Theairline industryis cracking down on a travel hack known as “skip-lagging.”
A ticket was originally purchased for Hunter Parsons’ son Logan to fly from Gainesville, Florida, to New York City, WJZY reported, with a layover in Charlotte, North Carolina. But the plan was for Logan to get off the plane in Charlotte, where he resides, and meet his family.
Hidden city ticketing, or ‘skip-lagging,’ refers to when a passenger buys a ticket for a lower cost but gets off at the layover and doesn’t complete the rest of the scheduled flight.
Scott Olson/Getty
According to Parsons, Logan was “interrogated a little bit” and then “taken to a security room.”
“They kind of got out of him that he was planning to disboard in Charlotte and not going to make the connecting flight,” Parsons said, per WJZY.
American Airlines passenger jet (Boeing 737).Getty Images/Robert Alexander
Getty Images/Robert Alexander
The father said that the family had used the travel service Skiplagged.com for a number of years, and were unaware that hidden city ticketing was frowned upon in the airline industry. In 2019, Lufthansa Airlines sued a customer for over $2,000, alleging that he skipped “part of his return flight on a round-trip ticket from Oslo to Seattle,”NPRreported.
According to WJZY, American Airlines canceled Logan’s ticket and made his family buy a new direct flight ticket. A spokesperson for the airline said that they did not know Logan was detained in Florida and that they would like to speak with the family as part of an inquiry into the matter.
Parsons said the family’s concern was that Logan was a minor left to “fend for himself several states away.”
“Our records indicate the customer was questioned only at the ticket counter about their travel while attempting to check-in for their flight. A member of our Customer Relations team has been in touch with them to address their concerns,” said the American Airlines representative in an email.
source: people.com
