BOOKING your flights through an Italian travel provider could be the answer to finding the cheapest fares.
And contrary to what you might think, you don’t even need to be travelling from Italy.
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This is all thanks to laws in Italy that makes it possible to take advantage of a flight ticketing loophole that those in the know have been using for years.
The trick is to look out for “hidden city fares” or “throwaway ticketing”.
However, many airlines in the UK now automatically cancel your return flight if you miss any leg of the first flight through a “no-show clause”.
And Lufthansa is even reportedly suing a passenger for deliberately missing the last leg of his flight to get cheap fares.
How hidden cities and throwaway ticketing works
If you wanted to get from A to B for example, you might automatically look for direct flights.
However, a route from A to C via B might actually be cheaper than a direct flight between A and B.
So if you book the journey from A to C, simply finish your journey in B to take advantage of the cheaper fares.
But an investigation by the competition authority in Italy found that passengers were not being made aware of the fact that by skipping a part of their outbound flight, their return flight would be automatically cancelled.
It led to fines being issued to airlines including British Airways.
A number of airlines later changed their policies under Italian law – in many cases, you just have to call the airline after you’ve missed your flight to let them know that you still want the return journey according to travel website View From The Wing.
Brits looking to save money on their flights through the hidden cities and throwaway ticketing trick should therefore book through an Italian agency.
For example, by booking a holiday through Expedia.it, rather than Expedia.co.uk.
The tickets must be issued in Italy for this to work.
It is worth noting that some airlines may still not allow this to happen despite the ruling – British Airways cancelled a couple’s return flight after they missed their outbound journey.
There are huge savings to be made though, especially if you’re flying premium.
Aviation blog God Save The Points suggested that Emirates is one of the best airlines for this.
It said: “Many airlines, including Emirates, are known for selling extremely discounted business and first class tickets out of Northern African and Middle Eastern countries, and by simply using an Italian point of sale for the ticket purchase, a traveller could potentially buy a ticket from one of these areas and pick up the itinerary at the place along the way of their choosing.
“It could save $10,000 or more on a first class ticket, which is a serious change.”
Sun Online Travel previously revealed some of the best apps that could help you find cheap flights.
Last year, a new app that launched allowed passengers to bid on unsold air tickets at huge discounts.
However, you’d have to travel at the last minute.
