Hidden city ticketing (also called skiplagging) is a strategy where you book a connecting flight through your actual destination, then deliberately miss (or skip) the connecting leg. For example: if a direct London–Zurich flight costs £300 but a London–Zurich–Rome connecting ticket costs £120, you book the connecting ticket and simply exit at Zurich, ignoring the Rome connection. The logic is that airlines sometimes price through-fares lower than direct fares due to route competition between hubs. The website Skiplagged.com popularized this practice and was sued by United Airlines in 2014 (the lawsuit was eventually dismissed).
Hidden city ticketing is not illegal, but it does violate airline terms and conditions. Airlines reserve the right to cancel your remaining ticket segments and your frequent flyer account if discovered. There are practical complications too: if your first leg is delayed and you miss the 'connection' at your real destination, the airline may rebook you on a different routing that bypasses your intended stop. You also cannot check baggage, as it will be routed to the final ticketed destination, not your hidden city. Airlines have become increasingly sophisticated at detecting the pattern — repeated use on the same carrier is particularly risky. A site like Skiplagged or Skiplagging.com makes it easy to find these fares but also makes your behavior more visible to airlines.
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Hidden city ticketing makes most sense as a one-off search strategy for a specific high-value trip, where: (1) the price difference is substantial (£100+), (2) you have only carry-on luggage, (3) you're not a frequent flyer on that airline, and (4) you're not doing it on a ticket where a delay could strand you at the wrong airport. Budget airlines like Ryanair typically don't have hub-and-spoke routing, so hidden city ticketing rarely applies to them. It's most likely to yield savings on hub-to-hub routes with major legacy carriers. Always search comparison sites for legitimate alternatives before resorting to this strategy.
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Hidden city ticketing is not illegal — no law prohibits it. However, it violates most airlines' terms and conditions, and airlines can cancel your loyalty account or future bookings if they detect a pattern. United Airlines and others have pursued civil action against the practice.
No. If you check a bag, it will be routed to your final ticketed destination, not your hidden city stopover. This is one of the biggest practical limitations — hidden city ticketing only works with carry-on luggage only.
If your first leg is delayed and you 'miss' your connection, the airline may rebook you on an alternative route that skips your intended hidden city. This can strand you at the wrong airport — one of the key risks of the strategy.
Yes: use Google Flights with flexible dates, check error fares on Scott's Cheap Flights or Secret Flying, use positioning flights to cheaper nearby airports, or book split tickets (two one-way flights on different airlines). These alternatives don't violate airline terms.
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