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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, 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.