US Airways Dividend Miles (Pre-2005 America West merger) - Can I only use the first leg and get my luggage?

Hi,


I've purchased a 2-leg, one way ticket, only to later realize that I'm better off ending my trip right after the first leg. Can the airline still insist on flying my baggage to the second leg's destination if I'm not on board? Can they refuse to release my luggage unless I pay more? Thanks for your help!

The agent/kiosk will check your bag to your final destination; you'll have to retrieve it there if you choose not to board your connection.

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"I am serious...and don't call me Shirley"
(Leslie Nielsen as Dr Rumack in "Airplane")

[This message has been edited by Dont call me Shirley (edited Feb 03, 2004).]

Your ticket is through to your final destination. That is the only destination they would put onto your luggage tag.

If you don't check luggage, you can toss the second leg of your ticket. If you do, it will be sent to the final destination. In order to get around this, you will have to "buy up" to the fare between where you are starting and where you want to get your luggage.

Be warned that if this the outbound side of a roundtrip, and you don't take your second leg, your entire return journey is likely to be cancelled.

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Don't feed the trolls.

Gate checking - another victim of 9/11.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by EricH:
Your ticket is through to your final destination. That is the only destination they would put onto your luggage tag. </font>
Yes, but I've once seen them unload all the luggage from the plane (after they had loaded it), just because one passenger hasn't made it to the gate. Would they willingly load it to the second leg's plane to begin with, if I tell them at the connection site that I'm not boarding?


[This message has been edited by Pron (edited Feb 03, 2004).]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Pron:
Yes, but I've once seen them unload all the luggage from the plane (after they had loaded it), just because one passenger hasn't made it to the gate. Would they willingly load it to the second leg's plane to begin with, if I tell them at the connection site that I'm not boarding?</font>

While that may have occurred in the past, that's unlikely to happen now because most baggage is screened by the TSA so there is no requirement for positive bag match when the baggage is screened.

Basically, you're trying to circumvent the rules to get a cheaper fare. I wouldn't expect US or any other airline to go out of its way to help you. (Not passing judgment on what you're doing, just saying what will probably happen.)

If you bought a one way ticket as you stated, why not just reprice the ticket for the destination you want? You may end up with either a refund or a MCO available for future travel (the latter if the ticket was nonrefundable).

[This message has been edited by USFlyerUS (edited Feb 03, 2004).]

I'm not trying to circumvent anything, the airline is trying to manipulate a market failure (routes where there's little or no competition), and I'm not legally required to surrender to such failure; But I understand that they're not legally required to allow it. So having said that, any tips for effective carryon squeeze-packing are most welcome http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

[This message has been edited by Pron (edited Feb 03, 2004).]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Pron:
...I'm not legally required to surrender to such failure ... </font>

That's not correct, when you bought the ticket, you agreed to comply with US's terms of transportation which they provide as a common carrier. Under those terms, US may legally charge you for the correct published fare if you fail to travel the route and between the cities specified in the ticket you purchased. See below.

This practice of hidden city ticketing is occassionally caught by the airlines who presumably have the relevant software to catch it. AA has the best software and I am always skeptical of US's computer systems based on their inability to schedule and control yields effectively.

For more info see -
http://www.1st-bargain-air-fares-dirt-cheap-discount-airline-tickets.com/usairways/rules/usairwayshiddencity.html

also from the US website:

A fare applies only:
To transportation via the intermediate cities specified by US Airways in connection with such fare. Any other routing may subject the customer to an additional charge.
For transportation between the airports for which it is published. Tickets may neither be issued nor accepted for transportation that will either originate or terminate at an airport other than the airport for which the fares are published.

yes, they can "insist" that you use the entire ticket and the baggage must go the whole way. But, I can tell you that as a gate agent, I can and HAVE waived this rule if the request seems logical.

last example i can recall...pax had a 3-hour layover and the weather was not looking good. Asked if she could get off in XXX and have someone drive her to her final destination (she could have easily gotten there in the time she would have been sitting on her layover). I made sure she was on the final portion of her ticket (she was), deleted the 2nd segment, and checked the bag and the pax to the original connecting city.

I'd wager that you wont find many agents who will do this, but I reason:

1. We already have her money.
2. I essentially "freed up" her seat in case someone wants to buy it full-fare at the last minute.
3. Happy customer=repeat customer (no, really?)

Don't risk getting lucky at the airport. But if you call reservations and tell them your plan, they might deny you over the phone AND make a notation in your PNR. Then you're really hosed. I'd suggest pricing out a new ticket, and then applying for a credit and putting that towards the new ticket. good luck.

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"A mile of highway will take you a mile,
but a mile of runway will take you anywhere."

BINGO

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by C17PSGR:
That's not correct, when you bought the ticket, you agreed to comply with US's terms of transportation which they provide as a common carrier. Under those terms, US may legally charge you for the correct published fare if you fail to travel the route and between the cities specified in the ticket you purchased. See below.

This practice of hidden city ticketing is occassionally caught by the airlines who presumably have the relevant software to catch it. AA has the best software and I am always skeptical of US's computer systems based on their inability to schedule and control yields effectively.

For more info see -
http://www.1st-bargain-air-fares-dirt-cheap-discount-airline- tickets.com/usairways/rules/usairwayshiddencity.html (http://www.1st-bargain-air-fares-dirt-cheap-discount-airline-tickets.com/usairways/rules/usairwayshiddencity.html)

also from the US website:

A fare applies only:
To transportation via the intermediate cities specified by US Airways in connection with such fare. Any other routing may subject the customer to an additional charge.
For transportation between the airports for which it is published. Tickets may neither be issued nor accepted for transportation that will either originate or terminate at an airport other than the airport for which the fares are published.

</font>

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by C17PSGR:
That's not correct</font>
Yes it is. When AT&T customers bought its services, they supposedly "agreed" to a a set of draconian clauses that similarly utilized AT&T's position in markets that had limited competition. The California Supreme Court on one issue, followed by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court on another, ruled that a service provider using its position in the market to add unconscionable clauses to its cohesive contracts, cannot expect a court to uphold them. The fact we haven't heard of too many lawsuits filed by airlines against customers is one indication that they don't believe they can win. Anyway, there are some legal issues to be discussed here (pertaining to contract law, consumer protection law and antitrust law), and examining them goes a lot deeper than some convenient language appearing on the airline's website.

The answer is still no regardless of what your opinion on fares and ticket rules is.

Why not just drop your luggage off planeside (or at the entrance to the plane in the jetway)? I never check luggage (both on regional jets and on big planes) and I never bring it on board, either.

[This message has been edited by NYCommuter (edited Feb 04, 2004).]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Pron:
Yes it is. When AT&T customers bought its services, they supposedly "agreed" to a a set of draconian clauses that similarly utilized AT&T's position in markets that had limited competition. The California Supreme Court on one issue, followed by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court on another, ruled that a service provider using its position in the market to add unconscionable clauses to its cohesive contracts, cannot expect a court to uphold them. The fact we haven't heard of too many lawsuits filed by airlines against customers is one indication that they don't believe they can win. Anyway, there are some legal issues to be discussed here (pertaining to contract law, consumer protection law and antitrust law), and examining them goes a lot deeper than some convenient language appearing on the airline's website.

</font>

No one is going to put a gun to your head and force you to fly the last segment. However, the airline is probably going to tell you that you can choose one of three options:

1)Check no bags and get off where you like. Do this too often and you or your travel agent may receive a debit memo. If it's you and you don't pay, you could lose status/FF miles with DM. You won't face any legal sanctions for following this course of action, but neither will USAir.

2)Check bags and get them at your final ticketed destination, as you are ticketed.

3)Pay the fare difference + any change fee to change your ticket from XXX-YYY-ZZZ to XXX-YYY.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Pron:
Anyway, there are some legal issues to be discussed here.</font>

The last time I got in a legal discussion here I decided I wouldn't do it again. Nonetheless, I would advise you that the legal term you were looking for is "contracts of adhesion" or "adhesion contracts" not "cohesion contracts." They wouldn't be relevant to your problems in this case.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Pron:
The fact we haven't heard of too many lawsuits filed by airlines against customers is one indication that they don't believe they can win.
</font>

The fact that we haven't heard of too many lawsuits filed by airlines against customers has more to do, I would suggest, with whether it makes sense for the airlines to spend thousands of dollars in legal fees to collect an amount in the hundreds for a cancelled segment.

That said, if the original poster attempts to do this in both directions, most airlines will cancel the remainder of his itinerary (i.e., both legs of the return trip) if he fails to fly both legs of the outbound trip.

Djlawman

I was not aware that gate checking luggage had been discontinued after 9/11? What do they do if all overhead bins are full and pax keep carrying on bags? Assuming you can gate check a bag, that tag is usually handwritten, and the flight attendant or gate agent will ask you your final destination. You would obviously then say the connecting city is your final destination. I can see some difficulty with this scanario if for instance your bag got lost, and then you would be filing a claim in the connecting city. I don't know how DOT's rules or other policies would apply to a lost bag claim at an intermediate point as opposed to the bags destination.

Also, have never tried this, but couldn't you check the bag to the intermdiate city, and say it had something in it you needed to deliver to someone, and thus you only want it checked to the connecting city?

I am very curious though if the airline would have some obligation to fetch or re-send a bag to the connecting city if that is where a pax elected to get off. If you do not claim your bag in the originally ticketed destination, then there is a whole process the airline must go through to store your bag bag, and I assume there is some warehouse that bags never claimed get sent too. Kind of like an airline equivalent to the dead letter office.

Also bear in mind the above posters are correct that all your "downline segments" (airline jargon) will cancel out. So if your ticket was from A-B-C and then C-B-A, once you no show B-C that will cancel as well as the C-B and B-A.