Have any airlines ever banned anyone for exploiting hidden city or throwaway ticketing?
On a related question Jim MacKenzie writes that:
If you did this a lot, it's possible an airline might ban you from flying it
Likewise another question mentions that:
if you ditch they have the right to cancel the rest of the ticket, fine you and even ban you from the airline. Though the only times they would ban or fine would be for repeat offenders.
But have any travelers actually been banned with a particular airline for exploiting hidden city or throwaway ticketing in the past decade? Links to authorative references rather than hearsay are welcome.
Note that for the sake of this question simply banning someone from the frequent flyer program doesn't count. I'm only looking for cases where a person could no longer take a flight on a given airline for exploiting their pricing.
Best Answer
Here is a reference I found: https://www.gao.gov/new.items/d01831.pdf A US-government study on the issue concluding that openly allowing hidden-city ticketing is not generally desirable
I haven't found any concrete cases of passengers being banned for the practice. In honesty, I suspect it would have to be done to an extreme case to be a problem.
It does cause airlines some operational issues. Flights can leave sooner if all passengers have arrived, but passengers that intend not to arrive, of course, never arrive. This prevents flights from departing as quickly. Also, there may be standby passengers whose reservations can be confirmed more quickly and their bags loaded more rapidly, helping airlines maintain their schedule.
I read a lot of posts at FlyerTalk (a web forum) and have found lots of discussion about the issue there, including some flyers who have been warned that if they continue hidden-city ticketing, that they will face repercussions, but have not found any evidence that repercussions actually happened. (I suspect the passengers stopped doing the practice, or changed airlines.)
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Is hidden city ticketing illegal?
Is hidden city ticketing legal? Hidden city ticketing is looked down upon in the travel industry but is not technically illegal \u2014 yet. You are free to use this method and there's no denying that Skiplagged features some amazing deals. If you decide to utilize hidden city ticketing, however, you do so at your own risk.Can you get caught using Skiplagged?
Yes, even the Skiplagged website itself warns against using this method often. Airlines could suspend your frequent flyer account and seize your miles like United has threatened, or worse. Some travelers who have used and abused this tactic have been sued.Can you be blacklisted from an airline?
Likewise, he says, it's also fairly rare to be banned just from a certain airline: \u201cLifetime bans on flying a particular airline are uncommon, but airlines are well within their legal rights to do so under most circumstances.\u201d Different airlines have different lists of things that could get passengers blacklisted from ...What happens if you use Skiplagged?
When you're ready to book, Skiplagged automatically gives you the option for booking two separate one-way flights, which you'll always need to do unless the portion of the itinerary you plan to skip is on the return. Once you have skipped a leg of your itinerary, the airline will cancel all subsequent legs.Hidden-city (airline) ticketing
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