Leaving plane at intermediate stop?

[BCL]

What you have given an example of is not hidden city ticketing and is quite nonsensical. Hidden city ticketing only works on one way tickets with carry on baggage only. For example if I were flying from EWR to SFO and found tickets too expensive for my liking I might book a cheaper EWR-SFO-SAN fare. When my first flight lands at SFO I would simply walk out of the airport instead of boarding my connecting flight. Despite what all the friends of the airlines on this board claim the airline will not sue you nor will the authorities detain you. The airline might cancel your FF account, remove any status you have with them, and clawback any miles you have earned. That is why it is best to do this on airlines where you don’t hold status and have very few miles.

Some have done this on a flight that continues, and then the hilarity ensues when the headcount doesn't match, and then the searching for baggage starts once they figure out who left. Must be especially nuts without assigned seating like on Southwest.

 

[jebr]

you are potentially taking a seat from another person and driving up the fare for somebody else. If you are going to New York, but you buy your ticket to Cleveland and get off in New York, you hogged a seat on the New York to Cleveland leg. A struggling college kid might have needed that seat to see their grandparent, or comfort family through a loss, or travel for medical treatment. I think it’s selfish and rude.

Or the airline had a meltdown the day before, so him not traveling actually frees up a seat for that person to be able to be pulled off the standby list instead of waiting for a confirmed seat three days later. Or the airline overbooked a bit too much, and him not showing up meant every ticketed passenger could go instead of having to pull off one traveler. If you think about it, he's really doing other travelers a favor!

As for doing the same thing on Amtrak, I did it not long ago where my son was picking me up to do something in an area away from my original destination. I got off one stop before. I asked the agent, and if I had changed my ticket, it would have given me a much higher fare. Since I did not do this deliberately just to get a lower fare, I’m ethically comfortable with my decision.

I don't see a major difference here. Your plans changed, yet to save money you didn't change your ticket to your intended destination. By the logic above, that could've denied someone the opportunity to buy that seat to visit their grandparent, travel for medical treatment, or comfort their family through a loss. Frankly, I see little difference between the two - both are ways to get around paying more by being ticketed to a destination beyond your intended destination.

Most of us tend to draw the ethical vs. unethical line just beyond what we're willing to do - after all, we surely can't be unethical, can we? But the things we're against, oh boy those people doing that are unethical! I'm certainly guilty of it too, although in this particular case while I wouldn't do hidden city ticketing myself (the risks are too high for me) I don't see it as unethical.

Deliberately hogging accommodations you don’t intend to use on a scarce commodity like today’s Amtrak or the airlines is, in my view, unethical and morally repugnant.

In an era where airlines overbook because they expect some people to not fly their ticket as intended, I see no ethical or moral issue with hidden city ticketing. The airline is already factoring in that sort of thing in the number of tickets they sell (and I think Amtrak does to some extent as well.) There's also standby lists that airlines can use just in case there's an extra seat right before door close, so buying the ticket but not taking the flight simply means one more person from the standby list will get a seat.

 

[Ryan]

Most of us tend to draw the ethical vs. unethical line just beyond what we're willing to do - after all, we surely can't be unethical, can we? But the things we're against, oh boy those people doing that are unethical! I'm certainly guilty of it too, although in this particular case while I wouldn't do hidden city ticketing myself (the risks are too high for me) I don't see it as unethical.

This. It's just like speeding. Anyone driving slower than me needs to get out of the way, and anyone driving faster than me is an uncaring lunatic.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Deliberately hogging accommodations you don’t intend to use on a scarce commodity like today’s Amtrak or the airlines is, in my view, unethical and morally repugnant.

Every time I've seen a substantial difference in pricing the discounted segment was in low demand and would have little or no impact on other travelers.

I would be laughing when the airline rerouted the person through a different city than the hidden destination city due to a delay or schedule change. It’s just unethical, and karma is going to get them.

Karma is good at guiding how we choose to live our own lives but bad at being weaponized to punish those who live by another code.

 

[GAT]

What about the person flying for bereavement purposes who gets their flight canceled because the airline doesn’t have enough staff to fly the schedule they have created and sold? Is that morally repugnant? What about the family with a toddler that bought a ticket to minimize connection time whose flight was changed to a four hour connection because of a schedule change? Is that morally repugnant? It amazes me how many of you friends of the airlines are going out of your way to defend corporation that only care about their bottom lines.

I'm sorry, but your argument is nothing but deflection from the issue we're discussing. In ay event, as the saying goes, two wrongs don't make a right.

 

[toddinde]

Or the airline had a meltdown the day before, so him not traveling actually frees up a seat for that person to be able to be pulled off the standby list instead of waiting for a confirmed seat three days later. Or the airline overbooked a bit too much, and him not showing up meant every ticketed passenger could go instead of having to pull off one traveler. If you think about it, he's really doing other travelers a favor!



I don't see a major difference here. Your plans changed, yet to save money you didn't change your ticket to your intended destination. By the logic above, that could've denied someone the opportunity to buy that seat to visit their grandparent, travel for medical treatment, or comfort their family through a loss. Frankly, I see little difference between the two - both are ways to get around paying more by being ticketed to a destination beyond your intended destination.

Most of us tend to draw the ethical vs. unethical line just beyond what we're willing to do - after all, we surely can't be unethical, can we? But the things we're against, oh boy those people doing that are unethical! I'm certainly guilty of it too, although in this particular case while I wouldn't do hidden city ticketing myself (the risks are too high for me) I don't see it as unethical.



In an era where airlines overbook because they expect some people to not fly their ticket as intended, I see no ethical or moral issue with hidden city ticketing. The airline is already factoring in that sort of thing in the number of tickets they sell (and I think Amtrak does to some extent as well.) There's also standby lists that airlines can use just in case there's an extra seat right before door close, so buying the ticket but not taking the flight simply means one more person from the standby list will get a seat.

Amtrak doesn’t with sleepers because you really can’t. I only got off one stop before and had paid the full fare to my destination, so my position was both morally superior and fair and just to all concerned. I did not cheat to get a cheaper fare to another’s detriment. I like to sleep at night.

 

[jebr]

Amtrak doesn’t with sleepers because you really can’t. I only got off one stop before and had paid the full fare to my destination, so my position was both morally superior and fair and just to all concerned. I did not cheat to get a cheaper fare to another’s detriment. I like to sleep at night.

But you did cheat to get a cheaper fare to someone else's detriment. If anything, your actions were more morally repugnant than what OP wants to do. In OP's case (with the airlines) the airline will almost certainly find a way to sell that seat if someone's willing to pay for it, since most airlines do oversell their planes and they can use standby lists to fill planes as well. In your case, Amtrak had no way of selling that roomette to someone who would've paid for it, thus actively denying Amtrak from selling that room and from someone being able to use that space from the stop you ultimately intended to disembark at. Both you and OP would be/have gotten off one stop earlier, so there's no difference in morality there.

 

[pennyk]

This thread has been temporarily/permanently locked. It has likely run its course and several posts were removed because they were either personal attacks and/or posts made in an unfriendly manner.