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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: 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.
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