melanddave

I plan to visit Amsterdam in Feb from GLA and it appears if I book to CDG and, ahem, miss the connection it is cheaper than GLA-AMS. Any problems with this plan, they are different planes?

Goldorak

No problem except a detail of relative importance : your return trip will be automatically cancelled !

carnarvon

@:-)

melanddave

Not returning with KLM

carnarvon

With whom then?

AF

melanddave

BA TP run but want to arrive early in AMS

Xandrios

If you are planning to get a one way ticket with klm, you may want to consider buying a return instead (return flight ~30 days later). That is often cheaper than a one-way..

Ditto

And of course no checked-in luggage possible.

irishguy28

Yes, there are several potential problems with this plan.

Given the likelihood of strike action (AF had their day on Tuesday, KL is having its day on Friday) or disruption due to storms (as happend to KL yesterday) you may end up being rebooked on a direct service to CDG, or not being able to travel as planned, or not being able to travel at all - thereby missing your onward flight on a separate ticket (as it appears is your intention).

If you have checked luggage, it won't be returned to you at AMS if that is indeed your desired destination. You will either have to pay to have the ticket changed to one that ends in AMS, or pay a fee of perhaps €275 per bag to have the bags retrieved at AMS - which will take a long, long time and could lead to you missing your onward flight on BA (as it appears is your intention).

Bear in mind also that if you miss the AMS-CDG part of a GLA-AMS-CDG or a GLA-AMS-CDG-AMS-GLA ticket, all further sectors are cancelled and you won't be able to use any part of the return ticket, if that was your intention.

When using separate tickets, you should be doing everything possible to minimise all these issues. Therefore, a direct flight on the evening before, ensuring you get to the origin of your "main" ticket in time, or with enough of a buffer to try to accommodate most possible contingencies, is how you should be planning this - not shaving a few more pennies off by booking tickets that don't correspond to your actual travel needs! [I do this myself and I always "pad" the schedule. I always get there the night before, and have worked out several fallback strategies just in case]

NickB

As to the KL flight being cancelled and not being able to travel at all, well the risk is exactly the same whether booking to AMS as a final destination or to CDG via AMS as a final destination.

As to being booked on a direct service to CDG, a direct service with whom? BA? I think that if this were the case (and, IME, KL is generally reluctant to book on a non-partner airline in case of irrops), I do not think that KL would object on rebooking on a later flight on KL (and therefore via AMS).

In other words, it seems to me that booking to CDG via AMS versus booking direct to AMS has a negligible impact on the misconnect risk incurred.

irishguy28

I wished to spell out all risks - not just for this particular passenger, on this particular route, and in this particular manner of travel - and I addressed the issue of not being able to travel at all by advising to plan travel on the previous day.

In my experience, I have only ever been booked onto non-partner, non-Skyteam airlines as a result of IRROPs on KL (though travel in J may lead them to be more generous in this respect). And from the various SFO delay/cancellation threads these past few weeks and months, we have multiple reports of people being booked onto LH, LX and BA.

As for direct services to CDG, AF operates 5 such services a week. In case of irrops, there is no requirement to rebook onto a direct service - any way of getting to the ticketed destination is possible - but there is certainly no guarantee that the affected pax would be rebooked via the same "hidden city", in the present case, being able to be rebooked to/via AMS.

melanddave

As I cannot travel until PM on the day of travel, and I am travelling HBO, I will take my chances. For info there will be no direct flights from GLA to Paris with AF in February 2018, Easyjet only.

Xandrios

I would say the risk is larger. While with a GLA-AMS flight there is only one flight and two airports to worry about. When booking GLA-AMS-CDG there are two flights and three airports that may influence the booking.

An example would be reduced capacity at AMS. KLM often tries to reduce the number of stranded pax at AMS by not allowing connecting pax onto the flight to AMS. Even though the OP was only planning to fly to AMS, KLM does not know that.

Another example would be strikes in France. For a GLA-AMS flight that would not make any difference, but when a flight to France is included they may be inclined to rebook onto a later flight, different route or operator.

In the past I have been rebooked onto a *A flight when IRROPS occurred. Flying Y they first proposed Alitlia flights via FCO, but when I pointed out that LH offered a connecting flight that would arrive 90 minutes earlier it was no issue whatsoever to be rebooked onto there instead. And, extra full-fare Y miles on my *A FFP

irishguy28

That's also a nice benefit

I was travelling on an FB award ticket on DL recently, the first sector of which experienced a slight delay which resulted in me being bumped off my second flight, though I arrived well in advance of boarding. Luckily, I got the last seat - in Economy Plus - and ended up earning full fare Y miles

I won't go into specifics, but my last KL Irrops in J ended up with me receiving miles in 3 different programmes for the entirety of the outbound route. And in 2 for the return ;-)

t0t1t2

If they gate check your hand luggage you are also in trouble