American Airlines Blocks Online Check-In, Interrogates Passenger For Skiplagging—They Planned To Fly Every Segment

I’ve written about American Airlines declaring war on ‘hidden city ticketing’. Some people call it ‘throwaway ticketing’ or Skiplagging: you book an itinerary that connects in the city you want to fly to, and you throw away the flight from that city to the final destination on your ticket. Flying from DC to Phoenix is often more money than flying DC to Phoenix to Tucson So you book a ticket to Tucson, get off in Phoenix, save money and don’t use all the flights you’ve purchased. That’s against American Airlines rules, and the rules of other airlines. They see a trip from DC to Phoenix as a different product than a trip from DC to Tucson, even though you see yourself buying a flight from DC to Phoenix and from Phoenix to Tucson. To the passenger, they’ve bought the flights, they’re theirs and can do with them as they please. To the airline, it’s stealing – it’s like scanning a package of clearance meat at the supermarket self-checkout and sticking a top filet in your bag instead. One technique that American uses to identify people doing this is checking a passenger’s home address on their frequent flyer account. If you’re buying a ticket that connects in your home city, they may prevent you from using online check-in and force an airport conversation – are you doing this? If you don’t take all the flights on your itinerary we’ll bill you or ban you! A reader shares a story of American taking this even a step further. Flying Fort Myers to Washington National to Boston, the passenger genuinely intended to fly to Boston. The person who purchased the ticket lives in the DC area. That purchaser’s address (and perhaps the purchaser’s prior suspicious behavior) triggered an inhibited check-in and conversation with agents. The passenger had no AAdvantage account and apparently no hidden-city history of their own. There’s nothing illegal about hidden city or throwaway ticketing. I don’t think it’s unethical, either. “The Ethicist” at the New York Times declared it fine. But it’s still not a good idea for most people to try. If you’re caught, an airline might ban you from flying them in the future or shut down your frequent flyer account. Historically there has been little risk to this if you didn’t do this frequently. But airlines are getting better at sussing this out, and AI makes sorting through the data far easier. And plenty of things can go wrong along the way. Re-routing during irregular operations. If your flight is delayed or cancelled, your airline may want to re-route you through a different hub than the city you actually wanted to fly to (and get off in). Maybe your connection would go through Chicago instead of Denver – and you wouldn’t be able to get off in the city you’d planned to! I’ve never had a problem asking to be kept on my original routing during irregular operations, but it may not be automatic. No checked bags. Airlines don’t generally allow you to ‘short-check’ bags, where they only send your luggage to your connecting city, although there are exceptions. If you book DC to Chicago to Milwaukee, and you get off in Chicago, you don’t want your luggage sent to Milwaukee (yes, your bags can fly without you). Gate checking bags. If you aren’t among the first to board your flight, overhead bins may be full (or employees might fear that the bins are filling up) and you might be required to gate check your carry-on bag instead of bringing it onto the aircraft. Then your carry-on will go to your final ticketed destination, not the city you’re flying to. Can only book one-way. If you book a roundtrip, and throw away a segment on your outbound, the rest of your itinerary will get cancelled by the airline. You might need to book that DC – Chicago – Milwaukee as a one-way ticket if you’re getting off in Chicago, and then a one-way back to DC on the return (potentially with a throwaway segment on that ticket, too). American may now be performing entity resolution across passengers, purchasers, payment instruments, addresses and reservations, not merely examining each traveler’s history. This is going to generate a lot of false positives. It doesn’t determine a passenger’s intent, just generates suspicion. American sees that as worth the conversation and warning at the airport. Outside of Germany, where hidden city ticketing is now apparently legal, you need to have your answers prepped. “I needed to end the trip in Dallas to stretch my legs and avoid deep vein thrombosis.” “I’ve started having an affair in Phoenix, but I told my spouse I was on business in Reno.” “I’ve planned a rendezvous with another passenger in Charlotte, and we just need an hour in the Minute Suites.” “I lost my wallet at O’Hare last week and need to check the airport lost and found to see if it’s there.” Stay away from hidden city ticketing if you’re flying American – and, it seems, from purchasing tickets with a credit card whose billing address matches one of their hubs. Topics on this page