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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: 5, Insightful) by Mykl on Thursday February 14 2019, @12:56AM (10 children)
I can't understand why this is bad for the airlines. They:
Let's also not forget the fact that this only happens because it's cheaper to fly a 2-leg journey than it is to fly just one leg of that journey. That is the real insanity. How can that possibly make economic sense? If the airlines don't like this practice then they should adjust their fares so that one leg is cheaper than two.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by bob_super on Thursday February 14 2019, @01:13AM (6 children)
The main negative is IF their system isn't designed YET, in 2019, to quickly check whether a missing checked-in passenger has luggage loaded on the plane. Someone has to check, then potentially address a waiting list, which takes time.
A fully boarded plane can get pushed off the gate, and potentially take off, early. Waiting for a passenger until the last call and the last minute is negating any effort made to board early. Those minutes are what Low-Cost airlines rely on to keep costs down (LH isn't low-cost, but any time savings are money). Crews can also ease into flight mode with the extra time, potentially enhancing safety.
I don't think the airline should win, but I think people should have the courtesy to invest a minute or five to tell the company that they won't take a connection they are checked-in for. Waste will show up on everyone's ticket prices eventually.
(Score: 2) by RandomFactor on Thursday February 14 2019, @01:18AM (2 children)
Except doing them the courtesy can get you noticed.
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday February 14 2019, @01:50AM (1 child)
Because missing the flight you're checked in for doesn't ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_n5E7feJHw0 [youtube.com]
(Score: 2) by RandomFactor on Thursday February 14 2019, @03:14AM
So your position is that being one of the blurred masses that say nothing every day about missing a flight is more noticeable than being one of the comparatively small group that say "Hi, I need to cancel the second leg of the flight because -bogus reason-. No i don't need a later flight. No I don't need help with flight arrangements home. Thanks, I'm good."
Bold take.
Don't misunderstand more, I'm all for courtesy far beyond what is common. Still, If you don't want to be noticed, staying with the herd is often the higher percentage approach.
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Thursday February 14 2019, @03:15AM
I think it was LH, might have been KLM, anyway: 1995-ish London to Amsterdam hop, by some fluke of my routing first class cost the same as coach, so I was in first. We were served a nice lunch while the attendants tossed bags of nuts at the passengers in coach - everybody knows that. What I didn't know until that flight was that we had been flying a level holding pattern _until_ the gentleman in 2A finished his lunch (he was the last to finish), he wiped his chin with his linen napkin and set it down... the stewardess was discretely watching him and the moment his napkin touched the china plate she pressed a button, a bell went off in the cockpit and we immediately banked and began our descent - followed momentarily by the typical cabin announcement (in German or Dutch first, then English) "Ladies and Gentlemen, we have begun our descent into...."
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday February 14 2019, @05:00PM
Similar laws (related to alcohol) work well in parts of northern Europe (the tax-all-sins parts, predictably).
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by PocketSizeSUn on Friday February 15 2019, @12:09AM
Been in place for decades ... think 'terrorist checked a bomb in his luggage and didn't board the plane'.
Again .. been in place for *decades* now.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday February 14 2019, @01:18AM
"wW lose money on every sale, but make it up in volume." that's the miracle of MBA, of course you never gonna get it (grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 5, Insightful) by sjames on Thursday February 14 2019, @01:45AM (1 child)
Really, this is the airlines trying to smash "the invisible hand" with a mallet, and when they miss they try to trick a judge into smashing it with his gavel.
The crux of it is that traveling from A to C isn't all that popular, so there's only so much they can demand for that trip, BUT it is profitable at that price so they offer it. It just so happens that the most efficient way to accomplish the trip is A to B to C. so that's what they do. So far so good.
The problem is, even though they could obviously provide profitable trips from A to B for not more than the trip A to B to C, they charge double because B is popular and they can get away with it. If there was a healthy market, they couldn't do that, but that's not the actual situation.
The problem for the airlines is that people are getting wise to the scam and have found a workaround. This is the airlines saying "please ignore the man behind the curtain OR WE'LL SUE YOUR ASS OFF!"
What the airline is actually losing is the ability to take advantage of an unhealthy market and an inadequately informed customer..
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday February 14 2019, @05:09PM
I view pricing schemes that include negative-cost legs as perturbing the market in such a way as to make it less healthy. They're doing this because they've caused a mess by doing it and other stuff like it.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves