American Airlines Going After Hidden City Ticket ‘Abusers’

Hidden city ticketing is where you purchase a ticket with a layover and get off at the layover rather than the final destination. The reason people do this is sometimes that is cheaper than booking the direct flight. Airlines don’t like fliers doing this as it means less revenue for them and messes with their ability to price flights to maximize this revenue.

It looks like American Airlines is going after some users that have used this hidden city ticket method, sending out the following e-mail (via HappyInTheAir561 on FT):

Mr. XXXX,

As an analyst with American Airlines, one of my responsibilities is investigating violations of the General AAdvantage® Program Conditions. An audit of your AAdvantage account, determined that you have engaged in the practice known as ‘Hidden City ticketing’; the purchase of a fare to a point beyond your actual destination. Hidden city ticketing is explicitly defined in AA’s Conditions of Carriage as a violation of ticket validity. The Terms and Conditions of the AAdvantage program further state that compliance with the Conditions of Carriage is compulsory for participation in the AAdvantage program. As such, AAdvantage account XXXXXX is restricted, pending the outcome of our investigation. You may review the terms and conditions of the AAdvantage ® program (several parts of the terms and conditions are noted below) by clicking the link below or by copying and pasting it into your browser.

The audit of your account XXXXXwas completed on August xx, 2020. The following reservations were not issued in compliance with the AAdvantage Terms & Conditions, Conditions of Carriage or AA.com Site Usage policy:

52 HIDDEN CITY TICKETS (Included each one of the flights they believe is a hidden city ticket)

Not unlike other commodities, airline seats are market priced. A seat on a non-stop flight is a premium product and commands a higher price. Seats in connecting markets must be priced competitively and hence can be substantially cheaper. The ill-effects of point beyond ticketing are two-fold; the customer receives the flight for a price for which they aren’t entitled and a seat is spoiled on the separate connecting flight. An airline ticket constitutes a contract and the terms of that contract are stated explicitly in the Conditions of Carriage. Please see excerpts below.

Mr.XXXXX, these actions have resulted in clear and considerable losses to American Airlines. In addition to our loss for the travel provided, tickets booked through prohibited practices are considered fraudulent, and therefore not eligible to accrue mileage. In this case, our loss is further compounded through the Elite mileage accruals, benefits, and services used that were not otherwise available. Generally, violations of this nature subject the AAdvantage account to termination. However, we are willing to provide you with an opportunity to restore an equitable relationship through restitution for the loss on your identified travel.

You may respond to this message by 3pm, CST, Friday, August 31, 2020 stating you would like to bring your account back to good standing. At that time, the segments will be re-priced based on your intended travel and we will send you the information so that you may make the appropriate reimbursement for the travel provided. Failure to return the account to good standing or to reply, will result in the termination of your AAdvantage® membership and all its benefits, including all remaining AAdvantage® miles in your account and any award tickets issued from it.

It’s worth pointing out that this particular user had completed 52 hidden city tickets over three years. American Airlines is asking for $2,500 (~$50 per ticket), they have 600,000 miles and EXP status. American Airlines has shut down accounts recently for credit card rewards abuse recently. United has gone after Skiplagged (website that helps find hidden city tickets) and users of Skiplagged before.

 

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Pete
Pete (@guest_1042341)
August 24, 2020 16:26

AA did the reverse of this for me — they claimed I didn’t take a flight that I was actually on. Problem is, they canceled my return within 24h of flight. Spent hours on the phone (int’l roaming) to reinstate flight. They bascially accused me of lying until I got from them an email address to send a copy of my thankfully not discarded outbound boarding pass. No apologies or anything.

RG
RG (@guest_1042242)
August 24, 2020 14:19

I think the moral and my stance in general is……. If people do this, they should create reasonable itineraries….. as others have said , if you legally purchased your ticket, you should be able to do whatever you want with it, within normal rational reason. The problem comes in ( as seen even by some of the below comments ) is that people just do not know how to properly handle it, and start coming up with outrageous theories and possibilities on what to do with the “extra” ticket …. and that alone in my book is the biggest potential problem in all of this , and could lead to real security issues……… If it is for this reason that AA and other airlines go after skipplaggers. then I can’t fault them ……. If this community is just a small subset of people that potentially do these types of things, then I can only imagine what your average “general public ” could inadvertently do, if they are ever placed in a situation where booking a Hidden city ticket makes sense…..

Monsi
Monsi (@guest_1041824)
August 23, 2020 17:51

Is there a way to give your boarding pass to someone else (e.g. on standby) who needs to fly the leg that you’re “skipping”?

ieatdogfood
ieatdogfood (@guest_1041958)
August 23, 2020 23:42

Don’t you have to show them ID and boarding pass match?

calwatch
calwatch (@guest_1041975)
August 24, 2020 00:34

Since you’re already in the secured area it normally shouldn’t matter, although I have occasionally seen TSA do spot checks on domestic flights in the jetway entering the plane, just to make sure everyone is who they say they were.

Matthew
Matthew (@guest_1043349)
August 26, 2020 12:30

To enter the secured area, you need a boarding pass with your own name. So it is hard to do it.
One more way: scan the boarding pass and walk out of the plane because I forgot something

Orin
Orin (@guest_1041715)
August 23, 2020 14:24

This is the most ridiculous accusation.

I guess you could in theory go to next check in point to “catch” your next flight and scan pass, and then say “oops I forgot something” and never board the plane but why bother with that extra time waiting for next flight.

RG
RG (@guest_1041937)
August 23, 2020 22:47

I would take my chances.. but draw the line, and WOULD NEVER do this……. either take the flight for real , or don’t show up…… don’t do this. if somebody actually tried this, and its not an actual emergency, I think you should be banned no question, as this can be a real security issue

Parts Unknown
Parts Unknown (@guest_1042134)
August 24, 2020 11:52

FA’s (are supposed to)count the passengers, if one’s missing thats a big deal. Don’t ever do that.

Johnny
Johnny (@guest_1041423)
August 22, 2020 21:33

Screw them

Rick James
Rick James (@guest_1041356)
August 22, 2020 19:54

Yeah, Ive been using Skiplagged since beta (more than 10 years). I have done more than 400 flights using hidden city tech. I always just pay the bill. I dont pack a bag and I pay for early boarding if I have a carry on. Never been caught. I have used every carrier imaginable. I draw the line at international skiplagging – too many issues there.

M
M (@guest_1041308)
August 22, 2020 17:32

The moral of this story: DO NOT ACCUMULATE LOTS OF AA MILES. Your miles under their control is the only leverage they have.

Chucks
Chucks (@guest_1041380)
August 22, 2020 20:27
  M

Seriously though, if you’ve got more than enough for the most expensive redemption you could imagine yourself making it’s probably worth burning

Adam
Adam (@guest_1041290)
August 22, 2020 16:57

What is so interesting to me about this is that the airline is claiming they are losing money by you not utilizing the full service you paid for. It’s not as if you paid for a shorter flight and somehow snuck onto a longer flight.

Imagine if you paid to go see a movie and then left halfway through and the movie theater complains that in doing so you cost them money.

Clearly the economics of flights are much different, but it still seems so strange to me!

Dick Bupkiss
Dick Bupkiss (@guest_1041301)
August 22, 2020 17:10

Great analogy.

Like going to a restaurant and being charged extra if you don’t eat all the food they put on your plate.

It suggests to me that their pricing practices are deceptive and should be illegal.

DT
DT (@guest_1041279)
August 22, 2020 16:33

AA is asking for another lawsuit. There have been legal precedents on the fact that this is a legal practice and international airlines have been trying to go after passengers for years on it hahahaha

Air Bud
Air Bud (@guest_1044170)
August 27, 2020 17:09
  DT

A behavior can be legal but still violate the terms of the airline’s contract of carriage, and/or the terms & conditions of the frequent flyer program. Thus, AA is within their rights to go after people who use hidden city ticketing. However, they do face the hurdle of proving beyond reasonable doubt that the person actually engaged in this behavior, rather than simply missing their connecting flight. The person in this post appears to have left a lot of evidence that he was intentionally skiplagging. But if they start coming after anyone who misses a couple connections flights, they might have a lot more blowback, as they can’t really prove those people did it intentionally.

sullim4
sullim4 (@guest_1041132)
August 22, 2020 11:32

Typical AA. Rather than try to make their product better to capture more market share, they go after their existing paying customers and treat them like criminals. This is a loophole that customers can take advantage of, and a pretty minor loophole at that. Airlines choose to price their fares like this – they could price by segment but they choose not to. It is not like the airline industry doesn’t try to use every loophole in the law to maximize their profits as it is.

It is interesting that you only hear about AA doing this kind of thing. Occasionally you’ll see something from UA or DL but AA is consistently going after customers like this. This is like squeezing blood from a stone.

Anthony
Anthony (@guest_1041433)
August 22, 2020 21:53

Not just typical AA, it’s typical capitalism.