{The teenager} whose 'skiplagging' ticket was canceled by American Airways didn't suppose it was one thing that was 'frowned upon,' the teenager's mother says

• The mom of {the teenager} whose ticket was canceled by American Airways says her son did not suppose skiplagging was frowned upon.
• Lisa Parsons informed Insider it was the 17-year-old boy’s first time flying alone.
• “The intention was to not shoplift or take away from the airline’s huge income,” Parsons stated.

{The teenager} whose ticket was canceled after American Airways realized that he wasn’t planning to board his connecting flight did not know that skiplagging was frowned upon.

The 17-year-old boy’s mom, Lisa Parsons, informed Insider neither she nor her son have been conscious that skiplagging broke American’s situations of carriage, which is an inventory of guidelines passengers must observe when flying with the airline. 

Insider beforehand reported that {the teenager} was scheduled to fly from Gainesville, Florida, to New York Metropolis in July. However his mother and father deliberate for him to deplane throughout his layover in Charlotte, the place he lives together with his household. Skipping the ultimate leg to New York Metropolis is a apply that is banned by the airline.

“My child was simply intimidated because it was his first time flying alone,” Parsons stated, including that she booked the ticket for her son. “He did not suppose that it was one thing that was frowned upon,” she continued.

Parsons stated her son was confronted on the check-in space by a number of American Airways staff, and that he did not obtain his boarding cross. In keeping with Parsons, her son’s ticket was canceled instantly by American, and the employees informed him his ticket was “flagged” within the system.

“They principally left him to sit down on the airport for some time. A number of flights left for Charlotte, however they did not supply him a chance to get on any of those flights,” Parsons added. She stated that she needed to buy a brand new direct ticket, which value over $400, for her son to fly to Charlotte.

Skiplagging — a cost-saving technique that is often known as “hidden metropolis” or “throwaway ticketing” — is the place passengers ebook tickets with a layover and skip the flight to the ultimate vacation spot. It is a apply prohibited by many airways.

In keeping with American’s situations of carriage, buying “a ticket with out aspiring to fly all flights to realize decrease fares” is prohibited because it exploits and circumvents ticket fares. 

Parsons stated she solely makes use of Skiplagged, the controversial web site which exhibits hidden metropolis tickets, to seek out low cost flights. The Parsons household, she stated, have solely taken three flights in 10 years and that they’ve by no means skipped any of them. 

“The intention was to not shoplift or take away from the airline’s huge income. The intention was to get flight on the proper time for a worth,” Parsons continued, including that American “appeared to be a good airline.”

American beforehand stated in a memo that it will begin cracking down on skiplagging — and {the teenager} hasn’t been the one one punished for trying to skip the ultimate leg.

In 2020, American kicked out a passenger from its frequent-flyer program for skiplagging 95 instances and requested him to pay greater than $10,000. And in 2021, one other passenger was stated to have been billed $1,000 for skiplagging.