Book New York to Orlando and the fare might run $350. Book New York to Dallas with a stop in Orlando and it might be $170. Get off in Orlando, and you have flown the same first leg for half the price.
That is skiplagging, also called hidden-city flying, and the example comes from Aktarer Zaman, CEO of Skiplagged, a search engine that uses an algorithm to surface these itineraries. He says the site exists to give travelers more options. About half the flights booked through it are bought within a week of departure, when last-minute fares cost the most.
Fares are not helping. The average domestic round-trip ticket in the U.S. reached $669 in September 2026, a 20% rise from a year earlier, according to Airlines Reporting Corporation data.
What travelers save
Zaman says people who book through Skiplagged save 47% on average, or $180 a flight. By the site’s own statistics, 298,967 people skiplagged over the past year and saved $53.6 million between them. He also says 99.7% of those who skiplagged through the site in the past month finished their trips without trouble.
Jesse Neugarten, CEO and founder of Dollar Flight Club, which sends cheap-flight alerts, sees the pull. “For budget-conscious travelers or those frustrated by the rising cost of airfare, skiplagging offers an opportunity to stretch travel budgets further,” he says.
Why airlines object
Neugarten also explains the carriers’ side. Pricing models assume passengers fly their whole itinerary, he says, so skipped legs mean lost revenue and messier seat planning.
Some airlines have gone to court. In October 2024 a federal jury awarded American Airlines $9.4 million in its copyright infringement and “ill-gotten” revenue suit against Skiplagged. That was about half of what the airline’s attorneys requested in closing arguments. A judge dismissed United’s suit in 2015. Southwest’s 2021 suit ended in a settlement.
American has said a passenger who skips segments can cause problems with checked bags and keep another customer from getting a seat. “Intentionally creating an empty seat that could have been used by another customer or team member is an all-around bad outcome,” its statement said.
The risks and the rules
The practice is not illegal. Travel advisor Duncan Greenfield-Turk, CEO of Global Travel Moments, says it does break the terms and conditions of most airlines. A carrier that catches a passenger can take away miles and frequent flyer benefits, bar the person from future flights, or bill for the missed segment.
Anyone trying it needs a few habits. Book one-way only, because missing a leg on the outbound flight gets the rest of the trip canceled. Skip checked bags, which go to the final ticketed destination. Zaman recommends a backpack small enough to fit under the seat, since “anything larger risks getting checked at the gate.” Leave the frequent flyer number off the booking, or the airline might strip the miles. And do not fly the same route on the same airline again and again in a short stretch, because that pattern draws attention.
Zaman’s own fix is simple. If airlines cut fares to hub cities, he says, skiplagging would stop.
