more Travelers are flying more than ever — Get creative with money-saving airline tips
AAA level project 4.69 million people will fly during Thanksgiving week, a 2.5% increase from the pre-COVID-19 figure in 2019.
Some of these people are looking for loopholes to get cheap flights, and airlines are cracking down.
Bump ticketing, also known as hidden city ticketing or one-time ticketing, is a booking workaround that saves money by issuing customers tickets to a final destination they have no intention of visiting. Why? Because it’s cheaper.
Flights to certain destination cities are more expensive than others for a number of reasons. Instead, fare evaders take advantage of cheaper flights to another distant city, but their destination is one of the connecting cities rather than the plane’s final destination.
The airlines aren’t too happy about this.
“For example, let’s say you want to fly from Orlando to New York. You know, look at the city, but the price tag is a little out of your budget. Maybe $150,” Katy Nastro Going.com explain to national helpdesk“But when you find a flight from Orlando to Richmond via New York for just $88, that’s a pretty significant savings.”
In this case, passengers were supposed to stay on that flight path and continue to Richmond – but they never completed the journey.
“However, you get off the plane in New York, you pay a fraction of the price of a direct flight, but you purchase a connecting flight,” Nastro said. “So, in essence, it’s basically like you purchased a direct flight.” Fly, but there are no direct flight costs.”
More and more people are becoming aware of this strategy thanks to this website sklagged.com – with the tagline: “Our flights were too cheap, United sued us…but we won.”
On the surface, this may seem like a good idea, but passengers face penalties for beating airlines and saving money this way.
Some airlines reportedly punish fare evaders by canceling flights and burning loyalty points and miles.
“Airlines don’t like overbound flights because they cost money. Connecting flights are usually cheaper than direct flights because the airlines have a lower price cap,” said Phil Dengler, co-founder of the travel advice websitevacationer, tell CNN.
He added, “Plus, your airline knows you’re on the first flight and you’re at the airport. The gate agent may call you by name or delay closing the gate a little. In addition to losing money, this It also puts additional pressure on airline staff.”
Nastro said that while it’s not technically illegal, the fine print on the ticket prohibits it.
Snowboards aren’t for everyone either. Nastro said passengers must only bring carry-on bags as checked bags will go to the flight’s final destination.
She also said the feature would only work on one-way flights, as not boarding the second flight would result in passengers being marked as absent from the airline.