There is a discussion on Hacker News, but feel free to comment here as well.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Instead of booking a direct flight to a desired location, customers in America are purchasing multi-stop fares with a stopover in the place they intend to go, forgoing the final leg of their journey.
Businesses argue the practice amounts to fraud because customers are purchasing flights they don’t intend to travel on, while skiplaggers believe they are simply exploiting a loophole in ticket pricing.
The plan was for the teen to get off the plane in Charlotte where he lives, his father told local television station Queen City News, but before he could board his flight, he was stopped by gate agents and taken to a room.
Over the years, airlines have tried suing to claw back what they say are financial losses caused by skiplagging, either by targeting individuals or sites that facilitate the practice, but making their case in court has proven tricky.
“This practice violates our fare rules and we are taking action to stop it to help protect the vast majority of customers who buy legitimate tickets,” the airline said at the time.
Hidden city sites in the US offer guidance to passengers on how to avoid getting caught, including not linking frequent flyer points when booking and only using carry-on baggage, a possible deterrent to customers using Australian airlines, which tend to crack down on cabin bags, Mr Chamberlin says.
The original article contains 1,710 words, the summary contains 218 words. Saved 87%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Consumers find a way to save money and are bad. Companies find a way and they act like heroes.
It will be good to get a judgement in the books about this. Either you pay for a ticket and get a service or you dont. It’s not the customers responsibility to ensure they pay the maximum possible price.
If a court decides you can’t leave the airport at a layover because the airline would lose money… That would be a very interesting addition to contract law.
Lufthansa is flagging you a no-show and cancels your return flight without warning or reimbursement. I didn’t like them before, but after doing that I will never set a foot in one of their planes.
I had a international flight with the last leg being a bus ride from Munich to Nuremberg after a 7 hour layover. I opted to take the train that got me there considerably quicker.
On the morning of my return flight when I was about to check in the lady at the counter told me my booking is non existing. That fun trick by Lufthansa cost me 600€ extra.
But I know that is just a little price compared to the emotional damage that poor little company was caused by me…
Big Corporations whining when somebody exploits them, but every second big corpos exploit society and politics. It is an Illusion that we the people have the same rights.