I wish the NYT would have asked a follow-up to this question:<p>> Q: Could airlines close this loophole, if they wanted to?<p>> A: Yes, it’s their own prices that allow this.<p>> If they want to shut down skiplagging, they could do it tomorrow. One way to do it would be reducing airfare to hub cities. The reason the price is so high because they control this market and want to maximize their profits. It’s the reason hidden cities even exist.<p>I mean, yeah, that's true. To eliminate the allure of hidden city ticketing, the airlines could reduce the prices on some of their most profitable routes. But my understanding is that airlines don't tend to have huge profit margins overall. If government mandated that the price for segment A->B is always cheaper than A->B->C, would the airlines be able to service as many marginally profitable routes? How much of the comprehensive air network that we take for granted would disappear if such a rule went into effect?<p>I'm not generally a fan of the airlines. I think their pricing practices have become those of pathological assholes. But I guess I would actually prefer the status quo over a future with simple, straightforward air fares that only serve a fraction of today's airports.