My son and I are planning an insane 8-state college tour for spring break. We're starting on the west coast, visiting 2 schools in the south, driving to several schools in DC, PA and upstate NY, then stopping in Chicago on the way home. We're booking most flights on Southwest and have found excellent one-way fares. But on a few legs of the trip it seems that it's considerably less expensive to book a longer flight than the one we need. For example, from Durham NC to Washington DC is $280 one way, yet from Durham to Syracuse NY is $119, and includes the identical $280 flight to DC as the first leg. What would happen, theoretically, if we booked the Durham-Syracuse flight and chose to get off in DC, never boarding the second leg? Could we get "in trouble" with the airline? (This would assume we were using carry-on, of course.)

Are you then flying from Syracuse to somplace on SW. In general what you plan should be OK, although I have never done it. My only concern is that you make sure the plane is big enough to handle the size carry-on you will have - there are a lot of really small planes that fly into Syracuse, even on real airlines.

Air to Syracuse is expensive and difficult - weird connections and limited flights according to friend whose son graduates from there in June.

My daughter and I visited every college in the Western Hemisphere (or so it seemed) last year and while it was a good bonding experience if I never see another classroom, dorm or laundry facilities of a college that is fine with me.

If you check baggage, it'll go to Syracuse.

If you do "hidden city" trips (i.e. getting off at your *real* destination while buying a ticket to a cheaper, farther one) more than once in a while, the airlines might make a note on your passenger record that would flag you later. Once in a while you'll be fine. Of course if it's a round trip ticket then any remaining sectors after the no-show will be canceled.

I agree. No problem. But if you really worry about SW finding you to be abusing their pricing often, you can probably lower that chance by not putting in your Rapids Reward number (and not getting credit) for that flight, and book it with a different credit card than the regular one you have on record with WN.

That MAY lower your already extremely low risk to even less.

Thanks, everyone. Just to clarify, we have no problem finding great deals on Southwest. I am in love with SW - their flights are cheap, changeable and seem to go every college town my son is interested in...except Ithaca. The example I gave related to another airline. As far as the Syracuse area, we have decided to drive to Ithaca and Hamilton from NYC, then fly to Chicago on SW from Albany, unless we can get up the nerve to do the "hidden city" thing from Syracuse to Chicago. (I am concerned about the airlines making us check our bags and having them end up in a random midwestern city.)

Gail, I am looking forward to the college tour bonding experience, but the mere planning of this trip is making me realize that our lives will be a lot easier if my son chooses a school that is just one flight away (on Southwest, of course).

rkkwan & Gardyloo,

Let's say you booked a RDO/IAD/SYR flight (with the goal of getting off in the hidden city of DC) and the airline asked you to check your bags. Could you say that you had decided you were changing your destination to DC without incurring an additional charge?

There should be no concern about the SW plane being big enough to fit a carryon, regardless of whether it's Dallas or Syracuse. SW only flies one type of plane - Boeing 737.

Your biggest problem would be if that ticket included trips after you get off in DC - if you miss that leg of the trip, it voids the rest of your itinerary.

crosscheck - They won't check your bags just to IAD with your current ticket. Period.

The extra fees is to get your ticket repriced and reissued. It can cost hundreds of dollars, depending on the actual fares on that day.

Just reworked the trip so we can be honest travelers. Flying SW for just the first two legs to Nashville and Durham. Driving from Durham to DC (and to many other places, ending up in Ithaca). Used AA miles for flight home SYR-ORD-LAX with 24 hr. stop in Chicago. That leaves us with lots of flexibility in case we burn out. Plus the mileage award includes another one-way trip back east, just in case we miss a school or two.

Your comment about how much easier life will be if your son goes to a college in an area you can fly nonstop to ("to which you can fly nonstop"?) is right on the nose.

It's a somewhat dumb reason to choose one college over another, and no college decision can EVER be "all other things being equal." But believe me, it does come into serious play esp. flying to and from in the winter in the midwest/northeast.

But the son may not want a college that his parents can fly non-stop to!