Skiplagging

[sam_gordon]

It seems highly illogical for a longer flight to be cheaper than a shorter one. Maybe it's their convoluted pricing schedule that needs to be fixed.

Supply and demand. More people want to go from Gainesville to Charlotte and not as much competition as Gainesville to NY.

Regardless of how convoluted the pricing schedule is, the passenger agreed to the terms.

 

[sam_gordon]

don't tell your kids to do shady things and pay the money for the unaccompanied minor program.

Would the kid even qualify as an "unaccompanied minor"? He has a DL, so he has to be 16, right?

 

[tvguy]

Would the kid even qualify as an "unaccompanied minor"? He has a DL, so he has to be 16, right?

Airlines consider anyone 15 to 17 to be a standard passenger, not an unaccompanied minor.
However, legally a minor in most states is under age 18
Minor in Alabama and Nebraska is under age 19
Minor in Maryland is under age 21.

Most states prohibit adults age 18 to 21 from buying alcohol. In California, that prohibition extends to tobacco as well.

 

[sam_gordon]

Airlines consider anyone 15 to 17 to be a standard passenger, not an unaccompanied minor.

Exactly my point.
Actually, for American, 15-17 year olds CAN be unaccompanied minors (with payment of the fee):

However, legally a minor in most states is under age 18
Minor in Alabama and Nebraska is under age 19
Minor in Maryland is under age 21.

Most states prohibit adults age 18 to 21 from buying alcohol. In California, that prohibition extends to tobacco as well.

What any of those have to do with how an airline determines a minor, much less the subject at hand, I don't understand.

 

[tvguy]

What any of those have to do with how an airline determines a minor, much less the subject at hand, I don't understand.

The issue was raised whether it was illegal. It isn't but not likely a minor is going to be face legal consequences from the airline in Civil Court. THAT is what it has to do with the topic.

 

[sam_gordon]

The issue was raised whether it was illegal. It isn't but not likely a minor is going to be face legal consequences from the airline in Civil Court. THAT is what it has to do with the topic.

I'm still confused. There's no "legal consequences... in Civil Court". This is not a court issue (criminal or civil). Even if it was, what does Alabama, Nebraska, and Maryland have to do with anything? The flight was going from Gainesville to Charlotte, to NYC. The family lives in NC, the airline is based in Texas.

I guess the family could sue claiming the airline detained the teen. But, the family decided to let the teen travel by himself (supposedly the first time flying), and then complained because "he is a minor and was kind of left to fend for himself several states away" (quote from the father).

 

[tvguy]

I'm still confused. There's no "legal consequences... in Civil Court". This is not a court issue (criminal or civil). Even if it was, what does Alabama, Nebraska, and Maryland have to do with anything? The flight was going from Gainesville to Charlotte, to NYC. The family lives in NC, the airline is based in Texas.

I guess the family could sue claiming the airline detained the teen. But, the family decided to let the teen travel by himself (supposedly the first time flying), and then complained because "he is a minor and was kind of left to fend for himself several states away" (quote from the father).

Remember, it is a violation of the passengers contract with the airline. Minors can't be held to contracts. Civil Court could be an option the airline takes when they catch violations, and that legal action would likely have to be pursued in the state that the ticket was sold in. Or against the adult who purchased the ticket.

 

[NotUrsula]

They don't sue, they just punish you financially. If you try it on an outbound flight they will cancel your return ticket without refund, and if they catch you they will force a forfeit of any FF miles you've earned. I'll never forget the absolutely indignant response of my husband when I first explained how airlines enforce the prohibition. He was furious; like many people, he felt that if he had paid for the seat, thus it was his to take or ditch as he saw fit, and the airline was out not a dime. In fact, they probably will profit, because 9/10 flights have someone waiting to buy any vacant seat when last call goes out.

That said, do I do it? Yep, but only rarely, and only on airlines I do not regularly patronize, so no FF account to easily track. I don't no-show for the second flight; I call in sick, and say that I'm going to go the rest of the way via ground transit so that I can seek medical attention if needed, which is technically true; I could always do that as long as I'm not mid-flight. (Obviously, this tactic doesn't work if it's a flight that eventually leads to someplace one has to cross an ocean to reach.)

Now that airlines seldom charge a penalty for booking one-way itineraries, I find there is really no need to use back-to-back ticketing; that option is pretty much a relic.

One place where airline auto-cancellation policies like this can be a serious problem is trying to book flights for hurricane evacuation. The forecast models often show multiple dates/locations when a storm is predicted to come in, and what level of damage might be expected. A few years ago I booked a SWA flight for my college student DS to evacuate home. I booked 3 one-way flights, one to get him home, one to send him back quickly if the university had not suffered a direct hit, and one to send him back a week later if it had, not knowing when the airport would actually re-open. The airline software assumed I was back-to-back ticketing, and cancelled the first flight back to Florida the day that the storm hit, while NOT refunding the miles that I purchased it with. As it happened, the storm missed his school by a wide margin; the airport reopened quickly, and he needed to be on that first flight the day after the storm so that he wouldn't miss class. I had to spend quite a bit of time on the phone with SWA to get his seat re-instated and get my miles back for the cancellation of the second return flight, because the software was set to withhold the refund as a penalty.

 

[sam_gordon]

Remember, it is a violation of the passengers contract with the airline. Minors can't be held to contracts. Civil Court could be an option the airline takes when they catch violations, and that legal action would likely have to be pursued in the state that the ticket was sold in. Or against the adult who purchased the ticket.

As @NotUrsula said, they don't go to court. They cancel tickets/FF miles.

I'm still curious what led to the airline questioning the ticket.

 

[EACarlson]

Would the kid even qualify as an "unaccompanied minor"? He has a DL, so he has to be 16, right?

DL like AA, allows parents to pay $150 for them to be a UAM up to age 17. Actually had this on a flight of mine Fourth of July weekend. Mom brings 17 year old to the airport, pays the fee for the child to board first, and have an airline employee guide them through the connection at ORD.

 

[GAN]

I have most often heard of it as 'hidden city ticketing' and the scheme has been around for years. You basically buy a ticket that connects through the city you actually intend to visit so you exit the plane without taking all segments of the flights. Due to the use of hub airports, it is often cheaper to buy a ticket to a flight continuing on to some other destination instead of just purchasing a ticket to the hub dity. Airlines have always considered this against their terms & conditions. Clearly, you can't have any checked baggage or this scheme won't work. Airlines can cancel your ticket and/or bar you from future flights if you are caught using this scheme.

If the people in the article admit to doing this numerous times in the past, they knew exactly what they were doing and just happened to get caught this time.

View attachment 777186

Who cares about their "Terms and Conditions"? Clearly, I don't . They're meaningless except to themselves and carry no lawful weight at all. So, what can they do -prevent me from spending my money with them again ...okay, pretty sure another airline will take my cash. The whole thing is laughable. If I book a flight with multiple stops and want to miss the next leg that's my choice. The fact that their pricing algorithm is used against them is their own fault. I'll cry the same tears for American Airlines as I did for poor Larry Nassar.....

 

[GAN]

Remember, it is a violation of the passengers contract with the airline. Minors can't be held to contracts. Civil Court could be an option the airline takes when they catch violations, and that legal action would likely have to be pursued in the state that the ticket was sold in. Or against the adult who purchased the ticket.

...and what are their damages? The airline has to prove they were hurt financially. The passenger paid for a flight. For example, if I'm an Uber driver and get paid $50 to travel from Attleboro to Boston and the customer decides he wants out in Quincy ...what are my damages??? That an Uber from Attleboro to Quincy would have been $60? Even so, I haven't incurred an actual loss -my expenses were the same or less. No judge in the world is going to side with a big corporation versus an individual in something as petty as this.

 

[mom2rtk]

I don't fly often, and I've never done this. Don't see myself ever doing this. Wouldn't have done it with a minor child, even a 16 year old who could drive.

But I just don't get the defense of airlines who already rely on very shady pricing practices, not the least of which is overselling flights routinely. Yet some average person finds a loophole to benefit from and all of a sudden it's a big deal. I don't get it.

 

[soccerdad72]

As @NotUrsula said, they don't go to court. They cancel tickets/FF miles.

I'm still curious what led to the airline questioning the ticket.

The article kind of made it sound like an airline worker overheard him talking to someone about getting off in Charlotte and not continuing on to NYC. Maybe they asked him who he's visiting in NY and he admitted that he was only going as far as Charlotte (not realizing that there was anything wrong with it)?

 

[Pooh2]

Never heard the term "skiplagging" until this thread appeared.

We skipplagged a couple years back and did not have an issues.

We were booked to Kalispell from Boston months in advance.
About 3 days before our trip, our Glacier NP lodging was cancelled and half the Going to the Sun road was closed due to wildfires.

We decided to salvage the trip (non-refundable flight) by not boarding our next flight and renting a car to see Yellowstone instead.

We just exited the plane in Salt Lake City and let the delta lady know that we would not be getting on the connecting flight.
Did not seem to be any issue at all, she thanked us for letting them know.

 

[kymom99]

Would the kid even qualify as an "unaccompanied minor"? He has a DL, so he has to be 16, right?

You can designate them as an unaccompanied minor, but it’s not required after a certain age. I don’t remember the age. My son flew alone at 15/16. He had no problems.

 

[HopperFan]

As @NotUrsula said, they don't go to court. They cancel tickets/FF miles.

I'm still curious what led to the airline questioning the ticket.

My first thought was perhaps they thought the teenager was doing something the parent did not agree to. Perhaps the parent he was going to see lives in New York and the airline didn't want to be complicit in him "running away" to NC to maybe see old friends. While I don't think airlines are particularly mindful of minors flying alone, if the gatekeeper overheard his plot, perhaps his first thought was not "skiplagging."

I suppose my DD did it once. She was studying abroad in Philippines right before Christmas. The groups return flight was to Atlanta then back to Louisville. She told the professors to book her only to Atlanta. Group purchase meant they couldn't cancel her last leg. So she told the professors she would do carryon only and get off in Atlanta. No issues.

Just had a friend who was going to be stranded overnight on their layover because their airline took off too late. They opted to jump airlines to get home leaving their last leg empty, luggage on plane. They returned to airport next day to pick up their bag. No issue.

We often purchase more of something we need because it is cheaper. Airlines created this problem.

 

[soccerdad72]

You can designate them as an unaccompanied minor, but it’s not required after a certain age. I don’t remember the age. My son flew alone at 15/16. He had no problems.

I think it depends on the airline. United requires the child to be 15 or over. We know this, as we were stuck having to pay the unaccompanied minor fee for our younger son who was a month from turning 15. For our extra $150, he got stuck in a middle seat and was given a "free" snack.

 

[bcla]

You can designate them as an unaccompanied minor, but it’s not required after a certain age. I don’t remember the age. My son flew alone at 15/16. He had no problems.

American makes 15-17 optional. This reads like they still require the $150 service fee even if the specific service is declined.

https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/special-assistance/unaccompanied-minors.jsp

15-17	• Unaccompanied minor service optional, service fee still applies • Gate escort and guardian contact required • Nonstop flights, or any connecting flight through Charlotte, NC (CLT), Washington Reagan, D.C. (DCA), Dallas-Fort Worth, TX (DFW), New York, NY (JFK and LGA), Los Angeles, CA (LAX), Miami, FL (MIA), Chicago, IL (ORD), Philadelphia, PA (PHL) and Phoenix, AZ (PHX)

As for the driver license, I suppose there may be different rules for a minor traveling alone or it could have been voluntarily presented at TSA or the gate. I believe when a boarding pass is checked at the gate, it will indicate that it was scanned by TSA, and possibly provide an image of the scanned ID.

 

[sk!mom]

It's not new. It's not illegal, as far as law enforcement is concerned. It violates the "terms of use" with the airline however. In which case, they can take steps they feel are appropriate. That could include banning you from the airline and cancelling future tickets.

It would be similar to Disney not allowing adults to dress up in costume in the park. That's not illegal, and Disney can decide what to do with a disobedient guest. They can make them change clothes, kick them out of the park, or ban them.

ETA: This article (don't know if it's the same one I read before) said the gate agent became suspicious because of the teen's NC DL. Why is the gate agent asking to see ID? It shouldn't have been at the counter to check in luggage, because skiplagging doesn't work with checked luggage.

From reading the article, I was thinking that maybe the booking was flagged because the dad admits that they have done this often. They may have called the kid up because of that.

Ran into that a lot when flying to my FILs house in Texas. Flying into Houston and having him pick us up there cost more than continuing on to Port Arthur on a puddle hopper second flight. City of Port Arthur gave the airlines a subsidy for providing air service to their city. Except for us, we were going on the second flight, but if we just wanted to go to Houston, that is how I would have done it.
That is one of the reasons I generally book flights that have connections through a travel agent. I had planned a trip and presented my routing to the travel agent, and she said the route made sense on paper, but it was an illegal connection and I would have been stranded in Salt Lake City. The airline booking website did not flag that, but the Travel Agent system did.

What is an “illegal” connection? I haven’t used a travel agent in many many years for a simple airline booking. The internet makes it unnecessary. I can find the best deal and times I want easily on my own.

As to the original question, I haven’t done it as my home airport would never be a connection. It lie, I’m not a risk taker and this is a risk.

That said, I love a good loophole and saving a buck. Given the way the airline industry seems to go from melt down to melt down post pandemic and is often a huge hassle even when things are running “normally”, I have a hard time summing up any sympathy for them. But I also don’t have sympathy for the family. Gaming the system caught up with him. Plus, don’t let your 16 year old fly alone and then cry, “he’s just a baby” when caught out. That’s like the parent who wants you to give up your reserved seat so they can sit with their kids. It’s so necessary in that moment but they didn’t pay to make it happen.