ex-TPE flight?
 

im in HKG right now...and wanting to fly to east coast USA. im trying to find the best deal with Cathay as I'll be flying around CNY.

a while back i was told to do an ex-TPE flight...like this:TPE-HKG

but recently i was told this may be problematic, with airlines cracking down on this in HK airport and via seat checks.


is this "ex-TPE" flight still safe to do? anyone recently try it?
IS this the best option for me around CNY? or is there a cheaper way?

We just did this over Xmas and had no problems.

Not sure how they can crack down on this? If you really wanted to be safe, just buy a cheap HKG-TPE return (instead of a one-way) and throw away the TPE-HKG. If you held two sets of round trip tickets, can't see how CX (or any other airline) could refuse to board you.

As long as you don't do this "frequently" for a particular airline and/or route you have nothing to worry about. I've know people who have taken this approach to save $$$ and never had a problem of being debited by airline nor their TA being debited when the tickets were purchased through the TA. And you should have no problems just having them tag your bags as far as HKG on the return (assuming you are checking luggages).

thanks....thats what i thought.

i did this last time using cathay as well, and it was exactly 1 year ago. I will most likely pay for the round trip coach ticket just to be safe, as i remember i did this last time too since its a very small cost.

What legal grounds would an airline have to deny you to do this?

They might say that this is not the intention of ex-TPE fares but if we're willing to fly the extra leg to TPE and we pay the price of the ticket...

It's actually stated somewhere in the contract that you have to take every flight on your itinerary, but airlines rarely enforce it since it creates a negative image.

plus...wouldnt the airline want more people to do this? considering they would make money from you, and then make money from someone waiting in standby...or at very least make money by not needing to serve food and beverage to an empty (but paid for) seat?

and the more people doing this would make plane lighter and therefore less fuel....

I'm sure they would prefer for people in HKG to buy ex-HKG J fares rather than ex-TPE D or I fares.

Have you ever heard of any issues with doing the ex-TPE fares, aka buying ex-TPE I or D tickets and then ditching the last leg? Stopovers in HKG, in my experience, are not allowed with ex-TPE I and D round-trips to North America. I've probably burned 4 return legs I think in the last 16 months doing ex-TPE I or D fares. I have both friends and business in TPE, and they're a great way to kill two birds with one stone. I first see friends and do meetings in TPE, and then get a much cheaper J fare to North America where I have other meetings. But I have no reason to go back to TPE so soon after the North America portion, so I have to skip it. Wish stopovers were allowed....

In as little as 12 months ago, ex-TPE also had attractive "A" class roundtrip fares to LAX/SFO priced under $6K USD including taxes. Today they are over $8K USD which is still better compared to ex-HKG but not as attractive as it was 12 months ago.

An airline that enforced such a provision would be laughed out of court because they won't be able to show that they suffered any loss as a result of you not taking the last leg. Legal costs alone would far outweigh any money CX would get from a court.

I did this in summer using a D fare ex-TPE, and I was able to call in (US internet booking support) while in the US and add a stopover on the return. They just billed the HK departure tax. I think they have limited visibility into the original TPE booking, so I may have lucked out that they did it for me.

(I really did visit the country, but I can definitely see the temptation to do HKG-TPE-HKG-x also. )

There's a long discussion here - http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...-vs-497-a.html

If you do want to do this (throw away the last HKG-TPE leg of a RT itinerary), is there a "proper" way to do it, or do you just exit in HKG without saying anything to CX? I realize this sounds like a funny question since you are breaking the rules anyway, but I'd rather not just no show if possible.