A North Carolina teen was detained at a Florida airport after he allegedly used a “skip lagging” flight hack and violated American Airlines’ policy, according to WVNS-TV.

Hunter Parsons said his son Logan was “interrogated a little bit” and didn’t “understand why they [American Airlines] would do this” when he was stopped from boarding a flight destined for New York City

Parsons booked the flight for his son from Gainesville, Florida to New York City — with a layover in North Carolina, where the Parsons live.

A flight employee noticed Hunter Parsons’ North Carolina driver’s license and speculated he would get on the connecting flight for JFK airport, his father alleged.

Employees then interrogated the teen before the son, who was flying by himself for the first time, was “ultimately taken to a security room,” Parsons said. 

Skip-lagging is a method when a traveler books a flight’s layover as their true destination rather than continue to the ticketed destination.

It’s a tactic many passengers use to reduce the cost of certain flights.

Totally unaware of American Airlines’ hidden city ticketing policy — the father claims he’s used a skip-lagging service ahead of his previous flights.

“We’ve used Skiplagged almost exclusively for the last 5 to 8 years,” Parsons told the outlet.

Following the interrogation, Parsons says American Airlines made his family purchase a direct ticket instead from Gainesville regional to Charlotte.

“Purchasing a ticket without intending to fly all flights to gain lower fares (hidden city ticketing) is a violation of American Airlines terms and conditions and is outlined in our Conditions of Carriage online,” American Airlines said in a statement to WJZY.

“Our Customer Relations team has been in touch with the customer to learn more about their experience.”

“Skiplagged” is an air travel search engine that helps travelers expose inefficiencies in airline pricing — such as hidden-city — to find deals one can’t elsewhere, their site reads.

In 2015, United Airlines filed a lawsuit against Skiplagged’s founder, Aktarer Zaman, alleging the service promoted “strictly prohibited” travel as well as “unfair competition,” according to CNN.

But an Illinois judge threw out the lawsuit due to the founder not living or doing business in the area.

Southwest also filed a lawsuit against the site in Texas in 2021, alleging the site posted the airlines fares without permission.