Hidden city fares -- the art of throwing away the last segment.

Hidden city fares used to be great back in the day. Let's say you want to go from A --> B. Usually, a direct flight is quite expensive. However, flying from A --> B --> C can sometimes be cheaper. A "hidden city fare" is the technique of buying the A --> B --> C itinerary at a cheaper fare knowing full well that you'll be getting off at B and "throwing away" the last leg of the journey.

Let's use an example. This weekend marks the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association in San Francisco (May 18-22). Let's say that my bf and I wanted to go to this conference, and that we wanted to arrive the day before it starts (i.e., Friday, May 17, 2013). Let's say that I can only take the last or second last flight of the day because I need to still work on Friday. And because the actual conference starts on Saturday, I don't have time to drive down to Seattle or Bellingham where it's cheaper to fly. What are our search options?

1. YVR (Vancouver) - SFO (San Francisco) direct on Air Canada = $921 all in for a one-way ticket.
2. YVR - SFO direct on united airlines = $802 all in for a one-way ticket.

Both pretty expensive. But it's my mistake for thinking about booking this busy conference so late in the game. (note: this is all for illustrative purposes -- I've booked my tickets a long, long time ago).

So this is where hidden city ticketing comes into play. Pricing is based on demand. Prices are based on city pair involved, regardless of stopover cities. United Airlines is selling me a ticket from YVR-SFO, and this is the price. the demand for this particular city pair is high because there's a major conference happening in the city at that exact time. that makes sense.

But what would happen if I pretended that I was going to Los Angeles (LAX) instead? The demand is much lower because there isn't a major conference happening at that time. A search on United shows one possible option of flying YVR --> SFO --> LAX. In this case, the price per person comes out to $673. so if you jump off the plane and "accidentally" miss your connection to lax, you end up still going to your intended destination (SFO). You save $129 per person, and as it so happens in this example, you get to ride up in business class as well.

This is a very bad example, of course, because this is a very specific situation. But it is not uncommon to find YVR --> YYC (Calgary) --> LAX cheaper than YVR --> YYC. this is most likely due to the sheer amount of competition that is available with the US-based airlines. I have occasionally found fares going from YVR --> YYZ (Toronto) --> MCO (Orlando) cheaper than flying YVR --> YYZ alone. Usually, the most luck I've had with finding hidden city fares is when I intend to fly domestically but look at transborder flights with strategic connections instead.

A quick search right now doesn't reveal many such savings, at least not for tango fares on Air Canada. But if you're looking for status miles and are willing to book flex fares domestically, hidden city ticketing still offers some advantages. For example, YVR --> YYC on may 30 at 8am on Air Canada = $262 (flex fare). YVR --> YYC --> LAX on the same day and time on air canada = $226. So you get the additional status and end up paying $36 less. Of course, if you only intended to buy tango fares domestically, then this technique doesn't make sense.

Some rules when playing this game:

1. Only buy one-way tickets. If you skip any segment, it invalidates the rest of your itinerary. If you book two separate one-way tickets, then your return ticket is not invalidated as it's on a separate reservation. Therefore, only skip out on the last leg of your itinerary and nothing else.
2. Checking luggage is an absolute no-no as your luggage will be sent to the final destination. For obvious reasons, this is not what you want. Also, under no circumstances do you want your carry-on gate checked either. This is why having star gold status is useful -- if you board first, you aren't at risk for having things checked at the gate. 
3. Do this sparingly, not weekly. In the travel terms and conditions, it does state that they could possibly charge you for it or find a way to recoup the cost. But if it's just every once in a while, it should be okay. I certainly don't do this often, and no one has ever asked me for payment.
4. In the case of irregular operations, always ask to be re-booked for the next flight out to the intermediate city (where you want to be), even if the connection to the final destination looks horrible. Because really, who cares? It's not like you're actually going there anyway. There is always the risk that you end up going to the ticketed final destination via other connections in the case of irregular operations (snow storm, mechanical issues, etc.), but that's a risk that you will need to be comfortable with. 
5. Due to #5, do not do this with very important, not-to-be-missed dates. I will be willing to do this with a vacation to Calgary or even to my review course in London next year. I will not be doing this for my Royal College exams.
6. Always be careful if you think your plans are likely to change. Change fees within Canada are much cheaper than change fees transborder.

Have you ever played with a hidden city fare? Or have you ever "thrown away" the final segment to make your travel just that much cheaper?