Missing the first segment on a RTW
 

A friend of mine is wondering:

If he books a RTW ticket (with oneworld) and misses the first segment, can he continue on from the second segment or is the entire itinerary cancelled?

Based on my experience with AA last year - miss a segment - the whole reservation cancels.

However, as some airlines are not fully linked with AA, the sectors may be OK.

Hello Flying Dutchman. No offense to you and your friend, but I'd appreciate if you can kindly take my word of advise...

I wouldn't recommend skipping the first segment. Why? Well, urh, it's against the
contract (i.e. general flight ticket rules), and if the carrier recognizes it as fraud,
they reserve "the right to refuse carriage to any person who has acquired a
ticket in violation of applicable law or carrier's tariffs, rules or regulations."
Deliberately or not, throwing away flight coupons and not using it in the correct
sequence is not one of those "gray zone" tricks, it's black.

If for some reason your friend successfully starts the RTW from the second
segment, and at some point is noticed by the carrier, the chances are he/she will
be subject to compensation for full fare - and you know this is very very
expensive.

I'm really sorry if I sound quite sour, but nobody wants to hear horror stories like
someone had to pay USD3,000 at the airport to continue the journey just
because he/she didn't know the rules... I personally know these tragedies, and it
is really ugly. The particular case I know was not by ignorance but by intentions
to cheat, but that person had to give up the rest of his flight coupons, was forced
to purchase a new set of full fare tickets and went on black list.

Two issues:

1) Tarrif rules

Usually the tariff sets out that the first sector is fixed once you are within the ticketing deadline. So if the passenger doesn't use it, the passenger may be subject to cancellation penalties.

2) Fare calculation

RTW fares vary according to the point of origin. If the first segment is international and skipped then the fare calculation goes out the window, because the actual journey starts in a different country.

It is cheaper to start a RTW in Canada than the US. If you just dumped (say) a YVR SEA as the first sector, then properly the airfare would have to rise to the price for a US point of origin.

I too discourage this. While the chances that you'll be black-listed from the airline in the future are slim, there is a good chance that the onward portions of your journey will be cancelled.

I'm currently on a oneworld RTW. My last segment is an AA 767 flight EZE-JFK. Since the thought of such a long flight on a 767 is a negative one, I'm considering rebooking on UA for that flight. It's the last segment, so there aren't any onward segments that could be cancelled.

Again, highly discouraged.

I already warned him about the very high likelihood of not receiving miles for the trip, the ethical issue, and the possibility of being black-listed. But he wasn't interested in any of that since he doesn't bother with frequent flyer programs. He wanted to do it so that could get the lowered Canadian fare without actually going to Canada. But I'm sure that he'll abandon the idea if I tell him that his itinerary may be cancelled, leaving him stranded off in Zimbabwe or who knows where!

Thanks for your replies.

in the case of your friend his itin would be cancelled in most likelihood. however it has been my exp with OW that if you are connecting between AA (the only choice between Canada / US now) and CX is that they are not aware of each others reservations. so if your friend is a gambling man -- if caught worst case is that they cancel his tix and charge him the new fare and since he wouldnt have used any of the segments he wouldnt really pay anything extra beyond the fare difference -- so if the diff is big enough he may want to give it a shot.

having said this i wouldnt reccomend it just b/c of the hassle and also the fact that seats may not be avail when he has to reissue the ticket in the US.

au contraire my friends..all OW partners are on the same computer system and if you skip a leg the rest of your itin cancels because the computer figures if you didn't take the flight from point b to point c then you can't be taking the flights from point c onward..it does break the fare rules and you will be liable for any penalties and probably new one way tickets home. And it gives those of us in REs a helluva headache trying to straighten it out. And Boston Boy..soon there will be 777's EZE/JFK you will be a happy camper. We very rarely blacklist anyone, you have to be a really BAD actor.

RDURES - sorry to disagree but CX and AA are are most certainly not on the same res system. what does happen is that once you've booked an itin it is sent to all the airlines on the routing. as such each airline has a record. however if you make a change enroute and the carrier does not forward the changes (at least with AA and CX) it will not update automatically. unfortuantely i know this from experience - on many occasions the airline agents themselves have apolgized and said that they are not on the same systems.

Will the 777s be on that route by next week?

Thanks.

RDURES - from experience, AA has the most sophisticated Res system in the world. Its fare calculation is almost always perfect. And CX's CRS actually is the closest to SABRE as can be - in terms of calculating fares, and routings.

QF and BA have now adopted the AMADEUS system and I can say from personal experience, AMADEUS calculates fares which are at least 20% higher than SABRE. Don't know why. FINNAIR and IBERIA are also on the AMADEUS system. I am now sure what LAN CHILE and AER LINGUS use.

I think the same thing will apply to you. I asked (outright, I might add) what would happen if I abandoned the rtw in the middle. I was told that the *entire* trip would be recalculated at full fare. So a $5k business fare could cost me $20k. I don't know how accurate this is, but I sure as hell didn't want to try to do it.

I asked ... what would happen if I abandoned the rtw in the middle. I was told that the *entire* trip would be recalculated at full fare.

How could/would this actually play out? Let's take a simple case: you have a RTW ticket JFK-NRT-SIN-CDG-JFK. And you get to Paris and throw away the last ticket. Is there any chance that they'd come after you and try to charge you for the full point-to-point fares?

Can somebody tell me where to find fares online for oneworld round-the-world tickets?

Thanks

http://www.geocities.com/osointer/oneworld.htm