Skiplagging can enable you save on flights. What happens when you get caught?

Airlines is probably not fans of “skiplagging,” but travelers who use it to get monetary savings on flights actually are.

The practice is to buy a connecting flight with no intention of taking the second leg of the journey. Aviators do that once they discover a connecting flight that lands at their destination and is cheaper than a direct flight.

Skiplagged.com, a web site that helps travelers find these flights, said its customers saved about $180 on average, which collectively amounted to $54 million last 12 months alone.

But there are risks. Skiplagging or “hidden city ticketing” is prohibited by most airlines.

“Buying a ticket without intending to fly all flights in order to get cheaper fares” is a prohibited booking practice American Airlines Conditions of Carriage. Violators can have their tickets canceled, they might be prevented from flying, or the airline may not “refund an otherwise refundable ticket,” it says.

However, the corporate's founder, Aktarer Zaman, said he didn’t consider skilagging would end in an airline being banned from flying for all times.

“In our eleven years of existence, I have never heard of anyone being banned for ski lagging. Everything you read online about someone being banned is just a rumor,” Zaman said.

Zaman explained why some connecting – and subsequently longer – flights are cheaper than direct flights. For example, he said a flight from London to Boston with a stopover in New York could be cheaper than a direct flight to New York.

The London to New York route is more popular and subsequently costlier, which results in the deals Skiplagged finds, he said.

But his website isn't the one technique to find deals for “hidden cities,” Zaman said. Some travelers find these flights through travel agents or by spending hours looking for flights on their very own.

Zaman said around 300,000 customers booked flights through its website last 12 months. It is that this success that puts them within the crosshairs of major airlines, he said.

American Airlines sued the corporate in August 2023 but voluntarily dropped its unfair competition claim before the lawsuit went to trial, Zaman said. In October 2024, Skiplagged was ordered to pay American Airlines $9.4 million for copyright infringement through the unauthorized use of the American Airlines logo on its website.

Zaman called this a victory for his company.

“This was a huge win for us (as it proved), we have the freedom to take advantage of skipping opportunities,” Zaman said. “It will probably deter any other airline from challenging us. We have now laid the foundation to continue.”

Skiplagged has also previously been sued by United Airlines and Southwest Airlines. Those lawsuits were either dismissed or settled out of court, Zaman said. These are three lawsuits from around 800 airlines listed on the Skiplagged platform, he said.

During the trial, there was evidence that American Airlines didn’t have a no-fly list for skipping customers, Zaman added.

After the American Airlines trial ended, Skiplagged released a clearer statement Instructions on methods to skip ski lag safely – with Zaman's key message to flyers being: be economical and vary the airlines you fly.

“I recommend people not to abuse this. Be grateful that you saved some money, but don’t try to do it all the time,” he said.

Last 12 months, greater than 340 Skiplagged.com customers needed to pay the next fare for a direct ride, in line with the corporate.

Airlines may take away passengers' frequent flyer points, so Skiplagged also advises people to not link their frequent flyer account to their booking.

Additionally, in line with Zaman, Skiplagged.com only books one-way tickets to avoid customers canceling their return trip after failing to finish their outbound flight.

Skiplagged also recommends traveling together with your passport on international flights, even in case your planned exit is inside your own home country. This has been a problem for 198 Skiplagged customers prior to now 12 months, Zaman said.

The same applies to visas. In the last 12 months, 22 Skiplagged.com customers were tripped up because they failed to offer a visa for his or her flight.

Finally, the positioning recommends travelers fly with a small bag that matches under their seat. Checked baggage is distributed with the ticket to the ultimate destination, an oversight that the corporate said affected 67 Skiplagged customers last 12 months.

However, problems of this sort only affected 0.3% of Skiplagged's customers, Zaman said.

Skiplagged's data comes from users reporting problems to the corporate.

“They are more likely to report any problems they encounter to us – people with travel problems tend to complain a lot,” an organization representative told CNBC Travel. “Even assuming that 50% of those who encounter a problem don’t report it, that would only reduce the success rate from 99.7% to 99.4%.”

As for Zaman, he said he doesn't “bounce” fairly often. However, the rationale was not that his name was on airline blacklists, he said.

“I’ve done it several times and it just depends on whether it makes sense,” he said. “Everyone has to judge it for themselves. These days I can’t travel as easily as I used to, so it probably doesn’t make sense for me to do it more in the future.”

Although the $9.4 million damages payment to American Airlines represents a big portion of the positioning's $20 million in annual revenue, Zaman said he stays committed to helping travelers get monetary savings he.

“Even if we face challenges with these losses, I am motivated to win because I know we are doing well here. “One of the things that keeps me going is hearing about Skiplagged’s impact on people’s lives – like…helping people in long-distance relationships,” Zaman said.

“It’s not just American Airlines versus Skiplagged,” he said. “It’s American Airlines vs. Skiplagged and real people.”