How to prevent cancelling flights after missing codeshare Alaska flight?
 

Hey guys!
I booked an open jaw/multi city flight on Emirates as follows:

• HOME-DXB-JFK-LAS (last flight on Alaska) - next week
• KUL-DXB-HOME - in March

Now, as it happens my plans have changed a bit and I need to stay in New York and not go to Vegas anymore. However, I'm concerned Emirates might cancel the rest of the ('return') segments if I miss the Alaska codeshare.

How can I prevent this from happening? Does the fact that Alaska is a codeshare and that it is a multi-city itin rather than a return flight change the equation somehow?

Thanks a lot!

I think you would be better talking to Emirates than asking here.....

If this is on a single ticket, I strongly suspect you'll have to fly all segments in order, though an open jaw between LAS and KUL is unusual indeed.

It is indeed on one ticket :/.

In which case you will need to contact the airline and change the booking

It might be much cheaper to fly to LAS as ticketed and purchase a separate ticket to fly back to NYC versus to try changing the ticket to drop the AS JFK-LAS segment.

That may indeed be true - as long as the OP has time to do the trip

That's one idea...though I can't help but groan at the prospect of spending 10+ hours flying to LAS and back from NYC :/.

What if I called them after arriving to New York and told them that I 'couldn't make it' to the LAS flight, decided to buy my own, and kindly request that they not cancel the rest of my itinerary (since the subject of the conversation is now on them not getting me another NYC-LAS flight...the least they can do it not cancel my existing itin).

How does this sound?

Kindly request does not work for this sort of thing ~98% of the time.

If you have open jaw between LAS and KUL, your booking class should be quite flexible, no? Maybe it allows you to put in a stopover and fly NYC-LAS on a date that you're comfortable to do an AS mileage run.

If you simply no show for your JFK-LAS flight, you should expect to have the remaining segments of your ticket cancelled and then retain whatever value they have under the ticket's fare rules. That may well be $0. Anything else is pure luck. Period.

Have you even called EK to determine what it will cost to reticket this without the JFK-LAS segment? You may find that the cost is minimal and that all of this silliness is for nothing. OTOH, maybe it is brutally expensive.

Unless you have a very high risk tolerance and are prepared to purchase new tickets, I would not expect "asking nicely" after a no show to work.

What should happen is whatever the fare rules state - depending on no-show provision. That in some regions a cancellation and retain of value may be common for journeys originating in the USA, but is not common elsewhere.

In many cases, with a no show, there is a higher change fee or cancel penalty than if changed/cancelled before scheduled time of departure, but is a long way short of what is claiming to be expected

as far as it being a 98% chance that a change with no change fee or fare difference applied ( unless there is no change fee and fare difference ), I would say that this is 2% less than I would expect.

To OP - I would start by phoning EK and simply asking how much to make the desired change and if it is a high amount, look at how much to go to LAS and then by a r/t from LAS-NYC and whether there is a saving that makes it worthwhile ( taking into account the long time wasted travelling )

Not even a 2% chance of this working. Absolutely zero.

Unfortunately, the price to make any changes is exorbitant despite it being a 'flex' ticket.

I'm curious as to why there would be just a 2% chance of this working? Don't airlines have to rebook you (or they usually do it) if you miss a connection due to say, customs or baggage delay? What if I told them there wasn't enough time at JFK for a 3 hour connection (something that has happened before with me...) and I had to buy my own flight to LAS? Might they agree to not cancel the rest of the segments?

They will rebook you if you miss a connection. You will miss a sector you dont intend to fly. Zero chance of this working in your favor.

Don't get hung up on the 2%. That was someone's estimate of you happening on a friendly, competent, and empowered agent who would remove the LAS segment without affecting the rest of the ticket. But that is not going to happen. As others have told you, there is no way to make this work.

Well, seeing as I have no other realistic options, I suppose I will just have to give this my best shot and see what happens.

I will report back on how it goes.

What does this mean?

Depending on your fare rules, there may be different fees / penalties for cancelling a segment than for changing it. In any event, it is worth a call to ask the very specific question, e.g. "I would like to cancel my JFK-LAS segment. Can you do that and what will it cost?"

If the ticket is one where a change made after some segments have been flown is repriced at the historic prices and the fare classes that you purchased are still available then this might work, but you would still have to pay the change fee.

I mean I have no other realistic options because once they remove the LAS segment the price shoots up (fare diff + change fee) enough that it begins to make more sense to buy a separate OW KUL -> Home.

Hence, I will just call them upon landing in NYC and claim I 'missed the connection and had to buy my own flight', and request that they don't cancel the rest of the segments.

Long shot but we'll see how it goes...

I doubt that will work, but suppose you did go this way, what would you do if they asked for evidence of this separate flight to LAS you took?

By that time your ticket would have already been marked void.

A separate fully refundable ticket booked on delta I suppose.

I will call them BEFORE the JFK-LAS flight departs but after luggage drop closes. I believe the ticket will be valid till the boarding time closes.

I do realize the whole plan is a long shot but it's the only thing left to try short of just abandoning the return segment.

It is more than a long shot , it is pretty much an impossible shot. Unless you are happy just to throw the ticket in the bin, this seems like the worst of options. If you miss the flight at best it may agree to put you on a later flight or send you back to EK to rebook. There is basically no chance that it will just allow the flight to be missed

Your realistic choices are
fly to LAS and then return back to New York and then continue on to Kuala Lumpur
Pay the change fee and fare difference to remove the New York to Las Vegas flight
Cancel ticket in New York and collect any refund amount

The airline is not going to give you a free change of destination

That doesn't seem realistic. You think they will give the OP money back? Almost never do you get money back (sometimes you owe them money). If OP had a flexible ticket then the change wouldn't be so much.

That’s not evidence of travel.

The first option involves 10 hours of flying NYC-JFK-NYC. Note that my KUL legs are in March. The second option doesn't make sense as I called Emirates and the amount they quoted to remove the JFK-LAS segment was more than a direct OW flight from KUL-HOME. As for the third option, I will bring it up if they refuse to let me continue my journey on the story that I had to buy my own JFK-LAS flight (though I doubt they will refund any significant amount).

BTW, if they agree to reschedule the JFK-LAS flight to a later date (like a month later) that would be acceptable to me...




You're right of course. But as I will call them before this Delta flight and the og Alaska segment (JFK-LAS) takes off, it will be as good a proof as possible at the time.

Almost all (maybe all) EK tickets are refundable for a fee.

If the ticket allows a stopover, then you will be able to do it now - if not , the airline will not allow the stopover

It seems that you want the impossible

I think that your best ( possibly only feable ) option is to fly to Las Vegas and fly back again. your other plans are looking to buy expensive tickets

:rolleyes:

I'm done arguing with you, please do report back if you are part of that 2% ;)

I think you have decided that a new ticket KUL-home is cheaper ('better') than flying buying a one-way LAS-JFK and needlessly sitting in the air for eight hours ('worse').