back to back ticket question
 

Looking to purchase a trip that includes UA and TG. I found good webfares from UA (BKK RT) and TG (BKK onwards RT). Seperately, the two fares add up to about $2K. But when I tried the UA site for the entire routing with *A checked, the fare came back as $6K! Haven't found the combined fare on any other site.

Question:
Is it acceptable to purchase and combine tickets this way? What problems might I run into?

Thanks!

This construction is called end-on-end and allowed for most fares. You may check the fare rules. If an end-on-end construction is not permitted the tickets are treated as two separate tickets with all consequences like baggage claim and re-checking in etcetc.

There might be combinability rules that push the fare into a higher bucket.

Try constructing the itin on Orbitz or someone who isn't UA, and if that doesn't work for you, then you can of course buy two separate tickets.

Normally, UA will have no problem through-checking your bags as long as you show them your TG e-ticket receipt, and vice versa for Thai on the return. You will not be able to get a boarding pass for the other airline when you check in, though, and be sure to keep your bag claim checks when you get them.

Some airlines do have policies against this (LH sometimes refuses to through-check bags even onto other LH flights, AC will never do it to non-AC flights), but UA isn't one of them.

Either this, or call UA and see if they can get it to price. Get the fare rules of each trip separately, and see if an int'l agent can piece it together.

It seems that the UA fares to your final destination are higher than the sum of the two parts, but united.com may not be able to price the TG component as a TG component, so it bumps up to the higher through-fare.

What I've seen a lot of the time is that:

• the fares you see on United.com are "sale" fares that are not bookable through Orbitz, and are often not combinable with other fares end-on-end
• the trans-ocean fares that do allow end-on-end combinations bump the bracket up to Q or sometimes M
• there are "joint" fares with codeshares that require that on the outbound and return, everything be booked in the same fare bucket (which usually pushes it out of the W/V range)
• the cheaper intra-continental fares do not allow end-on-end combinations, and the cheapest ones that do push the bracket up into M or full Y for that segment or, in the case of codeshares, for the entire continuous leg until the next fare break

For example, on a recent business trip, a coworker and I tried booking an open jaw to LHR and back from MLA and saw the following (all on a combination UA/LH):
Option 1: RNO-LAX-IAD-LHR / MLA-FRA-SFO-RNO on one ticket: $1700 (don't recall what fare bucket the return was...think it was V or Q)
Option 2: RNO-LAX-IAD-LHR / FRA-SFO-RNO as ticket 1 ($900 in V) and MLA-FRA as ticket #1 ($130 in E--not combinable with anything)

What I usually do to take advantage of United-only sale fares, and avoid expensive intra-Asia fares, is book the United legs paid and make separate bookings on award tickets for the intra-Asia travel.

Intra-Europe, there's often a very limited advantage to booking the intra-Europe legs as award, since in the lower fares, 50-75% of the cost of the ticket is taxes (which you pay on awards, anyway).

Sorry, I don't think any of us have really answered fully the questions you had. The main issues are, as I said earlier, that you will have to check in and get boarding passes separately for each ticket. That is always the case, unless you happen to be booked on the same airline all the way through, in which case some airlines allow you to get all your BPs at once (UA does this).

You should budget time between flights to collect and recheck your bags if you are unable to check them all the way through across separate tickets (this is not usually a problem, but as I said some airlines do not allow you to check bags through onto separate airlines, or you may just run into an unskilled check-in agent).

You should also budget time between flights to accommodate any delays that can occur. If you are flying on a single ticket, the issuing airline "protects" you from getting you lost en route in the event of a misconnection. For example, on a single ticket, if your UA flight is late and you miss your connection to the TG flight, you are still "protected" and UA essentially offers a guarantee to get you to your final destination in the event of such mishaps.

On two separate tickets, you are not protected. To many airlines, and on flexible tickets, this doesn't matter much if you're a little late showing up for your flight (things happen...they know this). However, it is entirely possible that if one flight is late and causes you to miss your connection, you may have to pay a change penalty, or lose your entire booking. It's a small risk, but it's there. Slightly O/T, but LCC's are particularly unsympathetic in this regard.

This is overstated in my opinion and in my experience, particularly because the OP is inquiring specifically about UA and TG.

I do end-on-end separate ticketing all the time when going through BKK using UA and TG. I have had my bags checked through with no problem either way. Perhaps my ignorance is bliss, but I have simply bought my tickets in the most cost effective way, which is sometimes with an agent in BKK (this takes some doing, but can save a great deal), or the TG website. I never attempt buying TG flights on the UA website.

I don’t know the published policy, but I have done this several times to different destinations without problems or questions.

While on the topic, I’ve had seamless, trouble-free check-through of bags connecting either way between UA and SQ in SIN using separate end-on-end ticketing. I can say the same for connections in FRA between UA and LH.

On this count glex is absolutely correct. This is the risk that balances the benefit of lower cost. All the more reason to consider which airline and city-pair has a better on-time performance and allow extra time to be sure that your bags make the interline change. If you don’t make it for any reason, there can be some seriously high change fees. And glex is right about LCCs. If you don’t show up on time for Ryan Air or Wizz Air, you just donated to their cause.

Good advice about allowing extra time. Even with carriers agreeing to do interline transfer, it takes time. I once had a UA to LH transfer in FRA to ZRH (once again, with end-on-end ticketing). My bags didn’t make the change even though there was two hours between flights. You’d think that the timeliness of Germany would get bags heading for Switzerland out on time. But there was an extra security check at FRA, which the agents in ZRH told me happens all the time.

Be prepared for an unpleasant surprise if you ever fly tpac with AC and expect them to interline bags on separate tickets ;). They have a published policy not to do it, and I found out the hard way, though I once got away with it in PEK (where AC checkin is staffed by CA).

There are also reports that LH will (sometimes) not check bags on separate tickets, even if they other flight is on LH!! In any case, my point was that the ability to do this at checkin sometimes depends on exactly what type of agent you get. I've had UA agents give me a hard time on occasion with a UA->UA transfer, usually because they have never personally done it before.

Thanks everyone. I tried pricing via Orbitz and called UA as well - no luck. The fare was always $1K+ higher (due to TG being a webfare). So ended up purchasing two seperate tickets.

Good point re the missed connection scenario. Since I have a 12 hour layover in BKK in both directions due to flight timing, hopefully that won't be a problem.

FYI, I have had zero problems getting UA to check bags through to final destination, even when the final leg was on another airline and a different ticket. Done it a dozon times, usually from Chicago. This applies (for me) to UA-Thai, UA-Philippine, UA-CebuPacific, UA-KenyaAir, UA-Cathay. Of course, at the transit point, when you get your onward boarding pass, you should show them the bag claim tickets.