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The problem here is that revenue protection departments catch on to these things, and more quickly if you post about it, or operate a service that abuses or fac

The problem here is that revenue protection departments catch on to these things, and more quickly if you post about it, or operate a service that abuses or facilitates it. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/08/magazine/mag-08subversion-t.html http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/08/magazine/mag-08subversion-... and more recently... http://www.aol.com/article/2014/12/31/united-airlines-suing-22-year-old-nyc-man-who-figured-out-how-to/21123067/ http://www.aol.com/article/2014/12/31/united-airlines-suing-...

csydas 11y ago
The service itself is also kind of expensive for the chance that you might be able to get a cheaper flight. I plugged in the data for an upcoming international flight path I need to make soon and the total was $85 for service, which is a bit in my opinion for the chance that the service might be able to find a cheaper flight plan. And since it's non-refundable unless you can prove there is a cheaper option, it's sunk money if there's nothing significantly better. I'm honestly not sure how much stronger this is than just using the multi-flight tool on ITA Matrix in a lot of cases, especially since the secret is basically they'll hunt for the hidden city flights, which with a small bit of research you can do yourself.
- sfobound 11y ago
  Article says: ...but what if they don't find anything? Fair question. It's possible you've already found the cheapest rate you're going to get. Flystein has a beat-my-price option where you only get charged if Flystein actually saves you more than their fees.
dingaling 11y ago
Yep, don't ever book the outbound and return on the same itinerary if you are using this trick. Most airlines ( other than Southwest ) will void everything else on the itinerary once they detect it. It's also one reason why low-cost carriers like Easyjet and Ryanair have thos low operating costs, they only offer point to point flights so there is no hidden-city option and no need to pay for a department to scan for it...
flocu 11y ago
Since airlines wouldn't be profitable without price discrimination of the sort that makes hidden cities and throwaway tickets possible, they won't just go away, when you post about it. From the airlines' perspective those fares actually make sense. A direct flight should be more expensive than an indirect one, even if we are talking about the very same flight. It's not a bug, it's a feature and here to stay...

csydas 11y ago

The service itself is also kind of expensive for the chance that you might be able to get a cheaper flight. I plugged in the data for an upcoming international flight path I need to make soon and the total was $85 for service, which is a bit in my opinion for the chance that the service might be able to find a cheaper flight plan. And since it's non-refundable unless you can prove there is a cheaper option, it's sunk money if there's nothing significantly better. I'm honestly not sure how much stronger this is than just using the multi-flight tool on ITA Matrix in a lot of cases, especially since the secret is basically they'll hunt for the hidden city flights, which with a small bit of research you can do yourself.

sfobound 11y ago
Article says: ...but what if they don't find anything? Fair question. It's possible you've already found the cheapest rate you're going to get. Flystein has a beat-my-price option where you only get charged if Flystein actually saves you more than their fees.

dingaling 11y ago

Yep, don't ever book the outbound and return on the same itinerary if you are using this trick. Most airlines ( other than Southwest ) will void everything else on the itinerary once they detect it. It's also one reason why low-cost carriers like Easyjet and Ryanair have thos low operating costs, they only offer point to point flights so there is no hidden-city option and no need to pay for a department to scan for it...

flocu 11y ago

Since airlines wouldn't be profitable without price discrimination of the sort that makes hidden cities and throwaway tickets possible, they won't just go away, when you post about it. From the airlines' perspective those fares actually make sense. A direct flight should be more expensive than an indirect one, even if we are talking about the very same flight. It's not a bug, it's a feature and here to stay...