Flight cost from A->B/B->A is $2k more than C->A->B/B->A->C. What are the dos and don'ts
score:5
This is called "hidden city ticketing", you'll find quite a few questions on this topic. I'm pretty sure there is a canonical question and answer about this somewhere on the site with all the gory details, but I can't find it.
Book C->A->B and turn up at A and tell the checkin staff that I came there through alternate means. I will obviously have to be before the flight from C departs to avoid being a no-show.
Almost certainly no. Most fare rules and/or conditions of carriage specify that segments must all be flown in order. Indeed if you didn't show up in C in time they would just cancel all segments. Not sure they would go around that in the scenario you give, and depending on the airline and airport, you may not even be able to check-in that early in A anyway (depends on the exact timing).
Of course, airlines and staff may have some leeway, but it's nearly impossible to guarantee in advance, so you risk losing the whole round-trip at the last minute. There are probably exceptions for the more expensive "flexible" / "full fare" tickets, but you would have to double-check that, and since you're trying to save money I don't think this is an option for you.
On the way back from B -> A -> C, can I disembark at A after requesting the checkin staff at B to book the baggage only until A?
In theory no, though I've seen exceptions, though with a quite more complex scenario where the passenger definitely wasn't trying to trick the airline (and it was obvious). Again, nearly impossible to guarantee in advance, but it doesn't hurt to ask at check-in time.
In your specific case, since B is outside the US and A and C are in the US, you have to go through immigration and customs at A, so you'll get your bags there whatever happens, provided there is no US pre-clearance at your point of departure. You are then supposed to drop your bag back into the system right after customs, but if you ignore that and exit the airport there isn't much they can do (other than flag you and make your life miserable in the future, but I suppose they only do that for repeat offenders).
Upvote:3
To add to a detailed answer of @jcaron, there are two more potential issues:
If you have a flight C->B->A and intend to leave on B, it is possible that your C->B flight gets canceled and the airline would reroute you to C->D->A or even C->A flight (they have all the rights to do this since your destination is A). However even in such cases the airline tends to be flexible, so if you insist on flying exactly C->B they would still accommodate you - but it might not be the same day or even next day, and you won't be compensated then for the delay.
If your C->B leg is Asia - USA, and you have checked in the luggage (expecting to pick it up in the US customs and leave) and your luggage is lost, by default it would be routed to A, and not to B. In this case however you can request the airline to route it to B, and even explain that your trip to A without luggage makes no sense.
And three more notes:
Some countries give you more flexibility. For example in Italy you can skip some segments from your itinerary without penalties. See for example item 3.3.8 of the conditions of carriage for Alitalia: https://www.alitalia.com/en_us/booking/general-conditions-of-carriage.html
"However, only in case of tickets sold in Italy, if the first leg of the flight (or a segment of it) is not used for any reason, the request to hold the validity of the Ticket for the return flight, can be accepted only if previously communicated to Alitalia’s Contact Center..."
Some airlines position themselves as "point to point" and thus don't care at all about missing segments. Ryanair, for example. However you're not going to save any money with them by booking hidden city, because they charge per segment.
The legality of hidden city ticketing has been tested in Berlin court, and Lufthansa has lost this case. See for example https://liveandletsfly.com/lufthansa-loses-lawsuit/
More post
- 📝 Need Waiver for section 212 (a)(6)(c)(i)
- 📝 I have a caution from UK but not a UK citizen. I don't live in UK anymore. Will it effect my USA business visa application?
- 📝 Will this power strip work on 230V 50Hz?
- 📝 Can a holder of carta soggiorno travel to U.K. Without a visa With his spouse holding an Italian passport
- 📝 Entering US via car/land border on 90 day ESTA, exiting after 90 days via air/plane, re-entering via land to begin another 90 days
- 📝 On a trip from US to UK with a layover in Germany, at which point of my journey will I go through customs?
- 📝 Is it possible to use the Mobilklippekort in Copenhagen as a group ticket?
- 📝 What is the most comprehensive website for booking parking spots in Munich/Bavaria?
- 📝 Cheapest way to go from San Francisco to Los Angeles?
- 📝 Can I enter Mexico during I-20 in grace period?
- 📝 Can I consider pets as "evidence of family members remaining in your home country whilst you travel"?
- 📝 Huashan Cliffside Path: Accessible for tourists?
- 📝 Visa-free entry into Japan and passport expiration date
- 📝 Could I use American Express rewards points for Eurostar
- 📝 Details regarding getting a French Schengen visa
- 📝 What documents should I take with me to the airport, if I booked my ticket online?
- 📝 How to check safety of car rental offer in Spain?
- 📝 How to extend my short stay Schengen visa?
- 📝 Hand luggage on Lufthansa
- 📝 London pass travelcard vs. Oyster card
- 📝 Tourist in USA, can I go to Canada and come back? and does that reset my 6-month stay?
- 📝 Does the Chinese transit visa exemption apply to cruises?
- 📝 Traveling to Austria with connection flight in Zurich: Where do I pass through immigration?
- 📝 Stowage policy for take off and landing for airlines in Europe
- 📝 USA to Vietnam and Taiwan, what "route" of plane tickets should I take?
- 📝 Are there any restaurants serving real chinese food in Benelux?
- 📝 Is it possible to generate a PDF version of an EU Digital COVID Vaccination Certificate?
- 📝 Visa requirements traveling in Transit via Heathrow
- 📝 Compensation for flight change made by the airline
- 📝 Going from domestic flight to international flight at LAX
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Flight cost from A->B/B->A is $2k more than C->A->B/B->A->C. What are the dos and don'ts
- 📝 Why does it cost significantly more for a trip from Nicaragua to NYC than vice versa?
- 📝 Why the flight fee from PIT to FLG Arizona is much more expensive than to Cancun
- 📝 Do I really need to arrive more than 2 hours early for a domestic flight out of MSP?
- 📝 Can I use a "Gutschein" from Deutsche Bahn more than once?
- 📝 Why is the flight from US cities to Vietnam cheaper than from Vietnam to a US city?
- 📝 Will I be able to pass through immigration and customs from foreign country to the U.S with damaged green card after an absence of more than one year?
- 📝 Is it ok to have travel insurance from more than one company?
- 📝 Why is buying an airline ticket from the company more expensive than from an aggregator like Skyscanner?
- 📝 Do I require a UK transit visa when travelling home from the US more than 6 months after last entering the US?
- 📝 Why do children sometimes cost more than adults when booking vacations?
- 📝 Cheapest flight search including low cost airlines from Toronto to Belgrade
- 📝 How can I prove that a flight was delayed by more than 4 hours?
- 📝 Schengen visa reservation of return flight from another country than accommodation
- 📝 Are holidays booked with easyJet entitled to have more cabin baggage allowance than flight only?
- 📝 travel to schengen countries more than once from UK
- 📝 Should I declare UK visa refusal from more than 10 years ago while applying for uk visa on visa4uk?
- 📝 More Flight Routes from India to Grand Cayman
- 📝 Does my Emirates flight from London to Dubai fly over Syria?
- 📝 My flight is changed to include an overnight layover, can I claim compensation from airline?
- 📝 Consequences for canceling a credit card before going on a flight bought with miles from that card
- 📝 How can one get a flight receipt from Priceline?
- 📝 Why is the flight path from Taipei to Tianjin not a straight line?
- 📝 Am I supposed to re-check luggage at YYZ on a flight from Europe to USA?
- 📝 Connecting Jet airways flight Mumbai to Jaipur, after flying in from Frankfurt. What would be the luggage allowance?
- 📝 Flight route from Abu Dhabi to Beirut
- 📝 How to apply for a Schengen visa from the UK if my visa expires in less than 90 days?
- 📝 Should I buy a return ticket if I'm staying for more than a 6 months?
- 📝 Car rent with International driving licence in UK after lived in UK more than 1 year
- 📝 Will a green card holder have problems returning to the USA after more than six months away?
