Can you simply leave an airport during a connection and not board your second flight?

Yes, it’s known as “Hidden City Ticketing,” or sometimes “Skiplagging.”

Here’s how it works: Suppose you want to travel from Dallas to Phoenix.

You can save $200 by booking a flight from Dallas to Salt Lake City with a layover in Phoenix instead of a direct flight from Dallas to Phoenix, which would cost $500.

It’s doable, but you need to be mindful of a few things:

The airline, if they realize what you are doing, may cancel the rest of your itinerary. As such, ONLY do this on the way home, not the way out. Or if you are only flying one way.

To avoid having to check your luggage at the layover stop, you should board as early as possible to avoid having to gate-check your bag once the bin space is full. Additionally, you should make sure that the plane you’re flying on isn’t a smaller commuter plane like a CRJ or an Embraer, which frequently requires you to check your bags.

If a flight is delayed or cancelled, the airline may re-book you on a different flight to what they believe is your original destination. However, the new flight may not have a layover or may be in a different location. If this happens, you can request a refund instead of a re-book.

Generally speaking, you can get away with this if you do it rarely, but people who do it frequently tend to get caught and even banned from the airline. In short, don’t do it so much that a pattern emerges.

Disclaimer: this can violate airline rules, may cause baggage and rerouting problems, and can lead to cancelled onwards/return flights and loyalty issues. Click here to see What are the risks of using Skiplagged / hidden city tickets.