Foo - Can you get off at your connecting airport?

I'm looking to fly from Houston to NJ, which means I'm looking at either Newark, La Guardia, JFK, and Philly airports, I live in the middle.

One flight I found thats by far the cheapest and fits my schedule perfectly goes from Houston -> Philly -> then La Guardia. Can I just get off at philly? I've never flown a connecting flight, only direct (I usually pay the extra bit so I don't have to wait around an airport) Seems kinda pointless to stay at Philly to fly to La Guardia. I've even checked the flights from Houston to Philly and they all cost way more. WTF.

Yeah, you can 'miss' that extra flight and just stay in Philly. The airline probably has someone waiting standby to take your seat to LaGuardia anyway.

By the way, the subject line of this thread could cause some interesting answers.... :eek: :eek: :D

At the Delta terminal in Philly, see Doris. She has a patch on her right eye. I've e-mailed her, she'll be keeping an eye out for you. :)

Okay, now things are getting rediculous...

I checked some other cities out. Found a connecting flight to Hartford, even cheaper, that had a stop over in Newark, which is my perfered airport (easy to drive or take the train from).

This is ********, I couldn't even find that flight on the airlines website like I usually can after finding it on Expedia (or travelocity). Nor was there a direct flight to newark on that airlines for even close to that price.

By the way, the subject line of this thread could cause some interesting answers.... :eek: :eek: :D

Oh, you have such a dirty mind

If you didn't check a bag, you can just walk... but you can't walk away from a flight in progress. From what I've been told, once you walk away from a flight, you've lost your flight.

Koffee

Just be glad the internet allows you to do this.... in the old days you'd be at the mercy of a travel agent or the airline itself and you'd be paying twice as much.

You're an informed consumer who has figured out part of the game. Go forth and spread the wisdom!

I try to always carryon my bags, and rarely bring anything that can't be checked. I've always wondered about trying this, I've seen cheaper connecting flight to Philly all the time, they just never fit my schedule or I'd have to check a bag. Well, we'll see how it goes. Hopefully they won't do me a favor and fly me directly to Hartford, I know airlines pull surprises, my girlfriend had a surprise lay over in Detriot once from an airline thats no longer in business.

I'm looking to fly from Houston to NJ, which means I'm looking at either Newark, La Guardia, JFK, and Philly airports, I live in the middle.

One flight I found thats by far the cheapest and fits my schedule perfectly goes from Houston -> Philly -> then La Guardia. Can I just get off at philly? I've never flown a connecting flight, only direct (I usually pay the extra bit so I don't have to wait around an airport) Seems kinda pointless to stay at Philly to fly to La Guardia. I've even checked the flights from Houston to Philly and they all cost way more. WTF.

Im pretty sure a year or two ago, I heard in the news that at least one airline, maybe all, caught on to people cheating on a cheaper price, by buying tickets to a city thats cheaper to fly to, they have no intentions of going to, that has a layover in the city they actually want to go to. Then they get off early like you want to do. I swear I heard the airlines went back and made people pay the difference of the what the flight would of really cost, if they hadn't of cheated and got off early. I tried Googling and finding an old news article or something, but this is too many words to Google. Maybe there was just talk of airlines putting a stop to this. I will keep looking, but Im sure something happened with this, not too long ago. Maybe read all of the fine print, before doing this anyways.

Im pretty sure a year or two ago, I heard in the news that at least one airline, maybe all, caught on to people cheating on a cheaper price, by buying tickets to a city thats cheaper to fly to, they have no intentions of going to, that has a layover in the city they actually want to go to. Then they get off early like you want to do. I swear I heard the airlines went back and made people pay the difference of the what the flight would of really cost, if they hadn't of cheated and got off early. I tried Googling and finding an old news article or something, but this is too many words to Google. Maybe there was just talk of airlines putting a stop to this. I will keep looking, but Im sure something happened with this, not too long ago. Maybe read all of the fine print, before doing this anyways.

Thats what I was worrying about... but I'd like see them try to keep me out of NJ. Hmm, having to pay extra not to fly.

I was worried that it was the same plane or they possibly cart you right to the awaiting plane, but there's almost a two hour layover at Newark, and the plane going from Newark to Hartford, as I expected, is a smaller, maybe like 30 passenger commuter jet. Worse case senario I end up in Hartford and take a train down.

I guess if I were to buy a direct ticket to Newark, in a way, I'd be subsidizing flights like those that go to Hartford? Direct flights were more than 3 times the amount than others...

Seriously here... you're not hurting the airline. They already have your money for the ticket to the final destination. They're not going to refund your money if you 'miss' the connecting flight, so what should they care if they have xx pounds less of passenger/luggage weight on a commuter plane? That saves them fuel costs, so you've done them a favor. Also, like I mentioned above, there are good chances that some other person is going to be waiting standby in Newark or Philly to get to Hartford or LaGuardia. You've now made their day and made the airline's life a bit easier because they have one less standby passenger.

If you habitually did this, maybe there would be a problem, but if it's a one off for you, just do it.

when you check in... only check your bags to the city you are connecting in... getting off the plane at...

Doubt you can only check the baggage for part of the distance to your destination at check in. Maybe you can, never tired it, but some how I doubt they'll let you. So like Koffee said - if you've got carry-on baggage only - you're good to go.

I have this on good authority from Eilene. She is a friend of Doris in Philly. Actually this is from a real live airline employee.

I was told that if you ditch a flight before you reach your destination and you're on the first leg of a round trip, they'll cancel the rest of your ticket. If you're on your way home (or only flying one-way) there is nothing they can do, unless they're actually going to demand more money for fewer miles.

Anyway, Eilene says the best thing you can do to cover yer ear is go up to one of their counters and say you're not boarding your connection because you're not feeling well and you'd hate to get seriously ill while the flight is aloft. They're very understanding about that.

Umm, I have far knowledge about airline travel than I really care for. Basically, you probably will get away with it if you do it occasionally and don't check bags. It's an open secret that this happens quite a bit. However, in reality, you are breaking a contract when you do so, and the airline can come after you for the difference. It is not a likely scenario, but it is possible and legal.

As for whether you're hurting the airline doing this, the answer, surprisingly, is yes. I'm not going to get into why this is, though. (CyLowe's analysis is shortsighted. You have to think bigger, think about how airlines prioritize sales in the first place and how they ensure the most valuable sales. Not just about maximizing revenue on one particular flight or even one particular route.) I'm not going to debate whether the airlines' business model is correct. And I'm not going to debate whether this means it's okay--or not okay--to do this. For various reasons, I won't openly comment further. But if anyone wants to discuss this (for practical reasons or otherwise), feel free to PM me.


I'm checking out of this thread now...

I was told that if you ditch a flight before you reach your destination and you're on the first leg of a round trip, they'll cancel the rest of your ticket.

So... How common would de-plane at the connection city and then have to go all the way to the final destination city to catch the flight home? What are the chances the return flight connects through the same city?

The OP's scenario sounds like a one-way situation anyway.

jschen, I may be short-sighted on this one, but shame on the airline industry (and the FAA, for that matter) making passengers pay different amounts for the same flight in the first place. If they don't want passengers screwing with their precious routes, then they should provide fair and equal services. Why should Jerseysbest pay 3x the cash to take 3x as long to get to where he wants to go. That's atrocious. What would happen if he called the airline and said, "Hey, I want to get to Newark and see that I can get there for $100 if I book a flight for Hartford, but for $300 if I book the flight direct to Newark. Can you get me the straight-up Newark flight for that same $100?" Would the airline swing him the deal? [edit: A good airline would understand and be able to help out, but who wants to to go through that hassle of waiting on the phone and explaining your proletariat plight?]

It's a different world now that people are their own travel agents with wonderful tools like Sabre.

I still feel like the high price of the stand alone direct flight subsidizes the other flights to not so popular destinations. Its like socialism in the airline industry.

At first I thought it was some quirk, like, when flying out to Denver from Newark, an airline had a few flights with stop overs in Los Angeles for the same price as flights with stop overs in St Louis (one lay over in LA was 12 hours, almost took it and would have made a night of it since I never been to Cali before). Then throw in roller coaster priceing that changes daily and Expedia et al charging $5 for their service that I can simply bypass by going directly to the airline's website, and christ, I dunno.

Oh well...

yes, you can get off at your connection airport, but... just dont get caught!:eek: :eek: wouldnt want indecent exposure on your record now do ya?:eek:

yes, you can get off at your connection airport, but... just dont get caught!:eek: :eek: wouldnt want indecent exposure on your record now do ya?:eek:


You are a dirty minded girl:D

You are a dirty minded girl:D
kids, kids... don't make me take the internet away from you.... behave yourselves!

kids, kids... don't make me take the internet away from you.... behave yourselves!


She started it....go ahead...make us go to our rooms...I don't care.

yes, you can get off at your connection airport, but... just dont get caught!:eek: :eek: wouldnt want indecent exposure on your record now do ya?:eek:

Man, its always the blondes...

:rolleyes:

She started it....go ahead...make us go to our rooms...I don't care.
That's right...rooms. Separate rooms.... and I don't want to hear another word from either of you or you'll get what for!! :mad: :mad:

And I better not catch you playing video games or watching TV....

That's right...rooms. Separate rooms.... and I don't want to hear another word from either of you or you'll get what for!! :mad: :mad:

And I better not catch you playing video games or watching TV....


I really think you should send us to the same room...just to teach us a lesson:p

Man, its always the blondes...

:rolleyes:
actually, i thought it ws quite funny! sowwe!! wont happend again!

I really think you should send us to the same room...just to teach us a lesson:p
You'd like that, wouldn't you, mister? It ain't happenin'!

Oh yeah.... another peep out of you and it's another week grounded!

Beyond that... your BikeForums priveliges will be taken away from you. Now no more back sass!

(Dang, this parenting stuff is a breeze.... )

actually, i thought it ws quite funny! sowwe!! wont happend again!


So did I:)

So did I:)

Oh stop flirting, its getting pathetic:D

I found out this is called hidden city ticketing, and I found a couple of things on this...

http://www.aa.com/content/agency/Booking_Ticketing/Ticketing/hidden_city_ltr.jhtml

http://www.faqs.org/faqs/travel/air/handbook/part1/section-23.html

http://www.elliott.org/archives/2001/09/ticket_tricks_m.php

I found out this is called hidden city ticketing, and I found a couple of things on this...

http://www.aa.com/content/agency/Booking_Ticketing/Ticketing/hidden_city_ltr.jhtml

http://www.faqs.org/faqs/travel/air/handbook/part1/section-23.html

http://www.elliott.org/archives/2001/09/ticket_tricks_m.php

Very interesting links, thank you.

So, it seems that an airline will raise the price of direct flights to the connecting airport since they dominate flights there, but lower the price to the third city because of compitition.

So they go from an monoply to having to face compitition. And I make up the difference.

I fly only 2-3 times a year, and this flight is one-way, so I'm not gonna worry about it. Ethically, I feel weird, but, I've been screwed over so many times by ticket prices, cancelled flights (not talking about weather) that left me stranded for hours, changed seats, to flight delays due to employee incompentence that I really don't care. I feel like I'm finally getting revenge.

I guess this is more common then I thought

http://msgboard.snopes.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=21;t=001023;p=1

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0ZCK/is_32_11/ai_77136538