I found that if you did not use the first leg then a penalty may apply when you book in for the "return" leg.
So was OK with this until I rang the airline where it was explained that if I did not use the first leg of flight the whole booking would be cancelled and would not be allowed on board unless I purchased a new ticket. I had to then cancel this nonrefundable booking..
The end result: I then purchased a return ticket from ATH to Paris with assistance of the operator - because the return was cheaper!!! but I would not be taking the second leg!.

The only compensation I got was that they would refund the taxes - which were put back on my credit card and made up more than 50% of fare.

Air France!!! used to love them for their combo fares and free Qantas Flights using their points internally in AUS but no more..

That's pretty much universally standard. This thread is more talking about using the A leg and throwing away the B leg. If you have say an A, B, C and D leg, and want to fly the B or C legs, you must take the A or B, ie, a no-show for a leg will cancel the entire remainder of the ticket.

Europe is still down with advance purchase fares with return conditions too, known as excursion fares. This was like in the old days here with QF and AN where you bought a 7, 14 or 21 day advance purchase, which had a minimum and maximum stay requirement, often with a necessity of a Saturday night as well. Fortunately, QF, VA and NZ allow point-to-point now.

AF are one of the few carriers that offer point to point fares though too (BA do too though, but IB do not!). Remember, airlines will often only let you book flights originating from a country that is not their 'home' from a 'foreign' webpage, eg QF allow ex-NZ flights only from qantas.co.nz and not from their AU site (for revenue fares that is, frequent flyer awards are a different beast). This can be due to the company just wanting to be difficult right through to legal and government requirements in some countries.

 

[coco50]

I have found travelling in the US that it is cheaper to book a return ticket (say SFO - SBA - SFO) that to book just the one sector (SFO - SBA) and cancel the return flight (no need to get a refund) later. Why do they do this?

 

[drewbles]

I have found travelling in the US that it is cheaper to book a return ticket (say SFO - SBA - SFO) that to book just the one sector (SFO - SBA) and cancel the return flight (no need to get a refund) later. Why do they do this?

With which airline? It's not always the case. There was a situation on one airline where you could go AAA-BBB-CCC (as an example) cheaper in First class than just booking AAA-BBB. That also, is not uncommon. That's through-ticketing, and airlines do that frequently to ensure capacity management.

It is relatively rare in the USA for a return to be cheaper than a one way though, at least in my experience.

 

[lobos305]

Today in the US, if you do not complete your travel to your final destination, you are flagged by the TSA. How do they know? At your connecting city (the hidden city to which you really want to go) you did not board the next flight on your itinerary. The airline knows you didn't check in and reports this to the TSA. Then the fun begins. You will either show up on the "No Fly" list or be denied boarding and charged full fare by the airline when you try to return from the hidden city to your point of origin.

Best of luck.