bakaneko85

Hi all, we have return award tickets HND-CDG-HND on JL in late April/ early May. However because of the Russia situation JL only operates LHR-HND routes, and they will only give award tickets a change of route to their directly operated flight, which in this case is LHR-HND, and we’ll have to figure our own way there.

Of course, the solution we’re thinking is to buy a paid BA tix to connect LHR-CDG. But this will be separate ticket. The problem is that my husband does not have UK visa so has to connect airside, and applying for UK visa is not an option either as it takes time and the route announcement seems to be decided very last minute, eg. 10 days before at most atm.

The way out is fine as JL will accept the BA tix as proof of onward connection, and will check him all the way to CDG. But the way back is the problem - will BA accept connection on a separate flight as proof of onward travel and let him fly to UK?

i would add luggage is no problem as I can get in/out UK fine and will check everything under my name. I know BA does not do through check in on separate PNRs.

Thanks so much in advance for your help!

AirbusA350

This is a tricky one. Essentially, BA looks at tickets separately and at check-in they usually only consider travel for what is ticketed within the BA booking/PNR. Through-check in is almost certain no, though there have been very occasional reports of BA agents (mostly outsourced outstation ones) bending the rules, but it is common knowledge that CDG BA check-in isn't always known to be the most customer-friendly, to put it politely. Similarly, saying you were only travelling Hand Baggage Only and the question of through-checked baggage wasn't going to be an issue, even then BA typically only consider and validate your travel based on your ticketed destination within your BA ticket, if you had your JL boarding pass from LHR as well as a printed copy of your onward itinerary, you might be permitted to board. However, again, I am not sure if this can be taken for granted as essentially BA would be "taking the risk" by permitting you to board as hypothetically, if one tried to enter the UK then without a valid visa and was refused, this would potentially go back to the airline in terms of a fine. Now I know you wouldn't be doing this, but it does factor into the decision making as to whether you'd be permitted or not. Now of course, say you were permitted, then all good. Having said this, there is a policy in place where Border Force can permit you entry, without a visa, if they are satisfied that you are going to leave within 24 hours and have a confirmed onward ticket, though again, this is "at the discretion" of the border officer. Again, this is dependent on BA permitting you to board at CDG. All in all, it is tricky, I believe it would be prudent to choose a more "secure/safer" option, ie. an itinerary which is all within 1 PNR, or an itinerary where visas or COVID rules wouldn't be a problem even if it weren't to be on one ticket.

There was a similar thread, in the reverse direction, ie. from LHR to CDG, whereby people had onward separate tickets from CDG, but at the time, France weren't permitting people from the UK to enter due to COVID restrictions, again it was mired with similar dilemmas as I mentioned above.

All the best

guv1976

Can JL sell (cash or award) LHR-CDG-LHR tickets, and add them to the PNRs holding the TYO-LHR-TYO tickets? I assume that the original JL award tickets have to be reissued anyway, since the destination has changed.

AirbusA350

Considering it's an award ticket, now I am not aware of JL's award ticket rules, but are they not flexible/cancellable/refundable like BA issued award tickets are whereby you can cancel them up to 24 hours before departure (albeit for a small fee)? If you could, then why not potentially try redeeming with QR to CDG via DOH from TYO? Unfortunately, whilst I know it isn't the answer you were hoping for, your original plan is fought with quite a bit of risk, at least on your return sector back from CDG.

orbitmic

In short, there can be no certainty that ba will through check and it is unlikely that they will.

i think that if your worry is only being rejected on the grounds of lack of visa and you plan to travel without checked luggage and you have sufficient time between flights in case something goes wrong, you are likely to be able to convince them at check in that you are not intending to enter the uk, arrive into t5, take the airside bus to t3, go to the counters for your Jl boarding pass and enter t3. This is not guaranteed however.

if you plan to check luggage that simply will not work and you need to cancel and think of an alternative plan I’m afraid.

it is not possible to put paid and award bookings on the same reservation, however if there is award space on the ba flight, and you have enough miles, jl can of course book this as a multi carrier award in a single award itinerary.

if not, again, I’m sorry to say I’d look into other options.

bakaneko85

Thanks all for the advice. Unfortunately JL award ticket rules are now quite strict, I can’t change nor add another segment on the award ticket, it has to be cancelled first and reissued as combined ticket Subject to availability, which in this case is impossible as it is peak travel date for Japan bound travel, end of a long holiday period. So we are now looking at cancelling the Return leg and booking QR as an option (CDG-DOH-TYO) to avoid LHR transit issue, although this mean we will have to cut our trip short due to availability issues and much longer trip time..

another follow up question, what if my husband were to check in online for the LHR-HND leg and show the boarding pass when checking in to BA flight for the LHR bound flight? Would that make any difference at all?

orbitmic

No. It would reassure BA further that he does not intend to stay in the UK, but would not lead them to accept to through check bags which is against BA policy. Also remember that Online check in is never guaranteed to work, especially in those days of (admittedly progressively easing) covid restrictions.

bakaneko85

good point about online check in not working. through luggage is not a problem in this case though as I can get in/out UK, so i can check everything under my name and get in/out to recheck them in to JL flights.

JClasstraveller

I think your problem may start at HND. You are unfortunately not guaranteed to be allowed on as your husband won’t have valid entry to the UK.

I can’t see a conservative JL allowing it. I’d be looking at a plan B ex HND.

AirbusA350

JL still through check on separate tickets, hence not necessarily a problem ex-HND. It’s unfortunately the return sector that’s filled with holes, biggest one being the lack of visa for the UK for OP’s husband.

bakaneko85

JL allows through luggage even on separate tix, so this is definitely not a problem. We will be checked through all the way to CDG. It is only the return part that’s the problem

Confus

I’m afraid to say there is some horrific advice in this thread, not related at all to what would happen in practice.

It is correct that BA will not through-check on separate tickets. But what they will and do allow is transit without visa, in situations where they don’t expect a customer to have to land themselves at the intermediary point, and assuming that the intermediary country allows it under their visa regime. So with checked bags, it’s a problem. With no checked bags, as arranged by the OP, not a problem.

The desk at CDG should actually be able to issue a boarding pass for LHRHND, but even if they can’t, they know the transfer desk at LHR connections will be able to, and that there is no requirement to pass immigration to get there.

IRROPS is irrelevant to BAU situation, as UKBF and HAL have specific arrangements that take effect in the unlikely event that an unscheduled overnight stay is required.

OP - you’ll be fine, as long as you can arrange HBO for the affected passenger.

orbitmic

You can but I really would not want to. The reason is that if you do that, you'll be going completely separate routes as your flight from CDG and your flight to HND are using different terminals. So your husband connecting airside would go to flight connections at T5, take the airside bus transfer to T3 which is fairly straightforward, clear T3 security connection security and find himself in the terminal ready to depart to Tokyo.

By contrast, you'd go through immigration. This year it has been really hit and miss - some times all works well and it goes fast, but several times between last Autumn and this spring, even with a passport that allows me to use e-gates, it has been extremely poor - over 1 hour (there are multiple threads discussing incidents). Then you'll wait for luggage arrival - again, there have been a few very chaotic reports recently, and once you have exited customs, you will need to take a landside transfer to T3, which means either the HEX or Tube - in theory the HEX is every 15 minutes though that is of course never guaranteed. You then go through the main terminal security to get into the departing area.

If all the stars are aligned then all will work well and your husband will just have to wait a bit for you. If something goes wrong which is not unusual, this could be very stressful. If you plan to check luggage, I would really recommend leaving a long time between the two flights to avoid unexpected problems disrupting your plans (3 hours would be the very least I'd do with checked luggage but might go for a bit longer ideally). If at all avoidable, I would much favour going with hand luggage only.

makin'miles

A BA agent at CDG through checked my bag on a BA-to-BA connection without request in November. YMMV.

YYCCL3

I had the BA check in agent at PRG offer to check bags for me across 2 tickets: PRG-LHR-HND; HND-LAX last week. I was HBO so didn't need it but he did indicate it would be possible. It took a few minutes longer than usual to check in for these flights, since Japan is closed to entry. They had to use a system separate from the standard check in computer (not sure what exactly) to override the check in system thinking that my final destination was HND. I got both boarding passes at PRG for PRG-LHR; LHR-HND (JL); and my docs were checked again at the transfer desk in T3 by JL.

In the other direction, JL will almost certainly check your bags across tickets from HND-LHR; LHR-CDG.