This Travel CEO Says Last-minute Bookings Can Be the Cheapest Way to Fly—Here’s Why

From travel hacking to flying during the shoulder season, there are endless ways to save a few extra dollars when planning a vacation. One surprising trend involves booking flights a passenger never intends to board—and it has helped some travelers save thousands. 

Known as “skiplagging,” the concept involves booking a flight with a connection that is cheaper than flying to a destination directly. For example, a traveler looking to get from New York City to Miami may find it more affordable to book a flight from New York City to Chicago with a layover in Miami, and then not board the second leg of the ticket.

As people randomly scoured airline websites for the best skiplagging deals, start-ups such like Skiplagged have grown to help travelers find these discounts. “Last-minute bookings are on the rise, especially among younger travelers who are waiting for price drops instead of planning in advance,” Skiplagged CEO Aktarer Zaman told Travel + Leisure. 

Zaman said skiplagging’s growing popularity is two-fold: the pain of increasing prices on airline tickets and consumers becoming savvier about how airlines price the fares. He added that travelers who set price alerts, use tools like VPN to obscure their location, and compare prices across sites likely find better deals than booking directly with the airline. 

The amount of money that can be saved using skiplagging varies. Skiplagged told T+L that passengers recently saved $10,716 on two international tickets from Tokyo to New York City. Within the U.S., another passenger saved $4,255 on two tickets from Houston to Seattle. 

While skiplagging may be a unique way to book a ticket, the practice has recently faced controversy. American Airlines filed a lawsuit against Skiplagged in 2024 over its business practices and copyright infringement, and a federal jury awarded the carrier $9.4 million. “American is pleased the jury recognized that Skiplagged infringed its valuable trademarks and awarded $9.4 million in damages for copyright infringement,” a spokesperson for American Airlines told T+L. “This was an important next step in protecting American’s intellectual property and valuable brand.”

For its part, Zaman said the practice democratizes airfare pricing and allows more people to travel. “Airlines don’t like skiplagging because it exposes the way they overpriced routes,” Zaman told T+L. “The reality is that if airlines wanted to eliminate this practice, they could simply adjust their pricing to make direct flights more affordable. Instead, they’ve chosen to enforce rules that benefit their bottom line while leaving consumers with fewer options.” 

Airlines for America, an industry group representing carriers in the United States, did not respond to a request for comment at the time of publication.

For travelers interested in trying the service, Skiplagged said that 99.7 percent of customers have flown without issues. However, there are limitations, like not being able to check bags to a final destination. Another potential concern is if a flight gets rebooked or switched to a direct route without the layover, passengers could find themselves on a different vacation altogether … or may need to “skiplag” back home.