Back- to-back or not?
 

Is this really illegal or just for travel agents. Back when CP was around my TA would book one ticket with CP and the other with AC. I would only use the outbound portion of each and it was still less expensive than a regular fare. Of course this was only worth while whenever a good seat sale was on. Especially for domestic travel. Since CP is gone my TA doesn’t offer this anymore since they claim to have been charged penalty fees by AC. One of their clients showed up at the check-in counter and presented the wrong thicket. AC charged him for the balance of the Y fare.

How could this be illegal if the AC web site or Destina permits someone to purchase back-to-back tickets without warning them? Where are these rules stated? I know a few people who still do this without any problems. Anybody out there that have had bad experiences with b-to-b?

Thanks


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Prestige

There was a big discussion around this a few weeks back...

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum5/HTML/006623.html

The discussion boiled down to 'it seems to be illegal but plenty of people do it and don't get caught'.

While obvious BtB circumvents airline pricing rules (and illegal), nesting tickets (ie buying two rt tickets for the same city pair and then using them 1-2-2-1) is not. But, as you will see in the thread, plenty of people do it and get away with it...

Thanks.. I’m new here and should have looked around more

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Prestige

Welcome to FT!

The older thread gets pretty flamed in places...I've nested lots of times and no one has ever noticed or bothered me about it...it's been great to avoid peak season fares on at least on many trips!

Since your 'contract of carriage' is with two different airlines in your case, Prestige, and while I'm most certainly not an expert (especially in this forum), I would imagine that you're not breaking any rules, since you're flying on two carriers, and abiding by their contracts.

I would imagine, however, that if the CoC said that you couldn't fly on any other carrier between the same points if the return leg on Ticket A hasn't been flown, then there might be an issue.

Thoughts?

I'm thinking of coming home for Easter for three weeks --gotta love the UK... Since travel has already commenced on the ticket that I'm on, if I go out and buy a seat-sale ticket (not from Destina!!!), what are the chances of being caught? Would it be a good idea to get a LHRYUL ticket instead lf LHRYOW?

[This message has been edited by YOWkid (edited 01-15-2003).]

I think the chance of you being caught is close to zero. You're really nesting, rather than BtB, and this is not illegal.

I'm wondering, though, when would you actually use the back end (ie LHR-YOW) of the ticket that you have?

June 26. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Maybe I'm being thick...
are you thinking of going outbound (YOW) and inbound (LHR) on a new ticket, with all travel on the new ticket completed before you use up the return flight on the ticket you currently have?

If so, you are not even really nesting (ie not taking advantage of fare discrepancies)

Go for it!

I think my understanding of the meaning of the term "nesting" might differ from others'. The term has a well-defined, formal meaning in IT. It means one object fully contained within another object (or nested inside another):

1-2-2-1 is nesting.
1-2-3-3-2-1 is 2 level nesting.

1-2-1-2 is not nesting (because there's an ovelap).

What YOWkid is describing (if I understand him correctly) is nesting -- not b-to-b.

Maybe the term is used differently in the context of airline tickets.

But that is nesting, and doing so can be used to get around rules (like minumum stay).

No, not thick at all... I'm just not explaining it properly...

Ok, here's the scenario using Ticket A and B to demonstrate what I would be doing:
A: YOWLHR Jan
B: LHRYOW Mar
B: YOWLHR Apr
A: LHRYOW Jun

I guess that's level 1 nesting?

[This message has been edited by YOWkid (edited 01-15-2003).]

You're correct, this is considered as back to back in the context of airline tickets.

This is considered as back to back but AC is only concerned if you are using it to by pass Saturday night stays or other minimum stay requirement.

In your case, even if you buy 2 seperate tickets, complete one before another, you would still be buying 2 seat sale tickets.

As long as you fly all segments, I assure you that you won't run into any problems.

Nesting in just a general term in airline ticketing. Within nesting - you have either end-to-end or back-to-back. End to end meaning you are using 2 tickets to get to your destination and it's perfectly legal in most cases.