You’re Going to Get Caught Skiplagging, and It’s Not Going to Be Pretty

With the federal government artificially keeping interest rates at a 22-year high, gas prices at a high of $3.71 at the national average, and expensive summer flight prices, it’s no wonder we’re seeing a resurgence of skiplagging…but the travel hack is risky and not worth the potential consequences.

What is skiplagging?

Skiplagging is a tactic that’s become popular over the last few years for saving on airfare, when you book an itinerary where the stopover is actually your intended destination. The idea is that you’re able to find a cheaper connecting flight with a middle point of your true destination than if you were to just fly to that city directly. It’s a clever idea, but unfortunately, it’s not a good one.

To understand skiplagging, it’s helpful to understand its most popular purveyor, the website Skiplagged. Founded in 2013, the website boasts the opportunity to save hundreds of dollars on flights. It also found itself in immediate hot water, facing lawsuits from United Airlines and Orbitz, who were both unhappy with the practice—but the lawsuits were dismissed, and the website was allowed to carry on.

Skiplagging just isn’t worth it anymore

Even though the airlines didn’t win their legal battle, they can still punish those who engage (or perceive to engage) in skiplagging—and they will. This summer, an American Airlines passenger was detained by the airline after the gate agent saw the passenger’s driver’s license was from the layover state of the onboarding flight. The passenger’s flight was canceled, and he was forced to book a last-minute flight to his actual destination, canceling any potential savings.

But those are not the only potential risks of skiplagging. Another risk is the potential of having your checked luggage move on to the final destination. (Even if you only have a carry-on, there’s a potential that the airline will force some passengers to check in their bags if over-head space is full, sending your luggage to an unexpected vacation without you.) According to Insider, airlines are also within their rights to close loyalty accounts, ban customers outright, cancel the return ticket for those that skip on the outbound flight, and even take “legal action with respect to the passenger.”

Some things to consider if you want to travel comfortably:

• Keep your electronics organized with this iMangoo shockproof carrying case 
• Prop up your phone on any airplane seat with this universal in-flight airplane phone holder mount 
• Shut everything out with this travel pillow with an eye mask and earplugs

The airlines that punish skiplaggers most

Basically, every airline has language in their Certificate of Conformity (COC) that prohibits skiplagging, usually alluding to “purchasing a reservation without intent to travel is prohibited.” But some airlines like Delta, American, and United take more drastic measures against skiplagging, presumably because they’re more susceptible due to their central hubs and volume of connections, along with pricing that’s dependent on what they think people are willing to pay rather than the distance of the flight.

Here are the airlines with the stronger language on their COCs against skiplagging and are most likely to ban or punish you with fees or cancellations:

• American
• Delta
• United
• Frontier
• Alaska
• Hawaiian
• Southwest

American reportedly sent a passenger a $2,500 bill in relation to the identification of 52 cases of skiplagging, and United even went so far as to threaten to use an external debt collector agency.

I’m a firm believer in going the unconventional route to save money, but only if that route doesn’t also make life a headache. Skip on skiplagging, and instead save money on flights by using tools that find cheaper flights for you or browse websites with the best travel deals.