Adding US-BR-US to UK-US-UK trip - rules and baggage
 

I have a ticket LHR-DFW-CLL-DFW-LHR. The potential need has arisen for me to visit one of AA's Brazilian gateways immediately after my ticketed return date. Rather than flying all the way across the Atlantic and then back again, it seems to be that the most sensible solution would be to change my return date, and then buy a second ticket Small US airport-DFW-MIA-Brazil-MIA-DFW-CLL, and then turn around and go back again with my original return ticket. I have a few questions:

1. Would this fall foul of any rules (I've never quite understood what nested ticketing means)?

2. I presume that there would be no way of avoiding having to fly all the way Brazil-MIA-DFW-CLL and then, using my other ticket, CLL-DFW-LHR, since my ticket is restricted, right?

3. If I manage to travel without a checked bag, would I be able to turn around on the same plane that took me to CLL? It's a 30-minute turnaround. I imagine this would not be without risk, as the bag would likely be big enough to warrant gate check on an ER4 cropduster.

4. If I do check a bag, there is obviously no way of claiming and rechecking it in 30 minutes, even at a small airport. Is there any chance, though, that a switched-on agent, possibly when I start my journey in Brazil but more likely when I re-check after clearing customs at MIA, could be persuaded to tag my bag MIA-DFW-LHR, even though it's too tickets and means skipping two of the segments I'm travelling on?

I have a feeling the answer will be that my only option is to spend four hours enjoying the delights of Easterbrook airport, but I thought I'd ask at least.

Where in Brazil are you going ?
Taking Sao Paulo for example LHR-GRU is non stop 5863 miles whilst CLL( for example)-DFW-MIA-GRU is 506 miles shorter at 5357 miles , but with 2 connections needed in Miami/Dallas is going to take much longer

In this case I would just fly back to Heathrow and take a non stop service to Brazil and no issues at all and save on a change fee

If wanting to go from the USA, does the existing ticket permit stopovers? if so, perhaps change existing ticket to go CLL-DFW-MIA and then just do MIA-Brazil-MIA on the new ticket and then continue on from MIA non stop to London

Nice idea, but stopovers aren't allowed on this fare. My destination is in the North-East (REC), so going all the way down to São Paulo and then back North again on TAM's crummy domestic service doesn't appeal. Might head back to LHR and turn around on TAP instead, though.

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

"If I manage to travel without a checked bag, would I be able to turn around on the same plane that took me to CLL? It's a 30-minute turnaround. I imagine this would not be without risk, as the bag would likely be big enough to warrant gate check on an ER4 cropduster"

I don't know if the procedure is different on ER4s, but when I have to "valet check" a large carry-on when traveling on a US turbo-prop, the bag is returned plane side on arrival; it is not delivered to baggage claim land side. If the same procedure is followed at CLL, then I don't see why you could not do a fast turnaround there.

Nested ticketing is only prohibited where it is done to avoid fare rules.

E.g. I want to travel to XYZ to work four days a week and be home for three. But the fares are much more expensive if I do this; cheaper fares include Saturday overnights. So I buy "nested" tickets that start Monday of week 1, return is Thursday of week 2, etc. (If I were smarter, I'd buy my tickets as return tickets home, including the Saturday night stay; I might buy singles to bracket, or even buy a return flight or another airline that brackets the job duration - legal and meeting the terms and conditions, and pretty much not a red flag to revenue protection folks. Hmm, I may have done this when I was a road warrior... having difficulty remembering. :))

Or I buy two return tickets that bracket each other. Those are clearly an attempt to evade fare rules, and AA may catch this, mess with my plans.

But let's say I have a trip scheduled to ZYX with a duration of thirty days. Minimum stay is seven days, maximum sixty. Whilst there, I find I need to travel to ABC for a few days to service another client, so I buy a return ticket that complies with the fare rules. Perfectly acceptable.

In your case, it might be quite reasonable to change your ticketing. Of course, depending on your current fare rules, that could incur change fees as well as repricing costs. It may well pay to check it out to save some money, time and flat tire depressions on your butt.

Thank you. Wise words, as always. My sorry butt is already depressed enough as it is.

REC is closer to London than it is to Dallas ( 4587 miles vs 4959 miles ) ignoring the connection issues in MIA ( esp heading back ) , so don't think that there is really likely to be any benefit distance wise changing the ticket and flying from the US with multiple connections each way over just flying back to London and starting from there

Agreed, TAP is the sensible route - but I can't upgrade with them...

You were asking about sensible solutions

If you so choose turning around on the same aircraft in CLL (with no checked luggage) is a pretty good option. As long as you have no tight connections beforehand (so you don't miss that flight to CLL), it is probably the best way. If that flight gets delayed, then no worries really (as long as it isn't an extreme delay).

You would collect your valet bag, walk out then get right back on.