ATLANTA (CNN) -- The nation's airlines say they're cracking down on what has become a common practice for business travelers -- using "back-to-back tickets" to save money on mid-week flights.

To wheel a deal, passengers buy two round-trip tickets, each booked over separate weekends. When they fly, they use the departing segment from one ticket and the return segment from the other. Often, two round-trip tickets with scheduled Saturday stays come in under the cost of a full-fare, mid-week ticket.

The airlines aren't happy.

"That costs the airlines money, so they're very perturbed about it," said Mike Pingrey of the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA).

But business travelers say they can save thousands of dollars -- especially if they frequently fly to a particular destination and can use all four ticket segments.

For example, a traveler needs to fly from Atlanta to Seattle twice -- from October 29-30 and November 16-18. The two flights could cost around $3,000 ($2,000 if you're willing to make a few stops along the way). But split the trip for ticketing purposes -- October 29-November 18 (Atlanta-Seattle round trip) for the first trip, and a round trip from Seattle to Atlanta for October 30-November 16 -- and use one flight coupon from each itinerary. The fares come in at about $600 total.

The airlines insist the practice violates rules.

"It violates their contract of carriage, which is the agreement made between the passenger and the airlines when the ticket is purchased," said CNN business travel consultant Christopher McGinnis.

If you're caught, the airline may not let you board the plane, and you may be forced to pay the difference in fares. Airlines are also levying stiff fines against travel agents who book the flights.

ASTA is willing to work with the airlines to end the practice, said Pingrey, but only if the airlines' own reservation agents stop issuing back-to-back tickets.

"If you're going to enforce this against the travel agencies, then we think it's fair for you to enforce it against yourselves," he said.

The bottom line -- these tickets are legal, and flyers can get the deals with or without travel agents. Travel agents say the problem is one of the airlines' own making.

"The price-rule compliance issues must be addressed by the people who created them directly with the people who are demanding them," said ASTA Vice President Joe Galloway in a statement released last month.

"(The airlines) need to straighten out their pricing," Judith Orhan, president of Pointe Travel in Gross Pointe, Michigan, told the Detroit News. "That's the problem. They are using the business traveler to subsidize the huge fare sales."

Illegal or not, unfair or not -- breaking the airlines' rules puts the traveler at risk for an expensive penalty, which may not be worth the lower fares.

Based on a report from CNN's Business and Travel and Beyond. The segment appears Monday through Friday on Daybreak at 5:30 AM (ET) and on Early Edition at 7 AM (ET). BT&B also airs Sundays on the World Today at 10 PM (ET).

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Related sites:

• American Society of Travel Agents (ASTAnet)
• CNN TravelGuide - Getting Ready: Air travel links
• CNN TravelGuide - Getting Ready: Business travel links

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