My trip is starting to take shape, but I'd like to ask for advice on something...

From London, I need to go to New York on Friday 8 November (I'm locked into this date). Then, I need to be back in London by the night of Sunday 10 November to pick up a flight to HKG. I think it's too risky to fly JFK-LHR on the Sunday dayflight, as it's only a 90 minute connection between arriving from JFK and leaving for Asia. So that means taking the JFK-LHR on one of the redeyes on the Saturday night.

After I return from Asia (around Nov 20), I need to go back to New York, and stay there until just after New Year. So, to do the transatlantic sectors as cheaply as possible, I'm thinking of doing the following:

Fri Nov 8: LHR-JFK on Airline 1
Sat Nov 9: JFK-LHR on Airline 2
(Nov 10-20 separate trip to Asia)
Nov 21: LHR-JFK on Airline 2
Jan 2: JFK-LHR on Airline 1

Unfortunately, doing a RTW from London on Nov 8 (which would mean not having to do one LHR-JFK roundtrip) is not an option.

Is this classic back-to-back ticketing and illegal? Could it be a real problem, even if the 2 roundtrips are on separate airlines? Or, is it impossible for Airlines 1 and 2 to know what I'm doing, and I'll be OK?

All advice welcome!

You shouldn't have trouble if tickets are on separate airlines. Just make sure you leave enough time between the New York and Asia flights that you have a back-up plan in the event a flight is late. etc. As you say, leaving a 90 min. connection between airlines from a trans-Atlantic onto a trans-Pacific is foolish--- let alone the fact that your body won't like it.

To be the safest, choose different airlines _and_ FF programs, i.e. flying one RT on BA and one RT on AA but pooling both into the same account may raise trouble-- not likely, but possibly.

Very separate aside: Northwest has about US$250RT fares after tax New York to London. These must originate in the US, and you can reserve through nwa.com or travelocity. Just note that the fares are only valid if you connect to/from DTW--LGW flights on NW, meaning you'd have to change airports to go to Heathrow.

Good luck.

[This message has been edited by Viajero Joven (edited 10-23-2002).]

Off my head, if you're using 2 different airlines that aren't part of the same alliance, it isn't really "back-to-back" and doesn't violate any airline's rules.

I don't think one airline's rules can tell you not to do "back-to-back" with another airline like this situation. But I could be wrong.

Also, doing "back-to-back", even on the same airline, is NOT "illegal" (i.e. a crime), just merely against the airline's rules.