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HIDDEN CITY TICKETING Hidden city ticketing occurs when an indirect flight is disembarked at the connection node. Flight fares are subject to market forces, and therefore do no necessarily correlate to the distance flown. As a result, a flight between point A to point C, with a connection node at point B, might be cheaper than a flight between point A and point B. It is then possible to purchase a flight ticket from point A to point C, disembark at the connection node and discard the remaining coupons. Using the hidden city tactic is only possible for one-way trips, as the airlines often cancel the subsequent parts of the trip once a traveller has disembarked. Also, it requires that the traveler have carry on luggage only, as any checked baggage items will only be unloaded at the flight's final destination. BACK TO BACK TICKETING Back-to-back ticketing occurs when flight coupons are intentionally not used or they are used out of sequence in order to circumvent airline fare rules. Back-to-back ticketing includes the following two common scenarios: Scenario 1: Coupons Not Used Suppose John wants to fly SFO - JFK April 11 and return April 13. The usual cost is on the order of $2000, because no Saturday night stay is included in the trip. The same airline offers a special fare of $400 round trip, provided John books 14 days in advance and stays over a Saturday night. John decides to buy two tickets: April 2000 Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Ticket 1: SFO-JFK April 11 (A) 1 JFK-SFO April 16 (B) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Ticket 2: JFK-SFO April 13 (C) 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 SFO-JFK April 17 (D) 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 John plans to use (A) from Ticket 1 and (C) from Ticket 2 in order to complete his round trip itinerary. Each ticket costs $400, for a total of $800, so he saves $1200 off the cost of a full fare $2000 ticket. He does not use coupons (B) and (D). Note than John uses the first segment of each itinerary, because failure to use the first segment may result in the airline cancelling the remainder of the itinerary. Scenario 2: Coupons Used Out of Sequence Suppose John wants to fly SFO-JFK April 11 and return April 13. He wants to make the same trip the next week, that is, leaving April 18 and returning April 20. Normally each round trip ticket would cost $2000, for a total of $4000. As in Scenario 1, the same airline offers a special fare of $400 round trip, provided John books 14 days in advance and stays over a Saturday night. John decides to buy two tickets: April 2000 Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Ticket 1: SFO-JFK April 11 (A) 1 JFK-SFO April 20 (B) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Ticket 2: JFK-SFO April 13 (C) 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 SFO-JFK April 18 (D) 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 John plans to use all four segments from these two tickets, but in the following order: {A C D B}. He thus makes the two trips for $800 instead of $4000, and saves $3200. LEGAL STATUS Airlines are strongly opposed to booking ploys for financial reasons. Many airlines have established means of apprehanding travelers who take advantage of such tactics, most notably through their Frequent Fliers programs. {Link without Title} When a traveler is shown to have practiced such methods, airlines may respond by confiscating tickets, cancelling frequent flier status and billing travel agents for the fare difference. {Link without Title} Airlines contend that booking ploys are an illegal practice. However, even though booking ploys might be a breach of contract and againt airline rules, the illegality of such endeavours has been disputed by legal experts. {Link without Title} RESOURCES
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