Lufthansa sues passenger for exploiting hidden city ticketing

Lufthansa is suing a passenger for using a trick to get a cheaper fight by missing the final leg of his journey.

 

German airline Lufthansa is attempting to sue a passenger who took advantage of the hidden city ticketing trick.

 

The man was supposed to fly from Seattle to Frankfurt and then to Oslo – but he failed to show for his Frankfurt to Oslo flight.

 

Instead he flew to Berlin on a separate ticket saving himself €2,112.

 

The airline wants the passenger to recompense them for the “tariff abuse.”

 

Hidden city ticketing is a practice which involves a passenger booking a one-way flight with a layover, but they get off the plane in the layover city and don’t continue with their trip.

 

Huge savings can be made by the trick in comparison to booking a simple flight to your target city.

 

In our example, you can see in the image below that a one-way non-stop flight with American Airlines from Grand Rapids, Michigan to Dallas, Texas costs $421 on 28th February.

 

 

On that same day, it is possible to book a one-way Grand Rapids, Michigan to Houston, Texas flight for $183,  however, this flight has a layover in Dallas, Texas.

 

So if a passenger does not check-in any baggage and decides to exit the airport during the Dallas layover, they have saved themselves $238.

 

Most airlines have experienced hidden city ticketing on their flights, however, according to reports, Lufthansa is taking a stand because it is hit harder than most other airlines by the practice.

 

In November a Spanish court ruled that Iberia passengers could not be punished for hidden city ticketing.