From the FAQ:

"If you live in a big city - sometimes it is cheaper to have a connection you don't use, if you know the flight will connect through your city. Example - instead of MOW->ATL, MOW->ATL->MCO may be cheaper then the non-stop. Buy the MOW->ATL->MCO ticket, but get off the plane in ATL and don't get on the flight to MCO. This works in any city that is a hub for the carrier. Try every possible connection through that hub and pick the cheapest"


In our security-conscious world today, would not boarding a flight (especially a connecting flight) for which you have a ticket send up any red flags, from a security perspective? I'm just curious.

I doubt it. I've done this exact thing (bought connecting flights I didn't use) within the U.S., and it's never been a problem. To my knowledge I'm not on any watch lists, and I've never been pulled out of line for extra searches.

Well, if you do skip the final leg of your trip, you risk losing your luggage. Especially, if its checked all the way through. But most airlines nowadays dont allow a bag without a passenger. The moment they notice you aren't on board, they take your luggage off and send it to lost luggage. So, I guess it couldn't hurt. But you might have to do some explaining when you go hunting your luggage down. i doubt they would send it to the luggage carousel if you failed to board your last flight.

You can only skip the last leg of the roundtrip. Any other missed legs and the airline cancels the whole ticket.

That has not been my experience, unless you mean the last leg of each stop.

I had a round trip from

San Jose -> Denver -> Colorado Springs
Colorado Springs -> Denver -> San Jose.

My intended destination was Denver, but buying the Colorado Springs ticket saved me $100. I never got on the Colorado Springs flight, told a flight attendant, and they removed my luggage. Going back to San Jose, I got on in Denver, completely bypassing Colorado Springs. No problem there either.

Actually, now that I think of it, I have an example where I did skip the middle leg of a flight.

Original itinerary was:

San Francisco -> London -> Moscow -> Kazan
Kazan -> Moscow -> Frankfurt -> San Francisco

(SF to London was United, all Russia flights were Aeroflot, Frankfurt to SF was Lufthansa)

I missed the Moscow -> Frankfurt connection, so had to buy a ticket from Moscow -> Berlin (Aeroflot). Once in Berlin I bought a ticket Berlin -> Frankfurt (Lufthansa). Caught my original Frankfurt -> SF flight from there. And Lufthansa was kind enough to check my baggage from Berlin all the way to SF.

I've done this too. BTW, the issue is usually failing to check in for a flight, not whether you are on it (for the purpose of deciding whether to cancel your whole trip).

I usually don't check bags (so this isn't an issue for me). For flights entering the US, you will claim your bags anyway.

Ah hah! Someone paid attention to Bobby D in "Meet the Parents."