TORONTO — Social media can make your marketing dreams come true, connect you with new clients, showcase your travels to your followers and so much more.

The flip side of social media’s incredible reach? More and more travellers are learning about air booking hacks. For any agent who’s ever received an airline debit memo for a client’s skiplagging, that’s not good news at all.

Skiplagging is the term most popular on social media platforms like TikTok, but you may know it as ‘hidden city booking’ – when travellers book a multi-city itinerary that’s cheaper than their intended routing, and never use one portion of the ticket.

Travel agents have known about hidden city booking and skiplagging for decades. Savvy frequent fliers knew too. Now with the reach of social media – and as the cost of airfare climbs ever higher – the average air traveller is hearing about a seemingly secret way to save money on airfare. But for travellers booking this way through a travel agent, it’s the agency’s bottom line that can get dinged, with an airline debit memo.

It’s an increasingly troublesome issue for retailers, says World Travel Agents Associations Alliance (WTAAA) Executive Director Otto de Vries.

Otto de Vries, Executive Director, WTAAA

“Skiplagging is a long-standing issue in the travel industry that we do not

support, but travel agents cannot control customer behaviour once travel is

underway,” says de Vries. “While airlines have filed unsuccessful legal cases against consumers who skiplag, they continue to issue Agency Debit Memos (ADMs), penalizing agents whose clients break fare rules by not taking a flight segment.”

He cites a recent survey (from passport-photo.online) that suggests the practice is pervasive in the U.S., to the point that 64% of U.S. flyers said they skiplag at least 25% of their flights annually, with the practice increasingly popular among younger generations as a way to find cheaper fares and more convenient routes.

Social media platforms like TikTok have even promoted skiplagging. As de Vries tells Travelweek, “there is no doubt that social media platforms have had a role to play in the increased awareness of this practice.”

He added: “We do the right thing by booking as per the published fares, but the practice of holding the agent financially responsible when the client breaks airline rules remains a major concern. It’s time airlines play a straight game on pricing without huge markups for hub-to-hub tickets versus to final destinations which would diminish the incentive for skiplagging.”

As he tells Travelweek: “Frustrating is that if a client books this type of trip directly, the airline has little to no recourse, but when an agent/ advisor is used, they apply an ADM penalty.”

WTAAA’s stance is that travel agents have a duty to advise clients about the potential risks associated with skiplagging. These risks can include voiding return flights, losing frequent flyer benefits, facing legal action, or having accounts banned by the airline.

Travelweek wanted to know what advice de Vries would give to travel advisors who have received an ADM for a client’s skiplagging.

“We would recommend that you always challenge the ADM if you were not aware of the customer’s intentions at the time of booking. You might also wish to engage with the client to explain the implications of their actions and attempt to recover the costs you incurred. One option for travel intermediaries is to include a recourse against clients abusing this loophole in their terms and conditions,” he said.

TRAVEL AGENTS SHARE THEIR TAKE

Travelweek checked in with Canadian travel advisors, to hear what they had to say about skiplagging.

Gilbert Manza, owner, Executive Travel Services, says that while hidden city bookings haven’t been a big issue for him “in almost 30 years in this crazy business”, he says airlines “should be a bit more sympathetic to their ‘partners’ and not just automatically issue debit memos, [as] they bear some of the responsibility as well.”

Ever since the commission caps and cuts in the late 1990s, many agencies have shifted their primary focus away from air bookings. Staring down the threat of a debit memo, whether for a client’s skiplagging or anything else, hasn’t sweetened the proposition of air for many agents.

Jennifer Trofimuk with Planes, Trains & Kids Travel in Calgary says she doesn’t book air only, adding that she only books air as part of vacation packages and sometimes as a courtesy if a client is booking a big trip with lots of components. “But otherwise I say no. I hear more and more travel advisors are choosing not to do air for clients anymore just because it’s so much work and for little to (mostly) no commission.”

Jamie Milton with Uniglobe Carefree Travel in Saskatoon, on the other hand, says her agency is full service, and that includes air. “We have a lot of very happy and relieved clients who have found a place to book their travel. Air is definitely more work than it used to be, but we have just adjusted our fees to ensure our time is compensated,” says Milton.

Lesley Keyter with Calgary’s South Travel Inc. – operating and better known as The Travel Lady Agency – has her own take. She tells Travelweek: “I’ve heard about skiplagging – and I am sure it is annoying to the airlines – but from a consumer point of view is it really that wrong? After all they paid for the flight – and I bet the airline would fill the seat anyway.”

Keyter says her agency gave up BSP years ago “as we are leisure-focused and do not do any corporate. And now we don’t do air only either. If someone comes in and wants to do an air ticket we refer them directly to the airline website. There is not enough money in it to cover the cost of time – especially with cancellations and sked changes. The only time we do air tickets is when it is in conjunction with a cruise, tour or a custom itinerary.”

She adds: “Imagine ordering the McDonald’s special with burger, fries and a drink because it’s cheap. Then you don’t eat the fries because you’re full. And you get fined by the head franchisor. There’s got to be something wrong with the system.”

De Vries says it shouldn’t be the travel agents who bear the financial cost of their client’s travel decisions.

“WTAAA calls for an open dialogue between the airline industry and travel agent associations to address the increasing issue of skiplagging. This dialogue should focus on finding solutions that protect consumers’ rights to make informed choices while ensuring a fair and sustainable environment in which travel agents can operate,” he says.

This article appears in the July 18, 2024 edition of Travelweek; click here.