I haven't made any bookings for the following because I don't want to get in the same position as the person in the DL thread. So, I wanted some opinions on whether the following is illegal or just plain clever ticketing techniques:

1) You have to fly twice to London this summer from the USA. So, you buy a youth one-way for say, 15th June to London. You then buy a ticket from a UK travel agency for a round-trip London - USA - London. Then, you buy a cheap one-way back = 2 round-trips. This may sound bizarre, but in DL's case, it's half the twice if you do it this way as opposed to buying 2 r/t s from the USA. The coupons in the round-trip would be used in order with no travel to London in between so it's not a back-to-back - right??

2) This is a little different. My brother has an award ticket on DL for early September to London returning in January. He's found out he has to come back for a week in December. Is that going to be considered a back-to-back? Technically, I suppose it is one, but they both have Sat. night stays and one's a free ticket!

Opinions please ...

Option 1 is definitely kosher.

Don't know about #2, though.

[This message has been edited by Tute84 (edited 04-17-2000).]

Perfectly fine.

They seem to be ok. You are using all purchased (or ticketed) segments. After all, you can plan a long trip and crap can arise during the trip that can make you need to go back home, and then back to where you were...

What constitutes "back to back"?

Both are "legal" if all flight coupons are used.

A back to back is buying two restrictive "Saturday night stay required" tickets to get around a Saturday night stay requirement. Example: Ticket one ORD==>EWR 6/5 Monday, Return 6/16 Friday. Ticket two-- EWR==>ORD 6/9 Friday, return 6/12--Monday.

Do any airlines technically (as in specifically state in a ticketing agreement) that back - to - back ticketing is not allowed? I have never read it in DL's fine print. And yes I have been bored stiff and whipped out the ticket and read every little detail while stuck on a runway in ATL for an hour while in a bulkhead seat whilst not being allowed access to my briefcase in the overhead bin.

For both scenarios I would not have a problem. I am surprised that the LGW - ??? - LGW is cheaper than ??? - LGW - ???. If it isn't......well go ahead and give DL your money then.

Chris Moss

ChrisMoss7: It's written in the Contract of Carriage, which is supposed to be available at the airline ticket counter, also you can request that they mail a copy to you.

Both seem pretty safe to me.

Thanks for all your help. FYI, LGW - ATL - LGW is about 400 UK pounds in M class until 31st June. From the US, it's the better part of $1000.

Leroy - is that cost from Delta or have you found an online site that tells you ther cost of an M class seat?

From my London travel agent - I wish the DL web-site would do that - it would make planning so much easier. James - FYI - the new London flight has been changed to a more sane time - check the thread in DL forum.

arturo knot kno bout en the uk, butt en us jun ownly hav 30 deys. arturo knot themk yu kan bye tekit to yuse on 31 jun.

awl the abov tekiteng es leegal enywher on eny aeroliner.

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The airlines' policies on back-to-back ticketing is just hurting themselves. Since the airlines do not allow back-to-back ticketing what stops someone from doing back-toback ticketing on two separate airlines? Absolutely nothing. The airlines think they can con the general public into paying more money. By doing this the airlines are only loosing money. For instance, two round trip tickets $400.00 each, one on United and one on Alaska Airlines, don't you think United would rather have $800.00 or Alaska would rather have $800.00 rather than $400.00. Simple answer!

FWIW, I make a distinction between "back-to-back" tickets where you buy two tickets, one each from your origination and destination points and include Saturday night stays for both, and then throw the second half of each away. This is considered illegal by the airlines because the sold seat is vacant and it makes it difficult for them to determine seat availability. Caught doing this, they rarely press charges, but they can and will zero out your ff account. I prefer to use the term "nested tickets" when you plan to use all the segments. It was OK'd by an airline rep. but I still play it safe and buy tickets on different airlines to do this.
My $0.02 worth.