What some call a “shady” travel hack has made its rounds in the news and on websites for a while now. And one local travel consultant says it remains top of mind in some travel reports. Jo Ann Verboom, President of Travel by Gagnon says, be very careful if you’re thinking of booking an airfare using what’s called “hidden city ticketing”.
“What that amounts to is making a reservation to go from your home city to another city connecting somewhere and the connecting city is where you want to go. Airlines don’t like you to do that. And they do reserve the right to cancel the rest of your trip and invalidate your frequent flyer miles.”
Verboom says and the problems don’t stop there.
“There are other concerns. Certainly, you wouldn’t be able to check luggage at all because your luggage would be sent to your final destination. And even if you choose to bring only a carryon bag, sometimes you’re asked to gate check those bags ..that could also create a problem for you.”
Verboom says they don’t recommend taking any chances with “hidden city ticketing” .
Meantime, AAA says a record setting 4.1 million Americans will fly this Independence Day weekend. Of those, an estimated 71,272 Michiganders are forecast to take to the skies. While not a record high, this number is 18 hundred more than in 2019.
