[TimFitzgeraldTC]

Well this was on flyertalk from 2002. Still trying to dig out case I read about many moons ago

“Passengers may gain the right to use their tickets as their wish, following two rulings of German Courts, which established that passengers are free to use only parts of their ticket and are entitled to make cross-bookings, i.e. to use coupons of two separate tickets for one journey. The Courts of Köln and Frankfurt consider that airlines do not suffer any prejudice when the passenger does not use some of the contracted coupons; notably because airlines have put in place overbooking systems and because they do not have to reimburse coupons that are not used. Finally, the Courts noted that passengers must not be sanctioned for making economic-driven choices; it is up to airlines to set tariffs that do not prompt passengers to make such arrangements”

Next year I think see introduction of EU rules which will allow customers to use return / onwards portions of tickets even if they don’t use 1st sector. Alex may be able to advise on this.

also in Germany found link to this.

http://europakonsument.at/en/page/flight-ticket-remains-valid-general

Which looks specific to local market.

[MrMichael]

I don’t think BA will bring it on. I have skipped the last leg on a BA Biz ticket, not deliberately to take advantage of hidden city tickets, I was feeling tired and emotional, so I went home instead of doing my day trip to Oslo I had been looking forward to for months. I am sure my being tired and emotional, and not trying to claim back on my insurance, or rebook my ticket will be looked at by the judge as very commendable of me. I am after all, a very commendable sort of chap.

[onajetplane]

Timely article:
http://mashable.com/2015/07/21/hidden-city-ticketing-british-airways/
Seems like BA might be catching up on this game…

[AMcWhirter]

Some of you may be interested in this piece via headforpoints.com

http://www.headforpoints.com/2015/08/17/british-airways-dublin-dropping-last-leg/

[Bath_VIP]

Whether this is clamping down or not, I experienced the same thing (not to the same degree) at Austin earlier this year. I was upfront though and asked to end the journey at LHR instead of DUB on the grounds that I had 3 suitcases instead of the 1 expected to carry and as a disabled passenger did not want to go to DUB when my father had offered to pick me up at LHR, all of which was true! This satisfied them.

[SimonS1]

I’ll believe it when I see it. In fact it would be good to see BA take it to court so a ruling is established.

In the meantime for a Dublin it’s easy book the final leg from a different London airport to the one you fly into in which case your bags can’t be tagged through and the traffic on the M25 guarantees you a migraine.

[LuganoPirate]

I fly mainly out of Milan, not just for the savings but for practical reasons as well. As I sometimes have (by choice) a 2 hour stopover in Zurich. What I do is check my bags to Zurich, pick them up, put them on the train to Lugano and then go catch the flight to Milan.

This means on arrival I can just walk through, get the bus (or pick up my car) without the hassle and time wasted hauling round my cases and then collect them at the station.

I’d not risk losing my miles or status by not flying the leg and on the couple of occasions I have it’s because of likely or actual flight delays and done with the permission of Swiss.

[EruditeSheep]

Since I live within striking distance of Birmingham airport, I often use ticketing originating in DUB, AMS or BRU to cut the cost of long-haul business travel. For example, a recent return trip DUB-LHR-SAN-LHR-DUB on BA, booked as a code share on the AA web-site in J class cost £1075. The same trip booked on the same aircraft on the BA web-site would have cost significantly more. Presumably such differences arise because of the way that code-sharing agreements operate.

But back to the main topic of this discussion. I have frequently explored using ticketing for J-class trips such as DUB-SFO-BHX (buying the BHX-DUB as a separate one-way ticket – as cheap as £20 on EI). This open-jaw-type approach only seems to work for US airlines – the BA website doesn’t let you make such a booking on a multi-city basis. So as an example I compared the cost of different business class fares using United Airlines, starting in DUB or LHR, with travel terminating in LHR for a trip in mid-September. The results speak for themselves.

DUB-SFO-DUB (UA) £2267
DUB-SFO-LHR (UA) £2679
LHR-SFO-LHR (UA) £3680
(Compare BA LHR-SFO-LHR £4965)

I’m sure that I could find even better deals if I spent more time searching. The ticketing is legal and there is no risk of losing FF points or being liable for any extra charges on such open-jaw itineraries.

[AnthonyDunn]

@ Erudite Sheep – 21/08/2015 12:09 BST

In fairness to BA, they are by no means the only carrier to employ such pricing tactics to attract traffic through their hub. Trips on CX via HKG to SYD and BKK have been considerably cheaper than just getting off at HKIA.

BTW, try using ITA Matrix and you may find BA/AA/IB flights between DUB-SFO at something like €1,612/£1,168 at present owing to their Summer Sale.

[EruditeSheep]

@ AnthonyDunn – 21/08/2015 15:23 BST

Many thanks. I was aware of ITA Matrix, but hadn’t applied it to this particular SFO example. The fares that you illustrate are certainly attractive. My main point though was to highlight the availability of fares that avoid risk of penalties for skipping the last leg.

[MrMichael]

Friend of mine flew in this morning BNE-HKG-LHR OSL. This was on one of the BA returns to Oz in Biz. He tried at BNE to check in his luggage just as far as LHR as his flight to OSL is not until later this morning. He was refused. However he is now home, with luggage having informed BA on arrival at LHR that he was feeling unwell and could not make the OSL connection. They retrieved his baggage ( took about 40 minutes, possibly got it quicker than those finishing their journey at LHR!) ….and informed him that unfortunately he would have to book another flight to Oslo and pay. Needless to say he was delighted with their assistance.

[MartynSinclair]

I wonder what would happen in the above circumstance IF the airline repriced the ticket and a claim was sent to the Travel Insurers.. would they pay out….?

[SimonS1]

I’d be surprised Martyn. Even if it was covered (which I doubt) the insurers would soon change policy wordings. Otherwise it would be open house, the airline charging the difference and insurers being stuffed with the bill.

[MartynSinclair]

It will depend if the increased cost (if the airline would ever succeed) is considered as being necessary for the passenger to complete the journey.

I would have thought the insurers, have sufficient buying power to keep the airlines in check!!

Interesting to see what would happen though…

[SimonS1]

On the other hand the insurer would argue that if the traveller had completed the journey then the cost would not have arisen.

I suppose ultimately it would depend on the reasons. If you could produce evidence that you really were sick and could not travel back to Oslo then maybe. Ditto if a family member was ill.

However if it was just that you didn’t feel like it I would day the chances are remote.

[Author]

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