I'm scheduled in a few weeks to fly SAN-DFW-IAD on a personal trip. Airfare was very cheap at the time ($160 one way).

A client now needs me in BHM on the day after my trip. I've considered instead of flying SAN-DFW-IAD, keeping the itinerary and just getting off in DFW, and buying a second trip from DFW-BHM and then a trip the next day from BHM-DCA.

Is this doable?

Don't put your AA number on the second ticket and you shouldn't have a problem.

Doable? yes. Violation of the AA Conditions of Contract you agree to upon purchasing? also yes.

Without putting your AA number in the DFW-BHM-DCA itinerary, you certainly have less chance of a match being made. They may well use other identifying information like credit card used for booking, phone number, etc.

Worse case is they cancel your DFW-BHM segment. Worst case is they close your AA account, forfeiting all miles. Absolute worst case is they come after you for the lost revenue (99.9% unlikely to happen).

Book a different airline for DFW-BHM (Southwest flies nonstop).

It should also be pointed out, in this decade, birthdates are also in reservations.
Another option for the OP would be to cancel the existing ticket and booking a new one. I assume the client will pay the cost for him to fly from home to where the client needs him

AA's anti-fraud software looks for many more data points than AA #. Omitting that was a great idea back in 1990. Not a great way today.

If you want to skip the second segment, don't check bags and book your second ticket on WN.

I wasn't aware that WN flew from DFW. Perhaps you mean DAL?



To the OP, I'd either go to IAD, then get myself to BHM, or fly another airline for all/part of the trip.

I had to do this recently--and I posted about it recently as well. I had a personal trip that included a round trip from DCA-JFK (and then a separate itinerary on Iberia to/from MAD) and then needed to go to Chicago for work. I booked a ticket through our work portal from JFK-ORD (and then separate itinerary return ORD-DCA). After I took the first leg of the DCA-JFK trip I canceled the return flight.

It looks like I'll have to do it again because of another work trip coming on the heels of a personal trip.

There is a bus/train between DFW and DAL. Hubby uses it when he commutes on WN's jumpseat if AA's is full or delayed.

Eh, who cares? It's a contract of adhesion and limits the airline's recourse in any case.

American is indeed aggressive about detecting overlapping reservations and I'm not convinced that just removing a FF# will fix the problem. Booking on another airline would be ideal, but there's definitely some risk they'll cancel the DFW-BHM segment.

Actual worst case is that the DFW-BHM flight crashes and everyone on board dies. I think this is about as likely as either of the alternatives you suggest, and I don't actually think the conditions of carriage allow them to come after you for any lost revenue in this scenario. No one has ever reported either of these things happening based on a single change like this.

But to maybe start over and simplify the problem: looking a couple of weeks out, SAN-DFW-BHM fares are only about $30 more than DFW-BHM fares. Is it really worth any risk of a problem since all of these seem like totally reasonable fares to charge to the client in the first place.

This. Change your ticket and invoice the change fee + fare difference.

Done this before when a work trip gets scheduled right up against a personal trip.. or two work trips overlap after one is booked.

It is doable. Call AA. My husband had a meeting come up in a city we were transiting through from Maui. I tried to change his leg home so he could stay overnight in Phoenix. The AA rep, because of the fare, could not change it and told me not to rebook and just buy a one way ticket from Phoenix. The fare would have been less but would have canceled his original ticket and business seat. She simply noted the reason on his account for the additional ticket. I got a ride home next to an air marshall (I think) that was very chatty for 20 minutes until he wasn't D)

Hello, issues like this do happen from time to time. You are away on vacation or personal reasons, and then work request your presence in another location and you need to change flights mid-stream. As other pointed out, best to use another carrier to minimize cancellation of conflicting itinerary. If you have to use same carrier, try not to make a habit of it. Also, do not check luggage.

More to the point, if your employer requires you to change your plans, presumably you make the change and your employer pays and either bills the client or not as the case may be.

It's one thing to twist yourself into a pretzel and take buses between airports for your own personal travel. But, this is routine business travel and unless you've got a particularly bad work situation, change fees are just part of the business equation.