Buy A Ticket For Where You DONT Want To Go And Save Money

Yesterday I showed you how I saved over $5000 by flying to Ireland in first class.  My plane is not a direct flight but has a stopover at London Heathrow.  When comparing flights I came across something very interesting.  If I booked the first class flight from Boston to London then London to Ireland as two separate tickets the cost was approximately $11,000. But If I booked the flight from Boston to Ireland with a connection in London then the flight was almost half the price.  

What does this mean for you?  Consider booking a ticket to a place you DON'T want to travel as long as the hub city is where you want to go. A hub city is an airport that an airline uses as a transfer point to get passengers to their intended destination. Hub cities vary by airline.  London is a hub city for British Airways.

For example, if I want to fly to London I book my ticket to Ireland and get off the plane in London, thereby saving over $5000. This is called "hidden city ticketing." The problem is you must book this as two one way tickets or the airline will more than likely cancel your return flight.  You must also have carry-on luggage or your luggage will go to your final destination which is where you have no intent on going.

=$550

Now you may be thinking what about travel in the United States? The best times to try hidden-city ticketing are when you're planning on traveling to cities such as Atlanta, Cleveland, Salt Lake City, Charlotte, Detroit, Cincinnati or Chicago O'Hare, all of which have over priced tickets.  If you want to fly to one of those cities look for your final destination to be New York, Miami, Las Vegas or Boston.

Airlines may forbid this in their ticketing rules. This doesn't mean it is illegal in that you would get arrested.  The worst that could probably happen is the airline doesn't allow you to fly them in the future but that is not likely unless you do it often.

Have a great weekend and travel someplace fun!