3Cforme

If the bag doesn't make it out of his originating city on the flight with him - for whatever reason - the OP's going to have a problem. (I see I type too slowly.)

yamaka

True -- he would need to go to C to file his missing bag report.

nfg05

Thanks all for the informative and helpful replies. The flights I'm looking to book are a month away and the trip itself is a month, so it will be quite a while before I'll be able to say what happens.

Based on the responses here, I'll probably pack my cheapest clothes, put everything valuable in my carry-on for the return and hope for the best. IMO, the $400 fare savings justifies the risk of something going wrong, although I appreciate the issues people have raised (e.g. no liquids).

Wiirachay

Book your "last" domestic flight the next day. International connections have a 24 hour layover allowance. I've done this before.

- Pat

fti

I would think that since he notices the bag(s) missing in ATL while waiting for his luggage from the international flight, he would have a good reason to file his missing bag report in ATL.

Have you had personal experience to the contrary, i.e. missing luggage upon arrival from an international flight and being told you must file the lost luggage report only at your final destination?

NewsBruin

I'm not 100% confident in this plan. Here's what happened to me this July.

When I arrived in Atlanta from Tokyo-Narita, I picked up my suitcase from the International Arrival carousel. I ripped off my baggage claim sticker (because that's my habit) before leaving E. When I put it on the domestic screening conveyer, a TSA employee with a handheld scanner made me take it to the Delta desk and get a new sticker for it, which put my bag on to its final destination (or temporary one, ATL, for my overnight stay).

If they do this to you, your bag may get routed to unwanted City C.

If you're unable to take the checked bag through the TSA line out of E (as though it were a carry-on) OR your C flight is on the same day as your arrival in ATL, your bag may be required by staff in Terminal E to be put on a conveyer to its final destination city.

If 24-hour Intl rule is correct, you're cool. (However a Delta Gold SkyMiles phone rep didn't give me that option when was trying to change our flight, but I'll start up another thread for that).

Evan!

Would you be happy with $300 savings? You could ship your bag directly from C to Atlanta. I have never done this (shipped suitcase w/contents) but I would think it might cost around $100. Again, just a guess. Might be worth it for peace of mind. You might be able to get estimate from ups.com or fedex.com.

I know it's not easy to spend money on something that you can get for free. Do you have status with DL? Not sure if you will have to pay to check a bag with DL. I think with international you will get to check your bag for free. I can't make heads or tails of DL's baggage fees because everthing seems to have a stipulation "for travel booked after xxx,##, 2009 for travel beginning before xxx, ##,2009 but not after xxx,##2009 and only if an 'R' is in the month and Jupiter is aligned with Mars..."

spikyone

fwiw, i was able to check my bags only to atl on an int'l trip to chile in october. i just asked the station in chile to just check my bags to atlanta and said i'd recheck them in atlanta. they didn't have a problem with that.

in atlanta, i actually did recheck one bag, but sent one out to the terminal as i was spending the day in the city. again, no problems there.

Wiirachay

If you book an overnight connection, your bags will be tagged to ATL. I've done this before when I was a student . . . .

aaron1262

I'm helping a friend and her family book a o/w tickets to SLC, and prices are high and they can save a lot by doing a hidden city ticket...since it's a o/w there are no real issues cancellations of future flights or anything of that nature. No baggage either.. It's obviously "illegal" but i was wondering if it's actually enforced. My friend doesn't care about the miles. Will DL do anything about it?

tvnwz

they will just cancel the rest of the itinerary. That's it.

cfwolfs

As a suggestion, don't include the SkyMiles number in the reservation.

Also, as a warning, if their itinerary is XXX-SLC-YYY and there are IRROPS on the XXX-SLC flight, don't be surprised if they send your friends XXX-ATL-YYY or XXX-MSP-YYY. Same thing with a schedule change.

Purchasing a reservation does not guarantee connection points, just origin and destination.

fti

So true. There was a thread a few months ago about someone who had multiple <24 hour domestic "layovers" en route to an overseas destination but with a schedule change, their plans were turned totally upside down.

WGH99

I have tickets from SNA to DUB for vacation and just by coincidence, my work has staffed me in Dublin for a week of work, thus, I will need to need to stay an extra week. I called Delta and asked about changing my return date and it will cost approx. $950 + $250 change fee; whereas, a one way from DUB to LAX is approx $600.

I generally wouldn't be worried about not using the return portion of my original itinerary (never done this before, so its not a habit), however, should I be worried that DL may see a second flight booked from the same location a week later and choose to either charge me a fee or change/affect my second booked flight home?

I can get a similar flight using American for similar price, however, I would prefer to fly DL and get the miles from a return flight.

Ultranerdx

Gary Leff posted on View from the Wing the other day that he knocked down the price of a RT to CDG by adding a throwaway leg on a separate airline at the end of the itinerary.

http://boardingarea.com/blogs/viewfr...comment-120901

I can't figure out how to do this. What do you look for to get a deal like this? Just add random cities at the end or your itinerary an hope you get lucky with a lower fare?