A ‘hidden' travel hack saves money on flights — if travelers can pull it off

Airlines may not be fans of "skiplagging," but travelers who use it to save money on flights surely are.

The practice involves buying a connecting flight, with no intention of taking the second leg of the journey. Flyers do this when they find a connecting flight — that stops at their intended destination — that's cheaper than flying direct.

Skiplagged.com, a website that helps travelers find these flights, said its customers saved around $180 on average, which collectively amounted to $54 million in the past year alone.

But there are risks. Skiplagging, or "hidden city ticketing," is prohibited by most airlines.

"Purchasing a ticket without intending to fly all flights to gain lower fares" is a prohibited booking practice under American Airlines' conditions of carriage. Violators can have their tickets canceled, be prevented from flying, or the airline may "not refund an otherwise refundable ticket," it states.

But, the company's founder Aktarer Zaman said he doesn't believe skiplagging will get a flyer banned from an airline for life.

"In our 11 years of existence, I've never heard of anyone being banned for skiplagging. Anything that you read online about someone being banned is just a rumor," said Zaman.

Why longer flights can be cheaper

Zaman explained why some connecting — and thus longer — flights are cheaper than flying direct. He said, for example, that flying from London to Boston, with a stop in New York, can be cheaper than flying direct to New York. 

London to New York is a more popular route so it's priced higher, creating the deals that Skiplagged finds, he said.

But his website isn't the only way to find "hidden city" deals, said Zaman. Some travelers find these flights through travel agents, or by spending hours searching for flights on their own.

Zaman said some 300,000 customers have booked "skiplagged" flights through his website in the past year. It's this success that places it in the crosshairs of major airlines, he said.

A trio of lawsuits

American Airlines sued the company in August 2023, but voluntarily dropped its claim for unfair competition before the suit went to trial, Zaman said. In October 2024, Skiplagged was ordered to pay American Airlines $9.4 million for copyright infringement for the unauthorized use of the American Airlines logo on its website.

Zaman called this a win for his company.

"This was a huge victory for us (as it proved) we're free to show skiplagging opportunities," said Zaman. "It's probably going to deter every other airline from challenging us. We've now set up the foundation to keep going."

Skiplagged has also previously been sued by United Airlines and Southwest Airlines. Those suits were either dismissed or settled out of court, Zaman said. That's three lawsuits from some 800 airlines listed on the Skiplagged platform, he said.

During the trial, evidence showed that American Airlines does not have a no-fly list for skiplagging customers, Zaman added.

Clearer guidance on skiplagging

After the American Airlines' trial ended, Skiplagged released clearer guidance on how to safely skiplag — with Zaman's key message to flyers being: do it sparingly, and vary the carriers you fly.

"I recommend people don't abuse this. Be grateful that you saved some money, but don't try to constantly do it," he said.

More than 340 Skiplagged.com customers in the past year were required to pay a higher fare for a direct journey, according to the company's data.

Airlines may also revoke passengers' frequent flyer points, so Skiplagged also advises people not to associate their frequent flyer account with their booking.

On top of that, Skiplagged.com only books one-way tickets, said Zaman, to avoid customers having their return journeys canceled after they fail to complete their outbound flight.

Skiplagged also recommends traveling with your passport for international flights, even if your intended exit is within your home country. This was an issue for 198 Skiplagged customers in the past 12 months, Zaman said. 

The same applies for visas. In the past 12 months, 22 Skiplagged.com customers were tripped up by failing to produce a visa for their flight.

Finally, the website advises travelers to fly with a small bag that fits under their seat. Checked bags are sent to the final destination on the ticket, an oversight that affected 67 Skiplagged customers in the past year, according to the company's data.

However, these types of issues affected just 0.3% of Skiplagged's customers, Zaman said. 

Skiplagged's data comes from users that report problems back to the company.

"They would be more likely than not to report any issues they encounter to us — people with travel issues tend to complain at a high rate," a company representative told CNBC Travel. "Even if you assumed 50% of those encountering an issue don't report, that would only reduce the success rate from 99.7% to 99.4%."

'Whether it makes sense'

As for Zaman, he said he doesn't "skiplag" very often. But the reason isn't that his name is on airlines' blacklists, he said.

"I have done it on several occasions, and it's just a matter of whether it makes sense," he said. "Every person has to evaluate it on their own. These days, I'm not able to travel as lightly as I used to, so it probably doesn't make sense for me to do it that much going forward."

Despite the $9.4 million damage award to American Airlines representing a big chunk of the website's $20 million annual revenue, Zaman remains committed to helping travelers save money, he said.

"Even if we face challenges with these losses, I'm motivated to win because I know we're doing good here. One of the things that keeps me going is hearing about the impact of Skiplagged on people's lives - like … helping people in long-distance relationships," said Zaman.

"It's not just American Airlines versus Skiplagged," he said. "It's American Airlines versus Skiplagged and real people."

Clarification: This article has been updated to reflect that 300,000 customers booked "hidden city" flights on Skiplagged.com in the past year.