Red Is A Flavor

Big Money blogger Jeremy Schoemaker came across an interesting way to save (possibly) a ton of money on airfare.

He learned, from both experience and airline employee advice  that the airlines typically gouge flight prices when you book your final destination to its hub.

[more]

Shoe typically flies from Lincoln, Nebraska to Minneapolis, Minnesota, which is Northwest Airline's hub.  Round trip flights were costing hundreds and hundreds of dollars.  Yet, if he booked a flight from Lincoln to St. Louis, that connected in Minneapolis, it was less than $200.

I decided to test out this theory from Central Florida and learned that (based on my tests) this appears to only works from the regional airports (e.g. Melbourne, Daytona, Sanford, etc), not from larger, International airports (e.g. Orlando International).

Using Kayak.com I researched both Round Trip and One-way trips from Melbourne, trying to get to Atlanta (Delta's hub).  Here is what I found.

Round-Trip

Melbourne (MLB) - Atlanta (MLB)	$356
Melbourne (MLB) - New York (connecting in Atlanta)	$279
Savings	$77

One-Way

Melbourne (MLB) - Atlanta (MLB)	$177
Melbourne (MLB) - New York (connecting in Atlanta)	$164
Savings	$13

So basically, sometimes it is cheaper to book your flights through your final destination to a more popular place, and simply don't take the connecting flight.

Anyone have any experience doing this?

[via ShoeMoney]

Image: House Of Sims [via Flickr]

Permalink