quandide

Want to book YYC-IAH for two at the end of this month. One-way fare in T+ from Calgary is $608 fpp or all 3 direct flights. One-way fare from Edmonton connecting through Calgary on the same 3 flights in T+ is only $248. Same deal when you leave in YVR or Regina. Go figure. Another AC fare structure mystery.

So if we purchase the Edmonton-Calgary_Houston return, is AC going to make a fuss if we "cancel" the Edmonton-Calgary portion just before "leaving"?

We tried doing something similar on LH last year and when canceling leg 1 the whole ticket got cancelled so we were stranded. Waving our SE cards got us nowhere (predictably)

Thanks for any help.

Academic

You can usually drop the last segment, but if you cancel the first, you lose the whole itinerary.

YXUFlyboy

If you no show in YEG, your whole itinerary will be canceled. Airlines do this all the time to try to get business from certain markets. In your case, they want YQR/YVR/YEG fliers to get to IAH via YYC. But if you're at the hub already, you pay full price.

I saw this last month, YYC-IND was a lot cheaper than YYZ-IND, even with YYC going through YYZ. Both T+ fares. So I did what any good FF does and routed through YYC

So you could go YYC-YEG-YYC-IAH, but I think AC nails you pretty hard on the YYC-YEG run. Or you could do a one-rental to YEG and drop it off, then fly. It's worth it to save the money.

RiG

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8100/4.5.0.102 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/107)

Yup, its only the last segments you can drop. Did the same thing last year.

emcampbe

Trust me, you're not the only one to think of doing this kind of thing. Which is exactly why every airline, AC included, cancels your onward ticket if you don't show up for a segment.

This is the way the airline industry works. It's also the reason why you can often get cheap int'l flights ex-USA, obviously with a stop in YYZ or YUL going toward Europe/middle east, or YVR going over the Pacific, and end up with a fare hundreds of $$ cheaper than going from the hub itself. That's the way AC entices more people to fly their metal. Did this once, ORD-YYZ-CDG on AC, which was about $250 or so cheaper than going YYZ-CDG, and about $300 cheaper than going UA nonstop.

margarita girl

Less than 2 months ago, somebody reported on this very forum that if you checked in for your second flight before your first flight departed, you would be OK. Lots of people said it couldn't be done, but then he/she reported back that it had indeed worked.

Now who can find the original thread?

margarita girl

I found it! Searched for "throw+away" and it was like the 5th post in the list!

Can you check in at a connection point?

FlyerGoldII

I would be interested in seeing if anyone else has report this type of experience. I would have presumed that the proof of flying (to the airline) in the plane is the gate agent scanning the boarding pass - no scan, no show!?!?!?

bestof2k9

No scan means you haven't boarded, means you'll get offloaded, means your file will be marked as no-show.

Even if your already checked in for your second flight you should still show as no-show on the first one.

BlondeBomber

This is a case of where I wouldn't do this as a matter of normal practice to try to save money (because you could lose big time in the end and screw up your travel plans) but if you legitimately couldn't get back to the originating airport, phone AC and explain your problem and see what they can do.

As the other thread says, if you check in at the intermediate point before the originating flight leaves, you might be OK, especially if you have AC's blessing--they have just cancelled the first flight when I phoned in (again--for legitimate reasons).

In one case I think I was flying on two tickets (both AC) for two separate trips and AC was delayed. In another, it was because a snowstorm made travel impossible by vehicle to the originating city (YEG), but it was possible to get to the connection (YYC).

royalflight

My job is to provide legal advice to my employer which includes problems that arise from time to time with our subsidiary companies, one of which is a travel agency. A few years ago an unhappy client sued us because we issued a US Air ticket r/t from Buffalo to New York (La Guardia). The client lived in Toronto, but found it cheaper to fly out of Buffalo (don't know if that is still true). For some strange reason the client decided to take a bus!!! from Toronto to New York and then fly back New York to Buffalo. When he went to check in at La Guardia U. S. Air denied him boarding unless he purchased a full fare Y class ticket. He was told since he did not take the flight from Buffalo, they cancelled his return ticket.

I decided to file a third party action against U.S. Air, since I could find nothing on the ticket stating that if the original ticket was not used, the airline had the right to cancel the return ticket. I submitted that as both legs of the journey had been paid for, the airline did not suffer a loss just because a passenger did not show up for his flight. U.S. Air defended the action stating that the rule was on the ticket envelope (the client did not receive this as we issued a travel agency envelope) and the airline said the rule was posted on the internet. This was some years ago and the client did not have access to the internet, in fact was basically unaware of the internet.

We had a pre-trial on this matter, and the judge was most un-sympathetic to U.S. Air and said if this went to trial the airline would lose. The judge was of the view that the airline and been paid twice for the New York Buffalo trip, and they were not allowed an "unjust enrichment." The airline decided not to go to trial, and paid the claim including interest and costs.

As I say this was about ten years ago, and I don't know if this argument would fly today (pun intended).

YOWkid

Why don't you try it some time and let us know?