[Falcon7x]

I used the ita matrix website that has been documented on headforpoints and elsewhere on BT. From memory, there were some pretty good ex MAD flights to LAX via LHR picking up the A380 or new AA 773.

[Falcon7x]

Martyn – that was the initial plan, however, I figured on taking the 0630 LHR-MAD flight and take a leisurely few hours in MAD to save any hassle jn case of delays. I will plan to check my bags in at LHR for SFO. In practice, how are the check in staff when you ask them to do this? I naturally thought that this wouldn’t be possible until I saw a post yesterday saying that it was…

[MartynSinclair]

If you print out your boarding cards the night before, just show the LHR-SFO when you check your bags in.

Last time I gave the wrong boarding pass and the check in person was not comfortable checking my bag in knowing I was going to Amsterdam first.

A supervisor was called and confirmed there is NO issue checking a bag in and then travelling to Europe and back (before hand).

Bottom line is that if you do not show for the SFO flight, your bag will not be loaded.

Entering airside however, make sure you show the correct boarding pass… otherwise, the system may get confused when you come back and go through flight connections…

[Falcon7x]

Perfect. And as BA Gold I can check bags in at 0530, then scoot through for the 0630 MAD flight with no bags.

If this works as well as I think it will, I’m going to do this a good few times a year!

[MartynSinclair]

never failed me yet….

[Daytripper]

This has been a recurrent theme on the BT forum. Will BA retrospectively charge you the vastly more expensive UK-based fare if you miss the last leg of an ex-EU itinerary? Nobody on this forum has ever provided a shred of evidence that BA has actually imposed such a charge, despite BA’s theoretical ability to do so.

I think some people are missing a point here. BA makes almost as much money from ex-EU business class fares as it does from ex-UK fares because UK premium class departure tax is so much higher than in our neighbouring EU countries. Strip away UK departure tax, and the ‘fare’ element of a UK and EU long haul business class fare isn’t too dissimilar. So BA probably isn’t complaining.

[LuganoPirate]

Fair point Daytripper but I don’t think the tax element has a lot to do with it. Living in Lugano I fly ex MXP long haul, but I’ve seen the savings versus ex London range from £1,000 – £2,500. Mrs. LP recently flew MXP -LHR-JNB for £1,300 in business. The ex LHR price was about £3,000!

[SimonS1]

@Daytripper – not exactly true is it. See Tim Fitzgerald comments 16/09/2014 11:59 GMT. It may not have happened for bookings made directly with the airline though.

Does the difference in departure tax really account for the difference in fares? In some cases travellers are saving thousands. If that was really the case surely BA would make a thing about it and show that this was the case to embarrass the government. They would also encourage the ex EU practice as it sells extra positioning flights. But they don’t.

[Carajillo2Sugar]

Why not book your ticket DUB-LON-LAX-LON-PAR?

This will be a very similar price and negates the need for an unused coupon. Plus, you will save the cost of buying a separate ticket to get you back to Paris.

[SimonS1]

Interesting thread here on some of the risks of Ex-EU flights, and what the liability might be if the positioning flight is cancelled.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/british-airways-executive-club/1624504-ex-eu-what-happens-if-ba-cancel-outbound-flight.html

[MartynSinclair]

The airline do have the ability to permit flying the ticket out of ticket sequence. On the one or two occasions that I have had snow issues, BA have always allowed the tickets to be used out of sequence.

[onajetplane]

Normally if you check the fare conditions you can also push the last LON-DUB flight by a few weeks and then potentially just use that last flight for a weekend getaway/or even better… to fly over to dublin again to do another ex-DUB ticket.

[planegeek]

I have worked in corporate travel/the airline industry for 23 years and I can tell you categorically that if the airlines detect intentional misuse, they will attempt to recharge, If you booked through an agency that is by means of an ‘Agency Debit Memo’ which the agency will then usually be contractually (if working formally for a major company) able to recharge to the traveller. Some years ago they simply didn’t have the technology to manage that….now they do. Of course there is still an element of subjectivity around the word ‘intentional’ but I would say caveat emptor.

An example of how technology has come on in recent years in this regard – agencies used to be able to hold a fare class that has, say a 24 hour ticketing time limit, but then if no decision made by the traveller, they could simply rebook the same classes the next day and hey presto you have another 24hrs. This ‘churning’ was against the rules but couldnt be stopped. Now it can, and the agency would be ADM’d if they did this, so reputable ones simply won’t do it any more.

As to the fact of getting lower fares ex-Europe on BA, this is one of the many anomalies in travel that I have struggled to explain to customers over the years, however if we all think with a commercial head it stands to reason – airlines don’t generally have so much market clout outside their home market and they may have to discount vs a direct (flight) competitor at point of origin. This happens the world over – not just with BA here.

[MartynSinclair]

oneajetplane – “Normally if you check the fare conditions you can also push the last LON-DUB flight by a few weeks” – and normally there will be a charge for doing this – you need to check!

[SimonS1]

@planegeek – indeed we knew the bit about the travel agent being charged – see Tim’s comments on page 1.

However a bit different if job book it directly with the airline and despite all the huff and puff no one on here or Flyertalk has ever come up with a case where someone has actually been charged the difference.

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