pktrain

Hello,

I'm looking to fly DEN-LIH Nov 19-26 of this year. I am Premier member of United and need to take this flight on United to maintain my status for '12. Now here's the dilemma...

I just searched United.com and found a flight DEN-LIH on the dates above for $1,958.14. I also considered flying DEN-HNL and taking a hop to LIH. Turns out, I found a flight DEN-LIH-HNL *ON THE SAME DEN-LIH FLIGHTS AS THE $1,958.14 FARE* for $1.082.14. What the...?!?!?!

What happens if I purchase the DEN-LIH-HNL ticket and just get off at LIH and fly out of LIH? Will they canx the whole ticket if I miss the LIH-HNL connection going out? Will they still credit me actual flown mileage?

I saw this thread (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/archive/t-975547.html) but I didn't find a straight answer to my particular situation.

Many thanks for the advice and best wishes for future travels...

GTHCGTH

Here's your thread

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...city-risk.html

In short:

Miss any flight and the rest of itinerary is cancelled. Definitely not advisable to do so on outbound leg.

If no bags are checked, then doing so on return leg on a one-off basis, though a breach of contract, will in all likelihood have no consequences. All miles will post and money saved. Frequent travelers who do it on a recurring basis, however, have been known to have been tracked down by airlines and forfeit all miles/status/etc.

Doing it once in a blue moon, by the consensus of this board, seems like it's not a major issue.

P.S. This kind of pricing issues happen quite often.

pktrain

Thanks for the helpful link and advice GTHCGTH....albeit not what I wanted to hear!

cordelli

It's called hidden city ticketing as mentioned, and there are quite a few threads about it (and even a story in the NY Times this weekend).

If you are going to skip a segment, it has to be the last segment on the ticket. If you do what you are asking and have a return flight to Denver on the same ticket, they will cancel the flight back to Denver.

If they figure out what you are doing, they can charge you the difference in the fares, not credit your miles, all that stuff.

So to answer your question - nothing will probably happen, and you will get the credit for the flights you fly. But there is a chance you will end up paying the difference, or not getting any miles. If you do this, make sure your trip home is booked on another ticket or airline, and not as a round trip.

kwildnj

To spare you the risk of doing anything 'illegal' in the travel world, I looked at some options for you.

For your travel dates, I just searched on Kayak, for two separate tickets, DEN-HNL-DEN, then HNL-LIH-HNL, and found the following fares:

DEN-PHX-HNL-PHL-DEN on US: 891.00

HNL-LIH-HNL on HA/Go!/Island: 150.00
----------------------------------------------------------------
Total on Two Tickets (Gives you the ability to spend a little time in HNL, should you desire as well): $ 1041.00


If you wanted to burn 10k miles, you could save the $150 and book an inter-island award trip.

emcampbe

Yeah, saw that NY Times story in the mag, and was quite surprised to see that endorsed, or at least published, by a major newspaper. Particularly when it didn't mention some of the major potential drawbacks. For example, potential consequences should there be irrops on the day of flight where the airline could "connect" you through a different city, bypassing your actual "destination."

o mikros

Whenever I have done this (never, to all airline reps looking around for me) the GA have been understanding and accommodating. At worst, you just say "I booked my flight through XYZ because my sister works at the airport and I need to pick up a present from her to bring to my mother (whom I'm visiting in my final destination)." In the case of re-routes, customers do have the option of declining the proposed routing changes.

Boraxo

Do you really care more about the mileage or the $1000 you will save? Is that a one-way or roundtrip fare? If the latter, you do realize your return ticket will likely be cancelled when you fail to take the second segment? Maybe you want to consider booking 2 one-ways or perhaps even better a return on a different carrier.

As for the fare differential, it's a typical UA gouge to LIH. There is a lot of competition to HNL so the fares are normally reasonable and you even see some good sales on occasion. But UA has a near monopoly on nonstops to LIH and prices the flights accordingly. However AS has just added nonstops from SJC and OAK that will provide a cheaper option for those originating or connecting through the SF area.

Todd Gack

Hi all, booked a one-way hidden-city flight last week. I don't fly often, no FF account, etc. Thought I was a genius until I realized I have a checked bag that I don't want to FedEx. I've read a fair amount on here about how low-chance this is, but hopefully the non-sticklers can humor me...

If I do try to find a sympathetic ticketing agent, should I try it at my departure or connecting point? Thinking the latter because the layover is 4 hours for a connecting flight of probably an hour tops. Any other ideas - stories that can work?

Thanks!

Peatisback

Is there any rule breaking if I book BBB-CCC and also AAA-BBB-DDD for the same day and drop the BBB-DDD segment to take the BBB-CCC segment that is around the same time?

escapefromphl

You could say you have a gift for someone that is meeting you post security at the connection point, never tried it though.

Todd Gack

Yeah...worries me that they could press me on that a little bit...where's the gift bub? Also not sure why I'd need a checked piece of luggage to go post-security temporarily. Gotta be something to do the trick.

My plans have changed and only need to be in connection city now...
Didn't realize the layover was this long and need to be somewhere sooner...
My checked piece won't fit in car picking me up at the destination but could get a friend to come during the layover...
You look stunning today...

craz

if your departing airport has SkyCaps doing checkin at the curb grease their palm and it will be where you want it to be ,$5 sometimes they will give U a look which means U better cough up at least another $5 But dont expect to get it taken care of for $2 or nothin at all

Todd Gack

Interesting...definitely worth at least 10 bucks to me, probably more. Will keep an eye out for that!

epiding

lol, remember the old days (pre-911) when one could ship an entire bag to a friend at another airport (e.g. shipping stuff home for college while too dirt poor to afford regular post) without even an airline ticket by 'dropping off' the bag with curb side baggage check-in and tipping the skycap? all you had to do was leave a nice tip and a wink wink.

oh those pre-TSA olden days...