FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - AA Vacations - not checking in at Hotel
View Single Post
Old Sep 26, 2015, 3:20 am
  #11  
GUWonder
Suspended
 
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting
Posts: 102,103
Originally Posted by LondonElite
I think for the purpose of booking the lower-fare ticket, even showing up at the hotel is probably unnecessary, since the systems to AA are not linked, so it would be unusually convoluted for this to affect the return flight.
Having done this a lot, it is indeed not a problem.

The bigger problem with these "vacation package" deals is that the hotel can't find the guest reservation -- a problem that isn't a problem when not even trying to check into the hotel that comes with the package.

Over a huge number of "vacation packages" booked to access flights at a lower price than would be the case if booking just the flight, I've never had a flight cancellation arise as a result of no-showing at the hotels that were part of a package that combined flight with hotel and/or car rental. And when it comes to such packages sold by various airlines and OTAs, at least some of the major ones even allow the name for the hotel guest to be different than the name for the flying passenger.

I've done this thing for so long and so often with AA/DL/UA that I wouldn't even hesitate to no-show on the hotel or car aspect of the booked package deal. Rather it's often my default approach when dealing with next day or same week departures. If I don't find any need to check into the hotel, for any or no reason, I just skip the package hotel and just use the desired elements of the package as I find suitable for myself -- all with the knowledge that the flights are generally booked on restricted fares when it comes to changes/cancellations. Sometimes these packages are even booked to access hotels for the relative cheap and to ditch the flights. I've done that a lot too.

Last edited by GUWonder; Sep 26, 2015 at 3:26 am
GUWonder is offline