“If you have a route that is A-B-C and then D-E-F, how would the airline even know if you got off at B if you checked no baggage? How could they then cancel the rest of your flights if they didn’t know?”
Of course they know. You didn’t check in at the gate and have your boarding pass scanned for your B-C flight. (How do you think they give away standby seats to other people at the gate? They can do so because they see that you didn’t show up.) Don’t try this. Your remaining segments will automatically be cancelled.
“Also, if you were flying A-B-C and getting off (quasi legally) at B, couldn’t you check a bag directly to B if you went to the porter guy outside rather than the desk clerk inside? Just wondering…”
No. He’s required to check you through to C. This is why you can only do this with carry-on.
The exception to that is what GMt and I have been saying - if A originates out of the US, B is your first point of entry to the US and C is another US destination, you have to collect your checked bags and go through customs and immigration at B anyway. So you just walk out of the airport at B instead of rechecking your bags to C. But your bag will still be tagged A-B-C. The risk is that if something goes wrong and your luggage doesn’t make your flight, the airline will get it to C, not B (so they may stick it on A-D-C).
There are numerous and extensive HCT (hidden city ticketing) discussions on FlyerTalk.
Back before 9/11 when I lived in Dallas, I did the hidden city thing a lot. I could ticket from Corpus Christi to, say, Chicago, for much less than the cost of Dallas to Chicago on American. I had platinum status. I just got on in Dallas instead of Corpus and returned to Dallas. The reservations systems were not nearly as sophisticated. That changed. I got busted, but just got a warning. Our corporate travel agent could see the records and the note said that I wasn’t to get dinged because I was a Platinum member. Those were the days…
I also did the back-to-back tickets where you put the legs together that you wanted and it was cheaper. That got scratched, too.
Yup. I hear it all the time as we’re landing: “For those of you continuing on, please remain seated until everyone has deplaned so we can get a headcount.” And for non-SWA flights: “Please remain in your assigned seat until after the headcount, then feel free to move around.” And sometimes: “If you’re continuing on and deplane, bring your boarding pass as you’ll need it to get back on.”
For SWA, I’m not sure how they’d figure exactly who was missing if they came up one short on the headcount though. Maybe they’d have to ask for everybody’s name individually and compare to the manifest, and then oh boy I can imagine the flight attendants would be pissed at having to take the extra time to do that!
SW wouldn’t know and probably wouldn’t care. I doubt people would do this much because with their pricing it is less likely to save you money. And the airline doesn’t lose money if they get one more standby passenger on that flight that is now missing one person.
I was once on a SW flight that was fully booked and there was one person who couldn’t find a seat. Someone had come on with a lap baby and put the lap baby on a seat. The flight attendants walked back and forth for about 15 minutes reminding whoever it was to put their lap baby on their lap. They had no way to check, short of asking for everyone’s ID, or every parent’s ID, and checking it against all the boarding passes they had just collected.
They care because of terrorist issues. They don’t want someone leaving something on the plane and getting off themselves at an interim city. Assuming they got through security with it.
Their revenue protection departments have bigger fish to fry than one random final-flight-missed. People do legitimately miss final flights - they get sick, they get drunk in the airport bar, they get confused as to their new gate, etc.
It is not in the airlines’ best interest to intimidate a customer who may have had a legit reason to have missed a final flight and will likely never do it again.
It IS in their best interest to notice a pattern and issue a clear warning to someone who is doing this repeatedly. When they do, they are crystal clear as to why and what the co sequences are. You haven’t described anything other than a rote “welcome to our airline” mass mailing.
This is all very interesting and basically follows what I had researched when I had my D just ignore her return flight. But the real question is WHY? Why do airlines even care? Why do they charge so much more for a one way ticket than a roundtrip?
If I pay for A-B-C why would they care if I get off at B? They can fill that B-C seat with someone else. If I pay for A-B and B-A but don’t return, again, why do they care? I already paid for it and now they can sell that same seat again to someone else.
And most crazy of all why is it more expensive to go from A to B than it is to go A to B and return to A again?!
In answer to the prior question of why an A-B-C flight is cheaper than an A-B flight: Because the cheap A-C flights are usually in a highly competitive market (LA to NY, say), where market pressures have reduced the price of the ticket, and the cost of the A-B flights essentially subsidize the A-C passengers. The same logic applies to cheaper, longer non-stop flights. It usually cheaper to fly from LA to NY than from LA to, say, Omaha, even though LA to Omaha is a much shorter flight. It is a less competitive route, so the ticket is more expensive. It is basic economics.
I LOATHE the folks who book a direct flight from, say, LA to DC, with a stop, say, in Denver, and then deplane in Denver as a cheap-flight “hack.” The folks continuing on the route stay on the plane, and then sometimes the new passengers are able to board quickly and we’re ready to go before the scheduled departure time. But Mr. Jones is not on the plane, because he’s breached his contract with the airline but the airline doesn’t know this yet. They page Mr. Jones on the plane a few times but he doesn’t answer. Then you have to sit there while they page him in the airport. Finally the plane leaves at the regularly scheduled time without Mr. Jones. Mr. Jones has saved $59, but the time spent while the airline determines that Mr. Jones is not flying the rest of the way but imposes $1000s of dollars in lost productivity on the remaining passengers, who would have gotten the benefit of the earlier departure but for Mr. Jones’ breach. Gee, thanks, Mr. Jones. (This is my perception of what is happening, but the airline pilots on this site can correct me if I’ve gotten it wrong).
Most of the “hidden city” tactics involve connecting flights, since these are much more common than “direct” flights with stops where one can remain on the same plane*. Given how many passengers miss their connections, it is not like a missed connection due to “hidden city” tactics will be noticed as such at the gate, distinct from all of the other passengers who miss their connections or otherwise fail to arrive in time for that same flight.
*Note that “direct” in airline jargon may not even mean staying on the same plane (meaning that one can miss the connection on a “direct” flight), even though the same flight number is used for all segments. Although most people use “direct” to mean “non-stop”, when speaking to airline or travel agents, it is best to say “non-stop” (not “direct”) when one wants a non-stop flight.
@nottelling - yeah, I actually get that, but it still bugs me. But it actually makes sense (supply and demand). But the thing I don’t understand at all and really bugs me is the whole one way trips cost more than round trips thing.
How often are such flights direct? In my experience, these kinds of flights are connecting … United flight 123 connects to United flight 456. Different plane. So you present your boarding pass the same way you did in the first segment. The airline isn’t “waiting” for Bob Smith in 21F. If he doesn’t show by X time, he’s out, whether he was originating there or was on a previous flight.
From Flyertalk, here’s a sample letter from AA on Hidden City Ticketing. Note that it’s pretty darn direct about what is prohibited. (Italics are mine.) The full link is below.
Dear XX,
Let me take the opportunity to clarify American Airlines position on hidden city or point beyond ticketing. Purchasing a ticket to a point beyond the actual destination and getting off the aircraft at the connecting point is unethical. It is tantamount to switching price tags to obtain a lower price on goods sold at department stores. Passengers who attempt to use hidden city tickets may be denied boarding, have the remainder of their ticket confiscated and may be assessed the difference between the fare paid and the lowest applicable fare.
Because we compete with other airlines with different route structures, we sometimes find it necessary to give a traveler who is traveling beyond a connecting point a better price than travelers who are just traveling to the connecting point. For example, a passenger who is traveling to Austin, Texas from Los Angeles can go on one airline via Phoenix for a price that is lower than the cost of traveling on American between Los Angeles and Dallas. If we want to offer the same price to Austin as the other airline, but the only way we can get travelers there is via Dallas, we find ourselves charging the Austin passengers less than the Dallas passengers.
Although the issuance and usage of hidden city tickets is not illegal in the sense that one could be fined or sent to jail by the government, it is unethical and a breach of a passengers (sic) contract with AA. Both tariff rule 100AA and American’s Condition of Carriage, which are incorporated into every ticket sold by American as part of our agreement to carry the passenger named on the ticket, bar hidden city ticketing. In addition, it violates the agencies’ contract to act as an agent for American Airlines.
If American Airlines continues to lose revenue as a result of hidden city transactions, the fares we charge must inevitably rise.