[TimFitzgeraldTC]

Just to point out you cannot book these via a travel agent / TMC as they will get passed the fare difference by the airline (which may be passed to you) if you don’t take the last leg. BA may then also threaten to withdraw all other special fares they have with an agent. So book direct with BA if you are planning to book an Ex-EU fare and not use the last leg.

I have heard of people getting all TP’s / Avios withdrawn for trips where they don’t undertake all legs – but I think this is only for repeat “offenders”

[Discovery-Bay]

May I pose my question again:

“I understand what you have said about booking your checked bag only to LHR.
You then continue to your EU destination and then return straight back to LHR.
What happens to your checked bag in the baggage hall during those few hours?
Where do you find it? “

Whilst someone is doing a LHR/AMS/LHR or LHR/ BRU/LHR turnaround, (having checked a bag to LHR ) ……what happens to the bag? It obviously does not spend 3+ hours going around on a baggage belt.
Where do you find it when you eventually get back to the baggage hall.

[NameRemoved-18/12/14]

I wonder how long it will be until eurozone residents have to start paying UK fares?

[SimonS1]

Discovery-Bay

That advice clearly related to people who want to collect their bags at Heathrow and leave ie not complete the trip back to their Ex-EU start point (which was the point of the OP’s thread).

If you are resilient enough to head back to AMS then you have various choices.

1. Collect your bag at LHR and the either store it or re-check for your journey to AMS.

2. Check it all the way through to AMS and collect it there before checking in and coming back.

3. I suppose in principle you could check it from (say) LAX-LHR-AMS-LHR and let the bag do the work. Assuming you have enough time in the schedule for it to be transferred.

[MartynSinclair]

A couple of additional points to add.

When I first started ex-Europe, I was using Dusseldorf and also booked through a German travel agency. This was in 2003/4, before booking on the web. Eventually the travel company / agency refused to deal with me after pressure from BA/QF, not to offer tickets to non Germans or German residents. At the time I did go to a lawyer and it is reported somewhere in the archives on here. The comment was it was illegal to stop cross border trade between European countries.

Didn’t take it any futher.

The other comment about collecting bags at Heathrow before setting of on the final leg.

The reason for collecting bags at Heathrow is if the inbound was late, there was no way I could catch the very “tight” connection I had purposely booked. Therefore, BA would usually re book the ticket to a full J class, making it a fully flex ticket for use anytime.

However, now it seems the computers will only offer me “suitable” connection times.

I would never go of for another flight and leave a bag circling in the baggage hall…

[handbag]

Regarding checking in the bag for the 2nd leg. Pls bear in mind that this may only work if you are a silver, gold or travelling in business. I worked in T5 and I know that if you were not one of the above you could only put your bag in a few hours before the flight – think it was 3. I did try to look it up but cannot see it written anywhere.

[Discovery-Bay]

Thanks SimonS1
What I take from that is – that people do not check a bag to LHR and then continue on to AMS and back leaving the checked bag going round LHR baggage hall. (They collect it at LHR and store it and then check themselves back in).
I agree that I was a little ‘off topic’

[AMcWhirter]

Some good advice here.

One point I feel that “Hermes1964” should bear in mind is that the date of travel is not until June 2015 and so BA may have changed some of its ticketing and/or baggage systems by that time.

[Hermes1964]

Thanks again – all very helpful.
The other option that works for the US is just to go via BFS as it’s very good value at £1600 ish o/a low or no ADP.. And no dog leg journey as time will be short. It does mean a transcontinental domestic flight from EWR to LAX but there is a flat seat 757 option.

[AMcWhirter]

Hello Hermes1964

I suppose it’s “swings and roundabouts” but another option would be to consider flying ex-DUB with Aer Lingus via San Francisco to LAX.

[Author]

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