<p>If I purchase a ticket to destination C, and get off the plane when it stops at destination B, will this create a problem? Everyone going on to destination C has to change planes at destination B, I just won’t get on the next flight to destination C. Is this illegal or gong to cause problems? It’s with Southwest Airlines.</p>
<p>If you are planning to use return part of the ticket, then it is a problem, because as soon as you get of at destination B, the rest of your entire itinerary will get cancelled.</p>
<p>Its probably a violation of the conditions of carriage - your contract with the airline. In addition to cancelling the rest of your itinerary as post #2 says, if you do this a lot the airline will figure it out and may send you a bill, cancel the miles earned, kick you out of their frequent flyer program or some combination of the above. But I think you would have to do this a lot (more than once or twice) to get the attention of the airline. YMMV</p>
<p>One time I was on a Southwest flight that stopped at an airport for people to change planes. I remained on the seat until everyone settled in. The flight attendants walked through the aisle to count the passengers. Apparently there was 1 person short and several flight attendants started counting again and again, from front to back, and back to front. They even checked our IDs to match the list of passengers. Eventually they got the number right, either they counted it wrong, or someone sitting at the last row was lying down on the seat…Anyway, the flight would not take off until they had everyone accounted for.</p>
<p>You might want to contact Southwest and let them know about your plan of not continuing the journey to destination C.</p>
<p>I was on a plane about 30+ years ago. ONE passenger decided to disembark in Taipei, Taiwan and not continue on to Honolulu (she wanted to buy a ticket just to that destination but was already ticketed through Taipei to Honolulu from Hong Kong). The airline had ALL checked luggage of everyone removed in case she had planted a bomb or something before deplaning in Taipei, Taiwan. The luggage went on another plane and arrived and was delivered to all passengers the next day, so it was a MAJOR disruption for all passengers and the airlines.</p>
<p>As was posted above, any remaining flights on your itinerary will be cancelled. All of this was decades before 9/11, so I believe it will be viewed even more of a security issue if you didn’t continue on than decades ago.</p>
<p>I have read of folks deplaning instead of continuing on, to save money over (since faring is so odd), but really think it is a disservice to those flying on who may have checked luggage removed and delayed.</p>
<p>If the airline notes a history of a passenger doing this, I believe they could refuse to ticket them in the future if they chose to.</p>
<p>Why would you do that on Southwest and not just cancel that leg? In this post 9/11 era, not getting on a flight can create issues for everyone.</p>
<p>I understand why someone would do that, to get a cheaper fare. Obviously if there is a return flight, that would be cancelled (though on Southwest, you’re probably just booking a one way anyways, in this case). I’d make SURE of course, that all my baggage was carry on, and when I got to destination B, I’d notify the airline, whether calling or going to the counter. Just say my plans had changed, or whatever, and this was a courtesy notification so they knew you weren’t going to be onboard. Probably if you did this often with the same airline, they might get annoyed, but one time and you let the airline know? Just my opinion, no problem. You could always say you were feeling ill (I personally am bad at lying, so I’ve just called and said it was a courtesy notification, and my plans had changed. I’ve never gotten a response other than, “Thank you for letting us know”).</p>
<p>Generally, it doesn’t work that way with Southwest even on a one-way (i.e. that you would have gotten a lower fare by booking through to wherever and using the “hidden city” trick that I used to use on American). That’s why I raised the question of why not just cancel the leg or change the ticket.</p>
<p>Actually, the point of doing this would be to save money as it is almost $100 more to just purchase a ticket to Destination B. However, it does sound like it would potentially cause problems so I won’t do it. Southwest has been a good trustworthy airline so I don’t want to cause them any or any passengers any problems. Now if it was United… Not that I would want to cause problems for any United passengers - just flying on United is enough to have to deal with.</p>
<p>Lovestheheat,</p>
<p>Ignore all of the fearmongering here. It is often much cheaper to book 2 part flights to a regional airport from a major airport with a layover in another major airport than directly between the two major airports. Chicago/Charlotte vs Chicago to Greenville NC or Greenville SC is particularly awful, 220 vs 350. Nonsensical. Layover in Charlotte, an entire additional flight, costs 130-150 less.</p>
<p>The incredible idiocy of the airlines/government’s pricing model is not your problem.</p>
<p>Book two seperate trips. One ticket for the flight there, an entirely new transaction for the flight back. Flight 1 will be A to B to C, Flight 2 will be B to A for the return. Fly From A to B, disembark the plane at B, go on your merry way. They will cancel the remainder of that ticket and negate any miles you wouldve earned. On Southwest, who cares.</p>
<p>When you are ready to return, show up at Airport B with your second ticket in hand.</p>
<p>People do this all the time with absolutely zero consequence.</p>
<p>I stand corrected. I didn’t think Southwest had the crazy fare structures that would lead you to do that sort of booking. It IS true, however, that if it is the same plane that they WILL count the through passengers and hold things up if someone is missing. if you are changing planes, that won’t happen, though. I fly Southwest a lot, and have been “counted”. I have also been busted way before 9/11 using a hidden city ticket on American, so I wouldn’t be so quick to accuse some of us of “fearmongering”.</p>
<p>At the very least, if it doesn’t shut down the whole plane, your bags will be taken to the final location and your return trip is cancelled.</p>
<p>Actually I am getting a ride to the city I am departing from, so this is not a roundtrip flight. And I wouldn’t check any bags. People miss flights all the time, so I am a little confused as to how it would seem a security problem for me not to get on the second flight. But maybe they track their passengers that closely. If I am absolutely sure the security policies wouldn’t cause a problem I might do this, but I wouldn’t want to create a problem.</p>
<p>Maybe I didn’t explain this well - the booking info says one has to change planes to continue on to the final destination.</p>
<p>The polite thing to do is to give a courtesy call to the airlines that you are NOT making the connection (once you’ve landed), so that they can proceed accordingly. Busdriver says she hasn’t had problems when she’s done that. I only had the one bad experience when someone got off our flight.</p>
<p>I rarely fly SW, but if I were going A to B to C, and then C to B to A, yeah, you could easily get off the return flight at B and walk away. Nothing will happen and they won’t cancel the B to A plane for other passengers. I’ve done this multiple times flying internationally where I just grab my bags at my port of entry in the US and walk out instead of rechecking thm domestically. People miss flights all the time and they don’t hold or cancel planes. I wouldn’t get the upgrades I do if people weren’t missing flights.</p>
<p>Right. I dont know how someone was ‘busted’ for doing this, so the upthread worrying about your ‘contract’ with the airlines is indeed fear mongering.</p>
<p>Your only risk is that the flight is rerouted through another connecting hub, which is extremely unlikely with Southwest.</p>
<p>The benefits of doing this (given you make the correct accommodations like booking two separate flights) far outweigh the nonexistent consequences.</p>
<p>I just posted this a couple of days ago in another thread.</p>
<p>We are in Charlotte, and my mother wants to fly to Detroit. From Charlotte to Detroit, it would cost her about $450. Instead, she purchased a ticket from Greensboro (a 1 1/2 hour drive from here) and will fly from Greensboro to Charlotte and will change to that exact same flight from Charlotte to Detroit. Her airfare, one-way, from Greensboro to Detroit is $213! All US Airways.</p>
<p>She bought a one-way ticket. Had she gone round-trip she would have considered getting off at Charlotte, but she would have to have no checked bags to pull that off.</p>
<p>so… what if we called US Airways in Greensboro right after departure time and were all frantic and said oh, we just missed our flight to Detroit would it be ok if we raced to the Charlotte airport and picked up the flight there?? 
I bet they would say… “nice try”</p>
<p>The really weird part - and here is where logic doesn’t apply - now that the airline has sold a seat from Greensboro to Charlotte and from Charlotte to Detroit for a total of $213, shouldn’t they be willing to resell the seat from Greensboro to Charlotte to someone else who wants it? What if we called the airline and told them, look, we will keep the CLT to Detroit leg and you can resell our seat from Greensboro to CLT and keep the change! They would make more money that way… sigh…</p>
<p>Rexximus- I suspect I’ve been at the airline game longer than you have. I was busted by American in the 90s for buying back to back tickets which reflected a Saturday night stay that I really didn’t do. I also did the hidden city stuff. I forget how I engineered it all, but they caught me when I missed an initial leg but gave me a pass since I was Platinum.<br>
Now A mainly fly Southwest and I do know they keep track of all the through passengers. This is to make sure no one bails and leaves checked luggage with the plane I was told. Wo knows?</p>
<p>NJres, </p>
<p>Therein lies the problem. Their own pricing model is nonsensical.</p>
<p>I don’t know if the feds require them to subsidize regional airports or the regional airports themselves subsidize the fares.</p>
<p>But if you miss the first leg of the flight, they’ll absolutely cancel the second leg no matter your story. They’d ask you to get on a later flight from Greensboro. You literally have to board in Greensboro for the reduced fare. I’ve done it before and would do it for $230 savings if you have the time.</p>