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Comment by jacob019 | Hacker News Reader

I don't see how this could work for the return flight. If I book Indianapolis to LA to get a cheaper ticket to Denver, I would still need a flight back from Denver, so even if I save 20% on the first flight, I'm only saving 10% on the round trip. Am I missing something?

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You have to book two one-way tickets. One IND-LAX thru DIA, and another one DIA-LAX. If you booked a round-trip IND-LAX, both thru Denver, and you skipped the DIA-LAX on the outbound, the rest of your ticket will be cancelled.

It can be substantial even doing it one-way, a popular route I flew into ORD was $454 each way on its own, but going thru ORD onto somewhere like MKE was $89-105 consistently. So even with the full-fare ticket back, it would reduce the price from nearly $900 r/t to $600ish. YMMV.

Alternatively you could do a second hidden-city trip, eg.DIA->ANX via LAX, and just not not use the second leg of the return trip.

airlines will cancel your ticket if you don't get on the plane for the first leg

Two one-ways, two different airlines. Fly from, say, LA to Indianapolis via Denver on, say, Delta and get off at Denver. For the return trip, fly Denver to Anchorage via LA on say Alaska Airlines and get off at LA. You have completed your travel plans, and from the perspective of each airline, you just missed your connection on a one-way trip.

Nope. If the city of origin is another airline hub you could theoretically do another hidden-city trip back, though. (eg Denver->Indianapolis->XXX)

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