Travel hacks online are a dime a dozen, with a new one seemingly popping up every day. One that has been around a long time, however, is stirring controversy among airlines after they caught on to what travelers were doing: skiplagging.
What Is Skiplagging?
Skiplagging refers to the hack of buying a flight with multiple layovers instead of flying directly to your intended destination. Folks prefer to buy this flight and get off at one of the stops, since it’s cheaper than a direct flight. For example, instead of paying more to fly to, say, Los Angeles directly, it’ll be cheaper if you buy a flight to San Francisco with a stop in LA and simply get off at the layover.
Unsurprisingly, airlines are not fond of this hack, as they are losing money. So they’ve begun cracking down on skiplagging. One American Airlines passenger learned this the hard way after trying to check in for his flight.
American Airlines Threatens Passenger
TikToker @dalltextony shared how he was flying to Omaha, Nebraska, from Texas. As a Dallas resident, @dalltextony said he didn’t want to pay the $800 to fly to Omaha directly from Dallas. Instead, the TikToker decided to fly from San Antonio, which was $500 cheaper. The return flight did have a stop at Dallas, but as he was visiting family in San Antonio, @dalltextony wasn’t trying to skiplag.
Still, American Airlines decided to warn him—just in case.
“I tried to check in on my phone on the American Airlines app. It said, ‘You have to go to the front desk to check in,’” the TikToker shared. “I’ve never had that happen to me.”
When @dalltextony went to the front desk, the agent told him he had a “hold” on his account.
“‘So just so you know, while you live in Dallas, American Airlines saw that you’re going to San Antonio,’” the agent purportedly told him. “‘If you get off the plane in Dallas and do not get on your plane from Dallas to San Antonio, you will be banned from all American Airlines flights—a lifetime ban.’”
According to the TikToker, American Airlines didn’t want him to get the cheap flight and not use it to complete his full journey.
“I never knew about this. I was wondering why it was so much cheaper,” he said. “You can’t hack the system, guys.”
Skiplagging Controversy
Skiplagging has been around for a long time, but it wasn’t until recently that airlines began cracking down on the practice. In a story BroBible covered, a TikToker working with Skiplagged, a company that promotes the hack, chastised airlines for punishing travelers for trying to save some money.
The article states how American Airlines filed a lawsuit against Skiplagged after the airline blocked a teenager from boarding a flight, knowing he was planning to skiplag.
“Skiplagged deceives the public into believing that, even though it has no authority to form and issue a contract on Americans’ behalf, somehow it can still issue a completely valid ticket. It cannot. Every ‘ticket’ issued by Skiplagged is at risk of being invalidated,” the airline’s lawsuit read.
In the end, American Airlines won the suit.
Viewers Criticize American Airlines
American Airlines indeed penalizes folks who try to skiplag. A Business Insider article stated that American Airlines’ “contract of carriage, which you agree to when you buy a ticket, says that any intent to not fly all the segments of a flight you’ve booked is a violation of AA’s policies and is subject to punishment, like having your ticket canceled.”
Still, several of the TikToker’s viewers accused the airline of being unfair to its passengers.
“I’d be getting off in Dallas and never flying American lol,” one top comment read. Another wrote, “Maybe they should just make the price is reasonable instead of forcing people to use these loopholes.”
One viewer who identified themselves as a former American Airlines worker said they would “never fly that airline.” Another called it an “illegal” flight, but what American didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them.
“This is an illegal flight. I used to work for American and my husband still does. DO NOT let them know you are doing this,” the user said. “They will cancel your flight and put you on their no fly list. don’t worry, I won’t tell. Lol.”
BroBible reached out to the TikToker via TikTok direct message and American Airlines via email.