PARIS, Oct 4 — With air fares on the rise, vacationers could be tempted to cut costs by using a trick known as skiplagging.

This involves booking a flight with a stopover, but using the stopover as the final destination.

This can sometimes work out cheaper than buying the direct flight alone, but is it really such a good idea?

With airfares on the rise, it could be tempting to try skiplagging when booking your next flight.

This term, highlighted by the Washington Post this summer, describes the travel trick of using the stopover as your final destination... without informing either the ground staff or the flight attendants on board.

For example, you might plan to fly to Hong Kong, but you buy a ticket to Hanoi, via Hong Kong, knowing full well you’ll never get on the connecting flight to the Vietnamese city. Instead, you’ll step out of the airport at Hong Kong.

But why would anyone go to such lengths? The answer is to save money. Direct flights are generally more expensive than flights with stopovers.

For a long-haul flight, many airlines split the journey in two by stopping off at their main hubs — Amsterdam for KLM, Istanbul for Turkish Airlines, Incheon for Korean Air, etc. — thus reducing the cost of the trip.

It’s also a way of making this alternative route more attractive than a more sought-after direct flight.

The limits of 'skiplagging'

That’s how it works in theory. But in practice, it’s not quite so simple. First of all, using this ruse comes with certain risks, and consequences, like bans and cancellations imposed by the airline with which you were supposed to travel.

In July, a 17-year-old American traveller found this out the hard way. American Airlines banned him from boarding its aircraft for three years for buying a ticket from Gainesville, Florida, to New York via Charlotte, North Carolina, where he planned to end his journey.

In short, the young passenger clearly had no intention of visiting the Big Apple...

According to Air Journal, offenders may also have their frequent flyer programme suspended. In practical terms too, if the flight is cancelled, the alternative proposed will be to the final destination, while the stopover could be elsewhere.

Similarly, travellers don’t always have to recover and re-check their luggage at the stopover, as sometimes it gets transferred straight to the final destination.

Finally, there are a number of precautions to be taken, as detailed by the Skiplagged.com platform, which tracks down this type of “hidden-city” flight. The website explains that “some airlines may require proof of a return ticket during check-in.

If this happens to you, just buy a refundable return ticket directly from the airline and cancel it ASAP after boarding.”

In short, there are many risks involved, and the time required to find the best value ticket is considerable.

When looking for the lowest fares, it’s better to plan differently, preferring to fly on Fridays and avoiding Sundays, the most expensive day, according to Expedia’s latest report.

You can save up to 22 per cent on the price of a plane ticket compared to the same ticket departing on a Sunday.

On the other hand, the opposite is true when it comes to booking: fares found on a Sunday are 18 per cent cheaper than on a Friday. — ETX Studio