Hidden City Ticketing Study: San Francisco

Recapping our executive summary on How to Beat San Francisco Airfares, we analyzed the top 12 destinations from San Francisco, which together make up almost half of all flights out from SFO, OAK, and SJC. Here’s what we found:

• There are huge opportunities flying to Atlanta and Boston
• If you’re lucky, you can save flying to Chicago, Dallas, Honolulu, and Washington 
• We were hoping New York, Seattle, Denver, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and San Diego would strike gold, but unfortunately pickings for those cities are slim to none

Below is a city-by-city analysis for all the nerds out there - we love you.  Sign up for alerts to get updates on new routes or new analyses.  No spam, we promise.

The Big Winners:

San Francisco to Boston (BOS)

69% arbitrage frequency

Hidden city ticketing beats conventional airfares on most days (62 / 90 days we analyzed) - on average by $21.

Not only that, but hidden city ticketing can score prices lower than rock bottom conventional fares.

• Conventional round trip fares typically hit a rock bottom of $278.  The lowest hidden city ticketing opportunity was for $259.

Proof:

San Francisco to Atlanta (ATL)

68% arbitrage frequency

Hidden city ticketing beats conventional airfares on most days (61 / 90 days we analyzed) - on average by $42.

• Hidden city ticketing beat the lowest conventional fares 61 / 90 days (i.e. 68% of the time) - on average by $42.

Occasional Savings:

San Francisco to Chicago (ORD, MDW)

22% arbitrage frequency

Hidden city ticketing beats conventional airfares occasionally (20 / 90 days we analyzed) - on average by $17.

San Francisco to Dallas (DFW)

22% arbitrage frequency

Hidden city ticketing beats conventional airfares occasionally (17 / 90 days we analyzed) - on average by $15.

San Francisco to Honolulu (HNL)

18% arbitrage frequency

Hidden city ticketing beats conventional airfares occasionally (16 / 90 days we analyzed) - on average by $18.

San Francisco to Washington (IAD, BWI, DCA)

12% arbitrage frequency

Hidden city ticketing beats conventional airfares occasionally (11 / 90 days we analyzed) - on average by $12.

No Dice:

These other popular destinations were analyzed, but unfortunately hidden city ticketing was unable to beat conventional fares to any significant degree:

• San Francisco to New York
• San Francisco to Seattle
• San Francisco to Denver
• San Francisco to Los Angeles
• San Francisco to Las Vegas
• San Francisco to San Diego

What now?

• Remember to check on FlyShortcut.com before you book any future tickets - you might be able to save!
• Join the discussion on our Reddit posts here and here
• Share this post via Facebook or Twitter

Next up: Our study for New York.  Stay tuned!