wil1408

We want to take a Round-the-world flight with a particular airline partnership, but their rules require a minimum number of stopovers: one more than we are willing to make. So we came up with this idea to "create" a stopover:
We happen to live midway between city A and city B (the airline's hub). We buy RTW tickets from A, starting with a first leg flight from A to B, and schedule a "stopover" (say a couple of days) in city B. But the plan is to drive to city B and start our journey from there i.e. not using the A to B leg and its stopover; the only purpose of which is to create enough stopovers on the itinerary to they will issue the RTW ticket.


Is this OK? or is this the illegal "Hidden city?"
Or does that term only apply to connecting flights rather than flights separated by stopovers?

YVR Cockroach

They'll likely cancel your whole subsequent itinerary if you don't fly the first, or any preceding leg.


Try fitting in a red eye flight. My sister once had to "overnight" on her way back to LON. She was thinking of overnighting in YYC. What i had her do was take the red eye to YYZ on one night and then connect onto the morning flight to LHR the next morning. A 3 hr layover in YYZ but it did the trick.

[This message has been edited by terenz (edited 09-04-2000).]

1Kgaggs

We might be able to help more if you would be more specific. For instance, I'd like to know which airline combination you plan to choose, the origination point, and the stopovers you want. There may be an easy way to do it.

wil1408

Thanks,
We were planning to flying eastward RTW with * alliance, departing from IAD and
stopping over for 3 days each in BKK and SIN. But * alliance RTW rules require a minimum of 3 stopovers of at least 24 hours (the red-eye idea won't work because 24hrs must elapse between arrival and departure times in your stopover city).
So I dreamed up the idea of "creating" a stopover by starting (and ending) the itinerary from CHO rather than IAD. (We actually live closer to CHO than IAD, though both are within easy driving distance). The first leg, which we were not intending to use, would be CHO-IAD with a 2-day "stopover" while in reality we would drive to IAD for the real start of the trip: IAD-BKK, BKK-SIN. SIN-CHO.

I guess the question is: Would the airlines look on this as harshly as they do a hidden city routing? RTW rules are horribly complicated but I found nothing in the rules about missing a flight segment being punishable by cancellation of the whole itinerary. In fact as long as you stick to the rules (no backtracking, only one stopover allowed per city, 3 min. stopovers in itinerary etc.) RTWs are remarkably flexible about date / time changes, adding more cities. I wish we could add more cities but we're on a tight timetable.

henwood

Put your "fake" stopover at the end of your trip. Leave from IAD, then drive home
from CHO when you get there. Then when you don't show up for the last leg of your
journey, what are they going to cancel?
It would go like this: IAD-BKK, BKK-SIN, SIN-CHO, CHO-IAD
I am not sure if there is anything they could do to you after all the other flights have
been taken.
If it turns out there is a catch to this, just drive back to CHO ( maybe easier said
than done) in a couple of days and fly home to IAD.
Any veterans out there know if this would work?

bernie

If you don't show up for your first leg, they sure will cxl the rest of it.
On a route like that, there should be a posibilty for a "real" stopover. Just choose a city with high frequency when back in the US( SFO/ LAX ?)and start your final leg just after 24 hrs.

1Kgaggs

The Star Alliance RTW (RWSTAR1) costs more than a two airline combination RTW. I would try and see if I could book an RTW on UA/CX, and then book a separate BKK SIN BKK ticket, as the total might cost less. I am not sure how many stopovers are needed on a two airline combination, but I think that you can do it with two. I would not do the "hidden city" routine, as the non-use of your first flight segment may cancel your onward reservation. Wil1408, you can E Mail me at [email protected] if you want to get some details of the UA/CX RTW.

jamiel

also there was (a year ago) a UA-Thai RTW ticket (you had to specify it, otherwise they'd book with multiple carriers). Also I know of a UA-SAS combination--same price which would work (IAD-SIN-BKK-CPH-IAD.

JL

tvlfcls

To get around the stopover problem, do the following.

Confirm the oubound flights to SIN. Such as IAD-LAX-SIN

Keep all the other sectors open and show a stopover at each connecting city.

Such as SIN-BKK stop BKK-FRA stop FRA-IAD stop. Chances are 99% that you will have no problem connecting all the way thru from BKK.

Also, if you want to really confuse them, do two more open sectors from SIN to KUL and rip them out before you leave from BKK.

The hidden city police wont have a clue.

Good luck!