My son is going to be in Buenos Aires playing rugby for a couple weeks this summer and I was considering taking the trip. I looked up flights and found the following.

IAH - EZE: $1612 Round Trip
AUS-IAH-EZE: $777 Round Trip

Yes, the trip starting in Austin and then getting on the exact same flight from IAH to Buenos Aires is $835 cheaper. I live in Houston. No checked luggage. Is it allowable or even possible to skip getting on in Austin and then only taking the IAH-EZE leg of the flight? Google tells me that is called skiplagging and it's frowned upon and/or prohibited.

I feel like there would be no problem getting off in Houston on the way back and not continuing on to Austin, but I'm not sure if it's possible to do what I described above on the outbound flight. Does it being an international flight complicate this strategy in any way?

Worst case is that I just drive to Austin. The drive time is worth saving $835 per ticket.

Thanks. Not worth the risk. I'll take a bus or something to Austin.

Are there any complications with the route back, though, and not taking the flight from Houston to Austin?

I don't get this at all. I understand $800 seems like a lot of money, but you are going to spend several hundred dollars extra to save that money, and you are adding tons of hours to your trip. Along with that, greatly increasing the chance for missed connections or weather/maintenance issues by turning a non-stop flight into a 2 stop flight. Unless your time is worth nothing, you probably end up worse off than just taking the direct flight from Houston.

I neglected to say this in my original post, but It's actually $3,340 savings ($835 x 4 people) because it'll also be my wife and other kids. Also, my son and his team are taking the flight from Austin since it is central to the Universities they play for (and most affordable). That was actually the only reason I even looked at what a flight from Austin would cost.

TexAg2001 said:

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I neglected to say this in my original post, but It's actually $3,340 savings ($835 x 4 people) because it'll also be my wife and other kids. Also, my son and his team are taking the flight from Austin since it is central to the Universities they play for (and most affordable). That was actually the only reason I even looked at what a flight from Austin would cost.

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did you check the return flight nonstop to houston? maybe it's no more expensive than having the austin add on.

So do the austin add on going out, but not coming back.

Going there could def be an issue, and they may cancel the whole deal. However, on the way back not a problem
At all. I've done that many times.