What is a hidden city flight and how to find them

There’s a funny saying that frequent travelers and nomads don’t spend most of their time going from one location to another. Instead, they do it stuck in front of a computer monitor, searching for the cheapest possible flight option.

Truth be told, this statement isn’t too far off, at least to most people. It’s completely understandable as well, as flight can oftentimes vary in prices. We aren’t talking about small differences either. If you decide to do your research ahead of time, you can sometimes save up to a couple hundred bucks! Read closely, as we’re about to drop some knowledge in the article below.

Have you ever heard of hidden city flights?

Airlines can be very strange when it comes to flight costs. Unfortunately for the airlines, passengers are also getting more and more cunning by the day. Hidden city flights are the latest trend.

Let’s explain this by using an example. Imagine if you had to fly from Seattle to Boston. You have two options to choose from. First one being the direct flight, with the price set at $600. However, if you select a route with a layover, the price drops all the way down to $200. Now, here’s an interesting twist. On the same day, you find a flight from Seattle to New York, with a layover in Boston, for only $149! Some passengers decide to buy this ticket, but instead of going all the way through, they leave once they reach the layover point in Boston. A smart move, some would say. One thing is for sure, the airlines are not too fond of this type of behavior!

Other passengers might also have a problem with this

Sure, you’ve found a loophole, and you’ve saved quite a few bucks because of it, but what about the other passengers? You see, every spot that gets taken this way is one less spot for the travelers in need. By taking up precious space inside the aircraft, other travelers will be forced to pay higher prices to get to their targeted city.

Other issues with hidden city flights

Naturally, you can forget about your checked luggage if you plan to bounce on the first stop. Still, passengers that just travel with their carry-on bags won’t encounter similar problems. However, there’s other things to consider here as well. For instance, it’s not that rare to encounter re-routing. This actually happens from time to time, mostly due to bad weather conditions. Furthermore, forget about buying a round-trip ticket as well. In 99 cases out of 100, if you decide to bail on your flight ahead of time, the airline will simply cancel the rest of the trip.

It’s important to mention that using hidden city flights is not illegal. Of course, the airlines will do their best to warn you of the potential risks, but it’s entirely up to your personal judgment if you want to do it or not.

Where to find such flights?

Ah, finally, we come to the part that probably interested you the most. At the end of the day, if you’re still reading this article, you definitely want to find out where you can find such a deal. There are a couple of popular websites you can visit to get more information.

Among them, Skiplagged is probably the most famous one, and it’s been there the longest. Airlines have been trying to shut it down for years, but luckily for us, it’s still up and running. What’s more, it’s also fairly simple to use. Just select your destination, enter the date, and get the best deal you can find!

Frequent flyers should restrain from using this tactic

In case you’re simply looking for ways to “cheat the system” once or twice, feel free to use hidden city flights. On the contrary, if you travel all the time, it’s much smarter to simply collect reward miles, instead of going with this short sighted solution. Ultimately, you wouldn’t want to have your miles taken away, now would you?