Skiplegging and travel insurance
May 1, 2024, 3:32 am
#31
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They can and do explain their real travel plans, there's no harm in that. In fact I suspect if you rang BA and said "I want a ticket from Cape Town to Madrid but I am not likely to fly the last section", the agent will (a) still sell you the ticket and (b) may say "oh well book to Barcelona, it's cheaper". They probably shouldn't do (b) but I bet it happens. The three downsides are that checked luggage is going to end up in Spain; that if it is a travel agency booking then the travel agent may get sanctioned severely by BA if they think the travel agency is marketing these tickets; and that if there are irrops then you may find the only replacement flights that will be offered to you will end up in Madrid. And for travel agency bookings, you can be assured that BA will not be sanctioning Expedia or other heavyweights.
May 1, 2024, 3:54 am
#32
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The whole reason skiplagging exists at all - is because airlines are exploiting monopoly power in certain routes, charging some customers more than others based upon the starting point - almost always because there is more/less competition. People should be careful very about skiplagging, but certainly shouldn't feel any moral guilt about it, given the airlines behaviour.
Not that I think anyone needs to feel guilt over skipping the final leg - just that those wishing for a more "rational" pricing structure probably aren't going to like the result, which would almost certainly be a reduction in services and an overall increase in prices.
Last edited by etiene; May 1, 2024 at 6:28 am Reason: missing s on goods
May 1, 2024, 4:06 am
#33
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The whole reason skiplagging exists at all - is because airlines are exploiting monopoly power in certain routes, charging some customers more than others based upon the starting point - almost always because there is more/less competition. People should be careful very about skiplagging, but certainly shouldn't feel any moral guilt about it, given the airlines behaviour.
To answer to the OP's question, I have claimed insurance on an exEU trip .They did query it, but I was able to show positioning flights/hotels and they paid out in full. In my case, there was no skiplagging, so that was one difference.
To answer to the OP's question, I have claimed insurance on an exEU trip .They did query it, but I was able to show positioning flights/hotels and they paid out in full. In my case, there was no skiplagging, so that was one difference.
There is lots of competition. hub airports (eg lhr, fra, ams, cdg, waw, hel...)all have an airline that provides a majority of flights but there are always alternatives to get where you want to go.
May 1, 2024, 4:45 am
#34
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I would agree with some of those that think that the airlines have built a rod for their own back with these Looney tune fares that exist in different parts of the world. I will put my hands up and say that 14 years ago for reasons I won’t go into we need to fly from Dallas to Newark. We travelled with then Continental airlines when I wanted to book a one-way ticket they wanted $650 each because you could take neighbouring airports in the booking. I actually ended up booking a return ticket to Albany, return sometime in the far distant future. That return ticket in economy was $127 each as both these flights were in economy. It will not take a genius amongst you to figure out which one I bought. This is completely brazen hidden city and I have only done it once and I saved $1000. I didn’t even know that the expression existed Continental airlines couldn’t have cared less and neither could we. I would not do so now as they have really clamped down but I see and totally understand why people do this.