Kacee

UA might theoretically take the position you're evading their fare rules, but it's very low risk. That said, if I were to do that kind of thing with any frequency, I would probably book the two tickets on different carriers.

WineCountryUA

The industry term for this is "back-to-back" ticket and is expressly disallowed by most airlines (including UA).

See the thread's wiki for some references

Whether or not UA will catch on to this is a different question. If they were, UA would be allowed per the CoC to bill you for the fare differences and to do nasty things to your MP account.

Kacee

It's technically only a violation of the "back-to-back" ticketing prohibition if it evades a fare rule - i.e., tickets booked "for the purpose of circumventing applicable tariff rules (such as advance purchase/minimum stay requirements"). The classic "back-to-back ticketing" scenario involves avoiding the Saturday night stay requirement. I doubt these fares have that requirement. There may be a maximum stay requirement that's being violated on one of the tickets, but I suspect there's not.

So assuming there's not a specific fare violation, UA would have to fall back on this provision:

WineCountryUA

Which seems to be the OP's stated goal


Don't disagree especially about the multiple carriers but the OP specifically ask if there were "ToS issues."

findark

The change in price is due to the market (accessing HKG fares instead of US fares) so it's a little less cut-and-dried. The practical point stands in that a little of this is fine, and if you wanted to make a commute out of it, fly the book-end trip on a different carrier, or use a one-way or award ticket.

Kacee

Yes, exactly. There's no specific fare rule being violated or evaded, you're just accessing a cheaper Asia-originating fare for half of the journey. And there's not even a PoS restriction on that fare, as UA will sell those HKG fares with a US PoS (I've bought several one-way Ws HKG-SFO with a US credit card).

Accessing a cheaper fare is not in and of itself a fare rule violation.

WineCountryUA

Agreed but the OP mention " longer durations are cheaper " and that seems a bit more problematic.

chavala

I was recently reprimanded by an DFW agent for having 2 tickets: R/T DFW-SIN using GPUs, and a separate R/T economy SQ ticket SIN-DPS.
She refused to check my bags through because I "broke the rules". (Buying this as one ticket is insanely expensive, like $9k vs. under $1600 for 2 tickets)
I stood my ground and wouldn't leave until she called over a supervisor who was also quite snarky about it.
I was there for 45 minutes dealing with this, with a large line forming behind me, and I think she finally realized I was not going anywhere unless they called the airport police and dragged me out ; )
She told me she would make an exception since I'm a 1K.
I've been doing this type of ticketing for many years -- this is the only time I've had a problem.
I wrote to 1K voice -- yes, actually pointing out my own transgression! -- saying if UA doesn't want me to make this sort of "illegal" reservation, they should fix the pricing on their website, otherwise I will continue to buy my tickets this way.
I got an apology and $300ETC.

gregoryad

So I was just playing around with my booking settings for the flight that I make the most. MFR - BKK.
I plugged in that and got roundtrip in econ ~1306 with no upgrades.

Then I tried the exact same dates looked at SFO - BKK it was a whopping $631.91 RT A MASSIVE DIFFERENCE.
Curious I went through all the steps pretended to booked the normal E+ on the long flights 159 for SFO NRT and 187 NRT SFO.
Total thats roughly $978 a 328 dollar difference. A roundtrip that minds very good connection times and a +1 date coming back (timezone change not forgotten) between MFR and SFO was $287 without E+ and $364 with. Virtually for this trip I am getting E+ for only $36.

The question remains am I allowed to do this? What would have to happen with my bags? Checked all the way to BKK or just to SFO?

jsloan

Yes, you're allowed to do this. UA will transfer your bags on the way out, although you'll want to arrive early; it can be complicated for the agents to set this up. On the way back, it would be up to ANA (NH) whether they want to check your bags through or not.

However, if you miss one flight due to a delay, UA has no particular obligation to rebook you. (In practice, they're pretty good about this when both flights are operated by UA, but understand that it's a courtesy, not a right).

You may need to pay the domestic US bag fee on the outbound, and again at SFO if NH won't check your bags through. (You might not, too; either outcome is possible depending upon how exactly they process your bags).

gregoryad

Very interesting. Also I don't think I will have bag fees unless NH imposes them in any case. 2x Checked bags max generally (1x) and domestically silver covers it (second bag ill have to pay 40 (each way)). On INTL flights I have never had to pay bag fees (with 2x bags) with silver or my explorer card. As for the delays its worrying me at all. I always travel with REALLY good travel insurance and I have my credit card that waves or supports some delays so I should be covered there. I am an early arriver anywhere I go so extra time is never a problem. Was concerned it would be illegal doing this and a google search for the answer was not helpful (mostly suggesting about booking two one way tickets instead of two round trip ones.)

WineCountryUA

Your Explorer card is meaningless when checking-in with a partner, only works for check-ins at UA counters. The UA Silver will apply to NH (not sure their policy for *S).

jsloan

The number of free bags depends upon the market; it does look like SFO-BKK will get two free bags; you might get the second bag free on the domestic portion and you might not. As you've pointed out, the first bag would be covered by your status / card.

It's definitely not illegal, (i.e., zero chance the police will be called). It's only a violation of the contract of carriage if you're doing it to get around fare rules, which you're not really doing in this case. UA doesn't particularly like it, but the fact that they will through-check luggage and have a reputation for working with people when there are delays suggests that they don't worry that much about it either.

True, but not relevant in this case, as the NH allowance will be based on the SFO-BKK UA allowance of two free bags for non-status passengers.

gregoryad

Yeh card benefits now are rendered useless with silver except 2 club passes (I use in NRT for showers every time I go through). Also since I pick the bags up in SFO I just take them through INTL arrivals to the baggage dump recheck thing anyway once I clear CBP.

aero219

Hoping this isn't a completely dumb question.

If I have multiple PNR's associated with my MP account that overlap, is there any complication that could occur by having more than one open at the same time? By way of example:
Let's say I have ORD-EWR-ORD on 12/1 and 1/6, respectively.
Then I book EWR-FRA-JFK on 12/13 and 12/19.

Would the fact that one PNR is "in progress" raise any issues for the other? I've flown a lot in the past, but It's my first year hitting status with any airline, and I'll make it PremierGold this year..just barely, so figured I'd ask sooner rather than later!

Thanks