Originally Posted by
Sean Douglas
I'm planning a trip to Europe next summer and found AP availability from YVR to ZRH with a layer over in FRA, with partner airlines (LH and LX) on a fixed award (70,000 in J).
What is odd, is that when I search YVR-FRA on the same date, the LH flight does not show up, its only when the final destination is ZRH does it show.
Since my preferred destination is FRA, could I book the YVR-FRA-ZRH and simply not show up for the last leg to Zurich? I plan to book a separate flight from FRA to FCO or MXP.
Would there be any penalty or downside to this?
The downside is that in the event of a schedule change or IRROPS, they only need to get you to ZRH.
I ran into this recently on a paid ticket where I'd booked YVR-YUL-CPH, and had a separate Aeroplan ticket CPH-OSL. YVR-YUL was delayed, so I was rebooked on YVR-FRA-CPH, arriving after my CPH-OSL would depart. As a Super Elite who knows the 200 mile rule, I was able to get them to re-ticket me YVR-FRA-OSL (allowing me to just refund the CPH-OSL). But it took a fair bit of escalation through the concierge network.
A cancellation of YVR-FRA could easily result in you being rebooked YVR-YYZ-ZRH, YVR-LHR-ZRH, or some other combination of flights that don't touch FRA.
If your actual destination is FCO, can you just book YVR-FRA-ZRH-FCO?