"Hidden City" flights

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As a regular flyer, I find this fascinating. Lufthansa is trying to sue a guy for not using all of the ticket he'd bought. 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/16/hidden-city-travel-discount-loophole-airlines-crack-down-lawsuit-skiplagged

Essentially, a man flew Oslo to Seattle via Frankfurt, on a Lufthansa return ticket. On his way back, he stopped at Frankfurt, and didn't get on the plane back to Oslo, which apparently saved him a couple of thousand dollars over the price of the Oslo-Frankfurt-Seattle-Frankfurt ticket that the airline would have preferred he buy. 

They are arguing that he cost them that money in lost revenue. He is presumably arguing that they would have been quite happy to take him the whole distance for the fare he paid, so if anything he saved them some money in food & fuel. 

I totally understand why Lufthansa wants to close this sort of loophole, but I can't help feeling the way to do that is via clearer more rational pricing structures, rather than through a court case that will cost them thousands, and that they will probably lose, which will only encourage more of us to use this sort of trick to get cheaper flights. 
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Comments

  • ronnybronnyb Frets: 1742
    I have done this myself, i cant understand their pricing structure. Last year me and Mrs Ronny flew from the UK to the west coast of USA. The cheapest fare by some distance was from Glasgow changing at Heathrow with BA. I live in the north west of England so on the way back we got off the plane at Heathrow and travelled back by train instead of waiting for the connecting flight to Glasgow. It was a lot quicker. We told the desk at the airport in the USA that we wouldn't be using the connection to Glasgow and to put our luggage off at Heathrow. They didn't seem bothered.  
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  • Simon_MSimon_M Frets: 542
    It's basically travelling short but on airlines, right? If all prices were based on distance travelled (with a multiplier for how much luxury you expect) then this wouldn't be a problem. Of course, like on railways, greed on the part of operators will always be a big part of the final price.
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