The airlines hate it.

Travellers love it.

The website – Skiplagged

So what’s this all about?
Instead of booking a direct flight to their destination, Skiplagging travellers book cheaper flights on longer routes that include a layover at their desired airport. They then deplane during the connection without completing the full journey. Often the fare is cheaper than if they’d actually bought a direct flight to their desired destination. 

The irony of the airlines hating Skiplagging of course is mind blowing.

Airlines gouge you in the hundreds and hundreds of dollars by what is known in the industry as dynamic pricing, meaning that an air fare one day can cost you $980 one way and the following day it’s reduced to $310.
Here is a Skiplagging Example

A traveller in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., wants to fly to San Francisco.

A search turned up a flight from Fort Lauderdale to Portland, Ore., with a stop in San Francisco, for about $124. A nonstop flight from Fort Lauderdale to San Francisco would cost about $220.

How can that be?

The explanation is complicated – but it’s of the airlines own choosing – involving a number of their own economic and marketing policies.

And Skiplagging has turned that around – giving customers the opportunity to beat the airlines at their own game – finding air fares that will save you hundreds and hundreds of dollars on airline tickets.

It’s funny how that works – it’s okay for the airlines to charge you as much as possible but it’s not okay for consumers to save as much money as possible.

It was an entrepreneur Aktarer Zaman (an engineer by profession) who founded the website, Skiplagged in 2013.

Fed up with paying high airfares he decided something must be done – he founded Skiplagged.

And while Skiplagging is not illegal the airlines say it’s against their rules.

Zaman’s Skiplagged has been sued by one airline with the judge throwing the case out of court. Another lawsuit is still pending.

Zaman in an interview with the New York Times said more than 12 million people have used Skiplagged in the last 12 months.

You can Skiplagg without joining the website Skiplagged but then you have to do all the homework yourself on which airline routes and destinations Skiplagging would work.

But the website shows you automatically which Skiplagging deals are available. You can also book hotels on the site and there is a small service fee when you book a flight and or hotel.

The process for using Skiplagged is quite simple. You join the site by opening an account. You enter where you want to fly and when and then prices come up, plus how much you are saving.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Skiplagged urges fliers to limit luggage to carry-ons, since checked bags almost always end up at their ticketed final destinations. It also warns against linking Skiplagged travel to membership programs or using frequent flier miles as payment, since those can be emptied out or cancelled by airlines that wise up to customers Skiplagging. Likewise, there’s a risk that a return ticket booked along with a first Skiplagged flight could be cancelled.

But above all, the company warns users not to get too greedy in seeking savings through Skiplagged, especially people who fly a lot.

“Do not (Skiplagg) ….on the same route with the same airline dozens of times within a short time frame,” the Skiplagged site’s FAQ warns, before explaining why with exquisite understatement: “You might upset the airline.”

So now take me to Skiplagged

And if Skiplagged is not for you , there still is a way to get cheaper air fares.