A North Carolina father feels that American Airlines put his teenage son in an unfair position after he tried to utilize a travel loophole.
Hunter Parson of Charlotte told local news channel WJZY that his son Logan — a minor traveling alone for the first time — was interrogated, detained, forced to buy a new ticket, and banned from flying American Airlines after engaging in “skip lagging.”
Skip lagging, or “hidden city ticketing,” is when someone buys an airline ticket with multiple stops and leaves the airport during a layover rather than getting on the next flight to the ticket’s final destination.
It’s a cost-cutting hack that can be more affordable than buying a direct flight to a desired destination. It’s also legal but is frowned upon by many airlines, CBS News reports.
Parson told WJZY that he bought Logan a ticket from Gainesville, Florida, to New York City, which had a stop in Charlotte, after using the resource Skip Lagged, which Parson said his family had been using for the past “five to eight years.”
Logan was meant to leave the airport during its stop in his hometown to meet his family, but Parson said that a gate agent in Florida was suspicious after seeing Logan’s North Carolina driver’s license.
According to Parsons, Logan was “interrogated a little bit” and then “taken to a security room.”
“They kind of got out of him that he was planning to disboard in Charlotte and not going to make the connecting flight,” Parsons told WJZY.
As a result, American Airlines canceled Logan’s ticket and forced his family to purchase a direct flight.
“Our concerns were that he’s a minor,” Parsons told WJZY. “He was left to fend for himself, several states away.”
Parsons also thinks his son should have gotten a “stern warning” rather than the airline putting a “minor in that situation.”
In January 2021, American Airlines announced in a memo that it would begin cracking down on skiplagging. When contacted by WJZY and People for comment about Parson’s allegations, American Airlines said that hidden city ticketing violates its terms and conditions and is outlined in the company’s conditions for carriage.
“Our records indicate the customer was questioned only at the ticket counter about their travel while attempting to check-in for their flight,” a representative for American Airlines told People in an email. “A member of our Customer Relations team has been in touch with them to address their concerns.”
An American Airline rep later told WJZY that they were attempting to contact the Parson family to figure out exactly what happened to Logan at the Florida airport and were initially unaware that the teen had been detained. The company added to the news channel that the second ticket the Parson family had to purchase would likely not be refunded, and Logan would be banned from flying American for three years for violating their policies.