skoullias

Dear FT community,

Hello. This is my first post, so excuse any naivete.

I want to book a flight from NYC to a major European city. Kayak wants to charge me in the $3000 range to fly direct. Flying to a secondary city with the major city as a stopover is in the $700 range. I haven't purchased a ticket, because they are non-refundable, and there is no way for me to know whether it's a married segment or not (which, speaking with a rep from the airline I'd be flying with --- there's only 1 -- said they would not split, even for a ticket change fee).

Any advice on how to proceed would be much welcomed.

Big4Flyer

Welcome to Flyertalk!

So to make sure I understand, flying from A to B is $3000, but flying A to B to C is only $700. You're wondering if you can buy the flight to C and get off at B. Is that correct? If yes, this is what we call hidden city ticketing. Hidden city ticketing is usually discouraged by the airlines (for obvious $$$ reasons) and is usually accompanied by some risks, but when the savings are as significant as your example its certainly worth knowing about.

If you decide to do it you need to know several things:

1) Don't check bags because they'll be routed to the final destination
2) Your onward segment will be canceled and any return flights will be canceled if you no-show one of the legs.
3) In cases of IRROPS you could be routed through a different airport other than the one you would want to get off at.

If I was you I would buy the ticket (given that you're saving $2300) only bring a carry-on, and don't book a return flight on the same reservation. Hopefully this helps.

SK AAR

It is not clear what your questions are, but I assume that the quoted fares are one-way? Have you searched for a return ticket? Often booking a return ticket and ditching the return segments will turn out cheaper than a one-way ticket.

Anyway, if you inquire regarding booking the cheap ticket to the secondary European city but only use the first leg to the major European city (the hub), this will work too with the caveats explained by Big4Flyer . But please note that this only works with a one-way ticket; if you book a return ticket and does not show up for a segment, the remaining segments/flights will be cancelled.

Given the significant savings, I would not hesitate to book the cheap o/w ticket to the secondary city and get off upon arrival at the hub, i.e. ditching the last leg of the ticket from the hub to the secondary city.

skoullias

Thank you both. The prices in the original message were actually round trip. Since both Kayak and the airline has language on their website discouraging hidden city ticketing; since the one way tickets ended up being less cost effective than the round trip tickets (round trip ended up being around $1100 - which is $400 more than with a connecting flight, but less than if I'd bought two one-way tickets); and since I couldn't discover whether they were part of a married segment or not (and thus pay a little extra to cancel the last leg, which would have still between cheaper), I opted to pay more and go with the round trip ticket.

Surely, the rest of you have felt this frustration numerous times, and there's not a lot one can do, right? Since I'm purchasing two tickets, the sting is double ($800, or what it would cost to buy a third round trip ticket for a connecting rather than direct flight). Bah!

Romelle

Does the ticket allow a European "stop-over"? If it does, even if it costs something, it could still work out to be a better deal.

skoullias

Not sure. What do you mean by "stop-over"? The trip connects in a major European city that's a hub for many inter-European flights, but the segment is "married", meaning the airline is unwilling to uncouple the two flights (i.e., if I get on flight # 1, and then skip out to my final destination) flight # 2 and all subsequent flights (return flights, flight # 3 and # 4) are forfeited.

Romelle

According to the FT glossary a stopover is:

An intentional interruption of a flight along a direct route. Stopovers are allowed sometimes when flying on an award ticket. Length of stopover varies by airline.

You'd have to book the full route, and fly it - a-b-c-b-a, but if in the fine print of the ticket rules it allows stop overs, you could get off at b, stay a while, and then continue your trip. Sometimes it adds maybe $100 to the ticket cost.

You can either read the detailed rules, or just try it on ITA or even Orbitz or Expedia. Do the "multi-city" and leave a few days at b on one side or the other. See how it prices out.

I've got a beginner's understanding, but maybe somebody more proficient will help here?

Romelle

Romelle

A detailed example l HERE.

Romelle

MSPeconomist

I suspect that you don't understand married segment logic. This has nothing to do with missing a segment and then trying to use the return portion of your ticket.

SK AAR

I was confused too by the reference to married segments.

To the OP: Married segments issue is a situation where you are able to book A-B and B-C separately in a certain booking class, whereas booking A-B-C together - as married segments - will not be possible (award tickets) or only be possible in a higher/more expensive booking class (revenue tickets).

This has very little to do with your situation where the fare for A-B-C is lower than for A-B; this is quite common and relates to fact that a carrier offering A-B-C will often have to reduce the fare in order to compete with the carrier flying A-C directly (whereas for A-B the carrier has the advantage of offering a direct flight and is able to charge more)

skoullias

Well illustrated. Thanks for clearing it up. It's a moot point since I've laready purchased my A to B tickets, but good for posterity. I was spooked by the airline rep mentioning that it might be a married segment, and they wouldn't uncouple them. I have no way of knowing whether they were married or not, actually (since the flight would have been booked through a discount airfare website).