Tofino87

I’ve found some very tempting award flights with Avianca partners, one-way redemptions which involve one stop and change of airlines for the second leg of the journey.

My question is, if I were to ‘accidentally’ miss the second leg of the award booking, with the second leg being on a different partner airline than the first leg, would this cause any headaches for me with Avianca, whose loyalty program I’m using to book the awards?

specifically, if I had other award bookings made for the days that followed that itinerary, would they potentially cancel the future awards?

Just a random example to clarify:

I find a routing BKK-AKL-LAX (I don’t know if this is a real routing that’s possible), but in the example I really want to jump off in AKL,

and it makes sense to book this itinerary, as the BKK-AKL (in J or F), has a favourable mileage cost for this segment with the AKL-LAX tagged On The end after (in Y), when compared to a much higher cost if simply booked as a direct BKK-AKL only.

let’s then say that I book another award which originates from AKL with Avianca in the days/weeks that follow. Maybe this last part looks too suspicious/obvious, but what about the former?

Any experiences with this? Thank you!

Tokyoite

no impact whatsoever.
just dont be a regular repeater on the same airline/route combination. the metal (airline you actually fly in) would mark you for "further questioning on your travel intentions" next time you use the airline.
avianca wont even care.

freed0m

in this case, how would lifemiles actually pay the operating airlines? Will lifemiles pay the second segment?

SK AAR

If not used, I doubt LM will have to pay for the segment, but I'm not an expert on award tickets and remuneration for segments.

(I also fail to understand how BKK-AKL-LAX can be cheaper than BKK-AKL)

Tofino87

That was just a crazy made-up example itinerary, but I’ve found something as crazy as that which reduces the cost of a redemption almost in half!

I’m just keen that I don’t do this to then find out future itineraries are cancelled or carriers won’t allow me to board their planes for missing one or two segments max

SK AAR

Nothing to worry about.

Tokyoite

Yes. the operating carier will invoice LM for the award, including the no-show legs.
The operating carier will flag the ticket as "Flown" or "Used", so LM doesnt even check or argue whether all legs were flown or not.
If the ticket is wholly not flown, then of course it still remains "Open".

freed0m

Thanks.

I assume that applies to the same operating airline for all segments. What if the second segment is on a different airline? The ticket for the second segment should remain "OPEN", right?

Tokyoite

well, you usually check in for all legs in the ticket all the way to the destination (outbound or inbound). so, you will be a "no-show".
only scenario where your suggestion may apply is if you have a long (>24h) stopover on the ticket between two legs,
therefore you cannot check in for the second leg when you begin the journey. but then, LM doesn't issue tickets with stopovers, so the point is moot.

if you have a long (>24h) stopover on the ticket between two legs (as ticketed with Alaska etc. where stopovers are allowed),
then yes, the second leg remains "OPEN" and the operating carrier does not charge the ticketing carrier because you have not consumed the flight.

freed0m

a "no-show" may still suggest that part of the ticket is "OPEN", right? "no-show" can also happen when the first segement is delayed, causing the passenger to miss the second segment.

Many years ago, my first flight was delayed, causing me "no-show" my next flight with a separate ticket. When I talked to the airline for my second ticket, my ticket was still "OPEN" and I was put on the waitlist and took another flight to my destination in the end.

iwillflytheworld

Any recent experiences with this? I have an itinerary in mind where adding a second leg would decrease the total cost by a significant amount. Both legs would be on the same airline. I would travel with hand luggage only.

I'm not worried about impact on Lifemiles but more with the operating carrier... is the general wisdom still that if I don't make a habit of it I should be fine?

view-with-a-room

You would need to name the operating carrier. Cannot imagine how booking a second leg with a LifeMiles booking would "decrease the cost by a significant amount".

erik123

No issue. Feel free to make it a habit if the carrier is not AV.

demue

I have had to miss the return portion of a RT flight as I urgently needed to travel to another place and availability was better from the city where I was at that moment rather than returning to my home base and trying to travel from there. Nothing ever came of that, but to be fair I didn't gain anything from a lower redemption level or such.

For the operating carrier, I don't think it will matter and if LM ever is competent enough to try to "claw" back by assuming / claiming a "loophole" was exploited is questionable. I just wouldn't make it a habit, but it should be fairly safe. YMMV.

mlqsko

I'd be in jail if they enforced this LOL

And I'd have good company of members of this forum