If you’ve ever hunted for cheap flights, you’ve probably found yourself looking at flights with stopovers in your destination city that are cheaper than flights that conclude in your destination city. Booking such fares, where you buy a ticket for a flight that has a connection in your desired city and simply disembark without making your connecting flight, is known as “skiplagging,” and it’s forbidden in most airlines’ terms of service, meaning that engaging in it could bring along some serious consequences.
One teenager discovered this recently after his father bought him a ticket from Gainesville, Florida to New York, with the intention of having his son disembark during the layover in his hometown of Charlotte. Logan Parsons’ dad, Hunter Parsons, told Queen City News that they’ve been using the site SkipLagged “almost exclusively” for the past five to eight years.
Unfortunately, this time, Logan, who was traveling alone, was questioned about his travel plans. His dad told Queen City News that Logan was “interrogated a little bit, ultimately taken to a security room. They kind of got out of him that he was planning to disboard in Charlotte and not going to make the connecting flight.” American Airlines refutes this characterization, with a spokesperson telling the Washington Post that Logan was only questioned at the counter while attempting to check in. After learning about Logan’s plans to disembark in Charlotte, American Airlines called his parents and forced them to buy a direct flight from Gainesville to Charlotte for their son.
Skiplagging isn’t illegal — United tried to sue a company dedicated to helping people find skiplagging deals, and lost, and Lufthansa tried suing a passenger who skiplagged and also lost — but airlines are able to set their own rules and penalize travelers who break them as they see fit.
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One TikToker shared some tips for travelers who might plan on skiplagging, and they include never checking a bag (checked bags go to the flight’s final destination), not booking a basic economy fare (such fares come with the highest odds of your carry-on getting checked at the gate), never attaching your frequent-flyer information to your booking (the airlines could shut down your account in retaliation, resulting in lost status and airline miles), not skiplagging more than two or three times a year (the Parsons family definitely didn’t follow this rule) and booking with different credit cards if possible.
Of course, if you’re gonna skiplag on these — i.e., not see them all the way through like your connecting flight — you’re very much increasing the likelihood that you’re gonna end up like Logan Parsons and get busted by the airline cops.
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