The Thrifty Traveler Podcast · Thursday, August 13, 2026
The discussion touched upon 'hidden city ticketing' or 'throwaway ticketing,' a practice popularized by sites like Skiplagged. This involves booking a flight with a connection and disembarking at the layover city, effectively skipping the final leg of the journey to save money.
“this is why travelers turn to things tactics, questionable tactics like skiplagged where you would book that flight all the way to Athens, but get off the plane in Atlanta and ditch the rest of your trip because you can save by doing that.”
“Skip flagging is not illegal. Frankly, I think it's ridiculous that airlines are on one hand, free to charge whatever the heck they want on these one way routes where, you know, a flight to Atlanta that takes two hours or less costs more than a 14 plus hour journey all the way to Eastern Europe.”
“But it is in the contract of carriage for every major US airline and every major foreign airline to that engaging in this kind of practice breaks that contract of carriage and can be penalized.”