What is Skiplagging and Why you Should Avoid It.

It's possible that you might have heard about the term "Hidden City Ticketing " for the first time. However, with the rising prices for airline tickets, such practices have become prevalent amongst regular travellers.  RenTrip does not endorse such activities, however the aim of this blog is to educate our readers about Skiplagging. While we have already written a blog about how you can save money while booking flights, this topic needed an article of its own.

Skiplagging is a practice where passengers book a multi-city flight but disembark at the layover city thereby bypassing the final destination they were headed in order to to save money. This practice works on the principle that flights with multi-city layovers are often cheaper than Direct Flights. The tactic originated in the United States, where it was conceived. While the tactic can help you save money, it can also lead to several issues and challenges.

Airlines generally consider such practices illicit and have the right to cancel rewards if they catch you regularly skip-lagging. Beyond that, baggage issues could also be an issue. Beyond these issues, those who dabble into skip-lagging quite regularly might face repercussions if the airlines start to track them down for regularly defaulting incessantly.

One of the most important aspects often not considered while trying to skip lag is baggage and luggage. The technique would not work if the traveller travelled with checked baggage since the baggage would be tagged to the destination city. If you were to try this way of travelling, you could face several dire consequences, the first being that the airliner would have to offload your baggage since your boarding pass was not scanned for the second leg of the journey.

 This can lead to heavy flight delays as, in certain areas, airlines are not allowed to offload the baggage of a traveller who might not have checked in for the final phase of the journey.  If the airline can confirm a case of intended skip-lagging, they can cancel your tickets. Similar consequences could be for your return tickets, as the airline can cancel them if they realize you are skip-lagging on the way there.

Skiplagging a Controversial Issue?

Skiplagging has recently become a controversial issue, as it has led to several issues for airlines.

• Loss of Actual Revenue for Airlines
• Loss of revenue for the empty seat as well.
• Increase in Overbooking to meet the requirements.

Most airlines lose money when their travellers skip lag. Often airlines have to face delays on account of a single traveller. Many airline carriers usually print warnings against such issues in their terms and conditions. Hence if they were to pursue a lawsuit, they would be legally right to issue penalties on travellers who skipleg. Plus, if you have been loyal to a certain airline, they might have leverage on you, in terms of rewards, and status; if found skip-lagging, they can easily deny in providing all such rewards and cancel all loyalty benefits. Airlines have extensive control over algorithms and, if airlines manipulate the prices to end skiplegging all travellers would have to settle for higher prices.

As stated above, RenTrip does not support Skiplagging; this blog just aims to inform the readers about such practices. Since skiplagging can lead to legal actions and harm your value as an airline customer, we recommend other methods of getting cheaper flights. Here are a few of them

Find Out the Cheapest Days to Board a Plane

Flexibility with travelling dates would help you take. In contrast, leisurely travelling can be dismissed for a day or two for cheaper tickets, business trips, or recreational travel can be a bit hard to manage. If possible, getting a flight on weekdays would surely help. As per statistics, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays are the best days for a cheap flyout. You can use third-party websites, which will allow you to see the charges for an airline ticket on different days of the week and month. Using such tools, you can easily plan a trip.

Taking Connecting Flights

While booking long-haul flights, booking a flight with a connection is always cheaper than a direct flight. To do so, you would have to search for connecting flights individually. This would further help you get better layover flights to ease your travels. Getting such flights could be a better option if such flights prove to be cheaper. 

Flight Price Search Indexes

Flight price search engines make searching for the cheapest flights much easier. They provide you with the most important information at a single glance. Websites like Expedia and others might offer a good bundle deal for accommodation and travelling.

Here are a few of the best flight Comparison Websites

A few other flight comparison websites are Momodo, which provides a clear and concise graph based on a wide range of filters that can be personalized to your preference. You can alter searches according to your needs for better search results. Travel supermarkets and Kayak are other tools to get better flight prices.

Innovative Use of Use of Credit Card

If you travel abroad or plan an expansive trip through different countries, credit cards would help you get your money's worth. Plus, most credit cards also provide rewards on sales and promotions; hence, using a Credit card while booking flight tickets might be one of the best ways to pay.

Smart Use of Credit Card

Credit cards further ease the process of spending while abroad, and they help with getting better exchange rates than debit cards. However, consumers should research before using a credit card for purchases or other services in foreign countries. Certain credit card patrons also accumulate reward points with air miles; hence, in the long run, they might be much more fruitful.