Skipping A Segment ?

Hey Everyone,

So I booked a Flint to LGA run and was wondering if NWA will let you skip a segment? Ironically it was $100 cheaper to fly from Flint to DTW to LGA than a direct flight out of Flint. My question is will NWA let do this because I wont want to fly out of FNT at 7am when my flight from DTW leaves at 3 and I live closer to DTW anyways.

Only if it's the last leg. If you skip a segment, then the entire itinerary will be canceled (hence why you should skip a last segment, and noneother... which is still against the airline rules, FYI). Here's a thread about skipping that last segment:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...t=skip+segment

It sounds like you are proposing to skip the first segment of your trip. This is an extremly high risk manuever, as NW computers will catch this immediately and cancel out the rest of your iternary. You will then be at the mercy of someone at DTW to let you fly...

Let me give you an example, I was flying an award ticket IND-DTW-FNT (12 hour advance purchase don't shoot me!). For some reason my boarding pass was not scanned in DTW for my RJ segment down to FNT. Within a couple hours I noticed that my entire reservation had disappeared from NWA.com and I had to go back down to FNT's ticket counter to get the ticket reinstated.

Just a cautionary tale...

FNT and DTW are considered co-terminals, and a year or so ago I had a flight that was supposed to originate from FNT, but NW let me depart from DTW. I was flying FNT-DTW-ATL-SFO. The DTW-ATL leg on DL was cancelled, and NW put me on DTW-SFO nonstop. Not sure if it was because of the change or co-terminal, but I ended up leaving from DTW, not FNT. Nothing like cancellation happened to my ticket.

Very risky, as I had a BP scanning issue once that caused my return itin to disappear. The BP scanner in FNT was down, so the GA just ripped off part of my OLCI BP when I boarded the hop to DTW. I made it to WAS OK but when I attempted to check in for my return flight in DCA my return itin was GONE. The TA reinstated my return itin but I lost my elite seating.

Lesson here is exactly what was stated previously - NWA's computers are coded to pick up this behavior (skipping legs) and revenue protection will dump your itin, so never, ever attempt this except the last leg of your trip plan. Even then, if you're using a WP account don't make it a habit as they'll catch on. Occasional "abuse" will likely pass under the radar as long as it doesn't become a habit.

I recommend either of two options, depending upon how much risk you wish to take on. Easiest way is to fly your FNT-DTW leg at 0700, then attempt to standby an earlier LGA flight so you're not sitting in DTW all day. A more risky approach is to call NWA a little before the FNT flight is scheduled to board, tell them you overslept or had car trouble/taxi didn't show up and you are soon to be on the road, but won't make FNT. Then apologize profusely to the CSR and ask if you can "divert" (drive) to DTW so as to make your connection to a very important meeting in NYC via LGA.

Perhaps the CSR will take pity on you and fix you up. Success depends on how convincing you sound (and that lack of a pattern I mentioned earlier).

Best of luck.

Has anyone ever tried calling the elite line and reasoning with the CSRs? Or coming up with a story? My secretary booked me out of FNT but I was supposed to fly out of DTW and I'll miss my meeting etc etc?

I wonder how hard it is to lop off a preceding segment.

Back in my travel agent days, it did work if you called the airline on the day of departure, and gave them a reasonable excuse for why you will miss the first segment. This could be something like "I had a business meeting in X that ran late, so I could not make it to Y, but if I get in my car and drive to Z I can still pick up that connecting flight." Either that, or something having to do with a flat tire.

The long and short of it is that you have to call NWA and hope to find an agent who will have the good graces to accept your excuse and be willing to adjust your PNR so that your entire trip will not cancel out--on the day of travel.

I'm bumping this again to ask whether anyone has tried or had success with canceling the first segment lately. Got a FNT-DTW-LAX flight at 7AM that I would love to catch at 9AM from DTW

IMO... not unless there's a reason, that would pass internal audit... MX, WX, etc, something that would pass the "alternate routing EQM request" test. And since I presume this is the start of your departure (and not the start of your return), I'd be real careful when you showed up to your ex-DTW. Since you missed your first flight, it's very easy to have the computer cancel your entire reservation, since it presumes that since you missed your first flight, you're not flying at all.

Yet do tell us how it turns out...

Steve B.

I was booked YOW-DTW-LAN last week. I was supposed to be flying from YOW at 6am Saturday morning, but due to the weather waiver they booked me on YOW-DTW 4pm on Friday. I requested that I not fly the DTW-LAN, so the CSR didn't rebook me on it, no problems.

I still had to fly LAN-DTW-YOW for the return though

I think this is a different situation though. Because of weather you were choosing to change your ininerary to insure you arrived in LAN.

I am presuming that the FNT-DTW-LAX fare was much cheaper than the direct DTW-LAX fare and that is what the airlines want to prevent. The reasons that airline do this is to prevent travelers from intentionally booking lower fares from the connector cities, and then just flying from the hub.

FNT has traditionally been a lower fare city then others in Michigan. DTW being the hub traditionally has higher fares.

I'll bump this one more time. I need to fly MSP-PHL next month and the fare for a direct flight is 730.00. It's less if I want to fly DL and connect in ATL which I really don't want to do.

However, the fare is 300.00 less flying out of RST connecting through MSP on what would be the same direct flight. I live north of the cities about 40 miles so it would be a 130 mile drive to RST. Granted, I would pick up an extra 1000 miles and 2 segments.

Back to the original question, has anyone else had success of skipping the first segment.

I have done it before but it was WX related and my flight was canceled out of STC.

I've had lots of success skipping the first segment.

All you have to do is pay the higher airfare to fly out of the hub.

If you want the convenience of a direct flight, then you'll have to pay direct-flight pricing.


Unfortunately, that doesn't work the other way around - I fly out of EAU, and it's always more expensive than flying out of MSP! (CWA/LSE/RST/DUL are all cheaper since NW is competing on equal footing there with UA/AA/others)