Travel hacks online are a dime a dozen, with a new one seemingly popping up every day. One that has been around a long time, however, is stirring controversy among airlines after they caught on to what travelers were doing: skiplagging.
What Is Skiplagging?
Skiplagging refers to the hack of buying a flight with multiple layovers instead of flying directly to your intended destination. Folks prefer to buy this flight and get off at one of the stops, since it’s cheaper than a direct flight. For example, instead of paying more to fly to, say, Los Angeles directly, it’ll be cheaper if you buy a flight to San Francisco with a stop in LA and simply get off at the layover.
Unsurprisingly, airlines are not fond of this hack, as they are losing money. So they’ve begun cracking down on skiplagging. One American Airlines passenger learned this the hard way after trying to check in for his flight.
American Airlines Threatens Passenger
TikToker @dalltextony shared how he was flying to Omaha, Nebraska, from Texas. As a Dallas resident, @dalltextony said he didn’t want to pay the $800 to fly to Omaha directly from Dallas. Instead, the TikToker decided to fly from San Antonio, which was $500 cheaper. The return flight did have a stop at Dallas, but as he was visiting family in San Antonio, @dalltextony wasn’t trying to skiplag.
Still, American Airlines decided to warn him—just in case…