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Lufthansa sues passenger who skipped his flight
A method commonly used by airline passengers to get cheaper fares is at the center of a court row between a German airline and one of its customers.
Lufthansa has taken a passenger, who didn't show up for the last leg of his ticketed journey, to court in an apparent bid to clamp down on "hidden city" ticketing. The practice involves passengers leaving their journey at a layover point, instead of making a final connection.
For instance, someone flying from New York to San Francisco could book a cheaper trip from New York to Lake Tahoe with a layover in San Francisco and get off there, without bothering to take the last leg of the flight.
The unnamed passenger skipped a flight from Frankfurt to Oslo and flew using a separate Lufthansa reservation from Frankfurt to Berlin instead. Lufthansa is calling this a violation of their terms and conditions and has sued the passenger for €2,112 ($2,386).
This method does not work if you have checked bags, and other people have reported retaliation from airlines for the practice.
Also at Fortune and Popular Mechanics.
See also: Airlines hate 'hidden city ticketing,' but it's still one of the best ways to save a ton on your flights — if you know how to do it
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(Score: 4, Interesting) by bob_super on Thursday February 14 2019, @12:30AM (8 children)
Even if you don't have luggage, you will waste the airline's time if you have a boarding pass.
If the people doing that bothered to stop at the counter to tell the airline they're giving up on the flight, then they shouldn't be penalized for gaming the system. The airline saves a few buck by having that empty seat which was paid for.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 14 2019, @01:04AM (5 children)
How so? If I am not at the gate when they call for final boarding for my flight, they close the doors and roll the plane out for take off; they don't bother waiting for me to show up for boarding. No one is delayed if I am a no-show. This actually happens quite a fair bit when people miss their flight due to a delay in a connecting flight. In fact, it happens every day at airports throughout the world!
(Score: 2) by Bill Dimm on Thursday February 14 2019, @02:50AM
I would imagine that if the flight is overbooked (perhaps due to people getting bumped to a different flight because they missed their connecting flight), they could get people on the plane faster if they knew earlier that the seat was available.
Presumably they know in advance whether or not your connecting flight will arrive in time.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 14 2019, @03:05AM (3 children)
To briefly play devil's advocate... most of the time, the airlines know who is on what plane and who is connecting to what flight. So if your previous flight is late and therefore you will miss the next segment, the airline will usually know in advance that you are not making that connection and won't bother waiting for you.
However if your first flight is on time they probably assume you are still in the airport. My anecdotal experience is that "final boarding call" means anything but that. If you are actually in the airport (which the airlines know because your pass was scanned at the checkpoint, or you were on a plane that arrived earlier, or whatever), then the "final boarding call" is usually followed by "Mr. Smith, please come to gate 23", which is followed by "Mr. Smith, your plane is about to leave at gate 23", which is followed by "Mr. Smith, would you like to go to London today? Please come to gate 23 immediately..."
Anyway, this whole problem is entirely self-inflicted by the airlines. The only reason it happens is because those airlines chose to sell dinner and dessert for less than the price of the same dinner by itself. So it should be no surprise that people who just want dinner will take the dessert as well and toss it in the bin.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 14 2019, @12:36PM (1 child)
Interesting theory that the airline is so concerned about their passengers that not getting to the gate will somehow be a problem for the airline.
They don't seem to worry too much over it for slightly late passengers.
What logic says not showing up is any problem except for the revenue hit?
In selling the extra ticket, they were paid to deal with this.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 14 2019, @02:04PM
Airlines don't give a shit if you're slightly late to the checkin counter. But if you have an assigned seat and are believed to be in the airport, it seems that they do. Especially if your bag is in the hold, since if you check a bag and then fail to show up at the gate someone needs to go in, find your bag, and remove it from the plane.
It's possible they won't care about you if you don't have any luggage.
(Score: 3, Informative) by FatPhil on Thursday February 14 2019, @04:35PM
Absolutely. I have no sympathy for them because of this, I'm sure few do.
> So it should be no surprise that people who just want dinner will take the dessert as well and toss it in the bin.
You were so close with that analogy, but just missed the mark. The customer gets the dessert, and just leaves with it untouched, so that the staff don't know whether they can clear it away or not.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday February 14 2019, @02:48AM
As if they hold flights for no-shows when there is no word on why they are late.
Almost EVERY flight has no shows, that's why they overbook.
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(Score: 2, Interesting) by shrewdsheep on Thursday February 14 2019, @09:58AM
I confess of the practice. In my defense, at the first time, I tried to contact the airline beforehand by email with zero response. Since then I did not bother any more.
Pro tip: You can skip, even if you have checked luggage. Just make sure that you have to go through customs where you want to skip. There is something like pre-flight clearing in some places like Dublin which means when traveling to the US you go through immigration/customs before you board and walk off like for a domestic flight at the destination. So check carefully first.