“Skiplagging” — or booking a flight with a layover to skip the last leg of travel — is a common hack for travelers who don’t want to pay for a direct flight or who to save money on airfare to a connecting destination. Airlines contend the practice results in lost revenue for seats on planes.
The airlines can end this practice pretty quick by charging less for a direct flight to the connecting city than they do for a two-legged flight though it. We prohibited the railroads from doing this sort of thing back in 1887 with the Interstate Commerce Act.