"Hidden city" Flying Blue award ticket to France
 

A friend of mine called and asked if she could book a one-way Flying Blue ticket from America to Marseille through CDG, and just get off in Paris. The AF website is pricing this as much cheaper for her travel date than just a ticket to CDG. I told her that as long as she didn't have a checked bag -- and to make sure she got her carry-on aboard the plane -- this would seem like a reasonable thing to do.

Anything I'm missing, or is this a decent strategy?

It works for me on one-way award tickets if certain not to have any checked-in luggage — not even intended cabin baggage ending up as checked-in luggage. AF check-in at US airports can sometimes size and weigh cabin baggage, so keep that risk in mind about cabin baggage too.

I find it a bit risky, hidden cities are less a problem for the airline than paid tickets... If the fare difference is significant there are more chances they make her pay the difference if she gets caught because they will notice it anyway.

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Thanks, yeah that's the only problem I see, too.

BTW, if you're flying to another city in France with a connection at CDG, where does your baggage clear customs? Is it like in the USA where you have to claim your bag at your initial port of entry -- and then recheck it? Obviously, that would solve any potential (even if unlikely) problem if you want to simply walk away at CDG.

It is not like the US with customs at the port of entry. Checked-in luggage from the US to destinations in Metropolitan France are generally claimed at and get customs cleared at the final destination as per the final destination noted on the bag tag.

Not generally. Always.

I can’t say always for this, because I have been around on arrival in France when some were asked to come out to identify and claim bags and some then got searched and controlled for customs control purposes — not just prohibited weapons/explosives/incendiaries and PPBM for flight security — before the checked-bags were allowed to continue on their journey as tagged.

Extremely rare/extraordinary ≠ never
Extremely rare/extraordinary ≠ the opposite of always

The OP’s idea won’t work nicely with checked bags at CDG because unless the bags are tagged only to CDG they will ordinarily go for placement to be loaded onto the continuing flight to MRS and don’t come to the CDG baggage claim belts.

Nowadays does AF/CDG require positive passenger bag matching for the plane to fly out with checked luggage that is not rush tagged? If it does, what does CDG do with offloaded luggage at CDG for passengers who no-show for the onward flight?

How does this work though, given that Paris-Marseille is a domestic flight. Wouldn't this domestic flight land in the terminal where passengers can simply walk off, where would the customs be in Marseille airport domestic arrivals.

She can also check all train transfer that are sometimes also cheaper (Lille, Reims, Nantes, rennes, lys etc…). This way, you really get off at cdg and just collect the train ticket (and do not board the train) but you can still travel with checked-in luggage.

Yes. And I believe this is policy for most airlines/countries in the world, except USA (and may be Canada ?).

It depends on what the passenger will do : take another flight and bag will be put on this flight, or return to pax in CDG (for a fee).

Customs is a different thing than immigration. And custom clearance is the same flying to domestic France or to any other EU destination : customs are normally present in all airports. But it's never as formal as in many countries like US or Japan. You may see the customs officers or not, usually near baggage claim. Custom officers distinguish pax with bags coming from EU vs non-EU because the airline luggage tags within EU have green bands on the side. Of course, pax can have carryons only, so without baggage tags and customs can stop anyone and ask questions/seach the bags.
A few airports have a different belt to claim bags coming from EU or non-EU, for the same flight (I have TLS in mind). In that case, customs will usually be present only near the non-EU belt.

France has for a very long time dealt with this the same way most Schengen countries deal with this: customs search at final destination based on where customs thinks the passengers came from. Sometimes that means some of the non-green tag bags get a person flagged for a search after the domestic flight while other times there may not even be staff to perform customs searches if there are no expectations of flights from beyond the EU customs zone or if they have other priorities.

PPBM is indeed very widespread and a cause of delays at times in many places. In the US, AFAIK, it’s no longer required for domestic flights at least.

What fee does AF charge for that if the bag is still at CDG because it can’t continue on due to PPBM requirements for a no-showing passenger at CDG? I’ve never encountered such a fee, but I’ve encountered the inconvenience of having to wait sometimes a very long time for the offloaded bags to get back to the baggage claim halls/belts.

Interesting. Are these train destinations available for Flying Blue award tickets? That could be useful as hidden cities if you HAD luggage (or wanted to be super safe about not being rerouted during irregular operations).

https://wwws.airfrance.fr/informatio...Y7bQ751Q%3D%3D

"Afin de pouvoir récupérer ses Bagages Enregistrés, lorsque le Passager décide d'interrompre prématurément son voyage et n'utilise pas intégralement ses Coupons de Vol, il pourra être amené à payer un montant forfaitaire qui ne pourra excéder 300 euros."

Of course, this fee is chargeable only if the pax is at fault.

Hello you have 3 options:
- America to Paris CDG then train to your final destination = in this case your luggage will be handled to you at Paris CDG
- America to Paris CDG then connecting flight leaving from Paris ORY = in this case your luggage will be handled to you at Paris CDG
- America to Paris CDG then connecting flight leaving from Paris CDG but after a long stop-over (12h+) = in this case you can ask in America to have your luggage tagged until Paris CDG were you can recollect it.

hope this helps