If you're skiplagging, no checked bags. Carry-on/backpack only. The airlines won't let you do that.
The US does not have the concept of international transit lounges like other countries do, where you can get off plane 1 and sit in a room that is not technically inside the country (so you don't clear customs or immigration), then just get on plane 2 and go to another country.
I suspect there would be cases where it's cheaper to book a connecting flight through the US to some other country (or US city) and just get off at your first stop.
I've... stretched the definition of "one carry on and one camera bag" in the past (my camera bag is about https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1547750-REG/lowepro_l... and then I've got a small hiking backpack with laptop pouch for my carry on bag). If it wasn't a camera bag (or my single carry on wasn't as compressible) I would likely have had to check one in at the gate... as it was I've always been able to put the camera bag under the seat in front of me and the carry in in the space between/around the harder shelled monstrosities that people try to stuff into the overhead.
If I had two carry on bags rather than a carry on and camera bag ("We may allow up to two carry on bags, space permitting in the plane") or one didn't fit in the bracket at the counter without smooshing I would would have had to check one in.
(Aside: I have never skiplagged - I just don't trust camera bags or laptops to baggage handlers and if packing light results in no checked luggage, all the better)
If the youth didn't know the nuances of how to pack for such a situation there are a number of things that would be gotchas that would indicate to the employee at the counter that this would be skiplagging... along with the existing red flags of the drivers license, and the family history of doing it.
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It would have been interesting if they (the airline) were to rebook someone they suspect of skiplagging onto a partner airline that has a different connecting stop. "This flight is full, so we're booking you on Delta with a connection in Atlanta. Fortunately, it will get into New York City an hour earlier, we will be contacting your guardian there about the earlier arrival."
I’ve been in situations where when I try to check in via app or kiosk it says to see an agent (passport details needed to be updated, seat change, etc.). I imagine they could do something similar here pretty easily.
https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/special-assistance/unacc...
The skiplagging was going to fall apart real quickly, it's just a matter if it happens at check in, or when trying to leave at the connecting flight when the connecting flight escort says "this way" and the minor says "but my parents are at the passenger pickup area."
Airlines take their custodianship of unaccompanied minors quite seriously.
Note from the article:
> The boy’s father said he booked the ticket using Skiplagged, which helps find such throwaway options, but he didn’t know that airlines frowned on this. The dad always books with Skiplagged, and has for years, but the child had never even traveled alone before. The boy was on his own and confessed.
The family (and account used to purchase the tickets) was likely red flagged. This is harder to catch if you don't check in with a person (using a kiosk or app), but it is easy to imagine that there's a note on the account in the checkin screen for the employee to see... which an unaccompanied minor would need to use.
If any luggage was asked to only be checked through Charlotte, then that raises additional red flags.
The airline likely needs to do some due diligence. The individual is an unaccompanied minor flying. Imagine what they airline would need to do if he didn't get on the connecting flight to New York.
That said - it would likely have been caught in Charlotte as the unaccompanied minor is escorted to the next flight and ended up much the same way.
https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/special-assistance/unacc...