Linking PNRs for an LHR Connection
 

Hi Folks, wonder if you can help me for this one.

I have to travel, in a couple of weeks time, to two separate customer sites (one in AMS, one in GLA), and, due to time restrictions, will have to go directly from AMS to GLA (connecting at LHR).

Given it's two separate customers, I can't buy a through ticket, as the tickets will have to be charged separately.

If I book the two separate tickets, will bmi link the PNRs so that my connection can be guaranteed? Or can this be done simply by persuading the AMS ground agent to check me through?

You can check through no problem, but your CNX is never guaranteed when you do that. If it's a *A partner, they may honour you if you miss your CNX flight. Highly unlikely otherwise.

I've done UA / AC / BD split tickets before and once on a UA / AC I did miss CNX and AC honoured me without question.

It's BD/BD, so it sounds pretty positive.

But they won't link the PNRs if you phone them?

They will link them...in the sense that they will write one PNR in the remarks section of the other. The system will not automatically detect a misconnection and, as has been pointed out, no guarantees with regard to later standby.

I wqould still recommend "linking" the bookings. If you have through-checked baggage and get delayed into LHR from AMS (quite likely IME), the GLA dispatcher will have a mini-crisis about the missing Mr Stut unless they can see a remark.

Having said all that, I cannot forsee a problem, especially with BD to BD - I do it all the time; applying common sense to issues is one of the things that BD generally gets right. And compared to KLM...

Well, yes, AMS-LHR delays are ten-a-penny this time of year, thanks to AMS's weather and LHR's sheer volume, hence my concern.

I will still try to do it in a single booking, and find out if there's a way I can split the fare for expenses in a way that would make the finance dept happy. I'm not holding my breath, though...

Thanks for the advice, folks.