Reply to: 'Throwaway' ticketing on airlines

[psychocandy]

Did it for three months. Never had a query. (Swiss International Airlines). It did help that I had a UK address for the UK-CH-UK leg. At one client site, the secretary was adept at back-to-backs. Saved the company a fortune - again, never a niggle.

Thing is, there's no throwaway. All legs are used.

I think they call that overlapping/staggered fares and, strictly speaking, it aint allowed either because in effect what you're doing is avoiding paying the higher fare by making it look like your travel spans the weekend.

Not saying I wouldnt do it mind - I definitely would. Looks like the airlines dont check these things as you demonstrate.

[NotAllThere]

This is another thing thats not allowed in the t+cs for most airlines if you check....

Did it for three months. Never had a query. (Swiss International Airlines). It did help that I had a UK address for the UK-CH-UK leg. At one client site, the secretary was adept at back-to-backs. Saved the company a fortune - again, never a niggle.

Thing is, there's no throwaway. All legs are used.

[psychocandy]

Yip, loads of times. I worked for a Thomson once and the reason for doing this is absolutely crazy, but it's ingrained in their systems.

No-one ever get charged the extra then?

[psychocandy]

When I was commuting regularly to the UK, I bought one ticket CH-UK-CH start date monday of start of contract, end date friday of end of contract. Then I bought tickets Friday-Mon UK-CH-UK. Much cheaper.

This is another thing thats not allowed in the t+cs for most airlines if you check....

[Jeebo72]

Must admit I'd never heard about this until I recently discovered that a single airline ticket to New York is double that of a return. WTF.

Apparently, its because business people buy one way tickets whereas returns that include a Saturday night tend not to be used by business people.

Of course, what people do is buy a return and chuck the return portion but the airlines dont like it (and its against the t+cs). Must admit I cant see what they can do about it to be honest apart from refuse to let you fly with them if you keep doing it.

Just wondered if any of you travel-savvy lot ever did this?

Yip, loads of times. I worked for a Thomson once and the reason for doing this is absolutely crazy, but it's ingrained in their systems.

[NotAllThere]

When I was commuting regularly to the UK, I bought one ticket CH-UK-CH start date monday of start of contract, end date friday of end of contract. Then I bought tickets Friday-Mon UK-CH-UK. Much cheaper.

[Pondlife]

Could they though? Yes, you have broken the t+cs but whether they could bill your card is another matter.

I don't see why they couldn't. You agreed to this when you booked the ticket.

Why do you think that they wouldn't be able to?

I'm not trolling, just asking.

A few years back I used to book M - F with a weekend in between and a F - M in the other direction for the middle weekend to get two sets of tickets both over a weekend. This was stopped by the airlines too.

[psychocandy]

In a similar vein, fully comprehensive car insurance can be cheaper than third party fire and theft.

True. But they dont try and tell you you have to claim if you have an accident. You've paid for a service - its up to you if you chose to use it or not.

Seems not with airlines tickets or so they think...

[psychocandy]

My point was that other companies charge you for not using a service you agreed to based on their Ts+Cs and therefore the airline company would be within their rights to charge you the full non discounted price if you broke them (Ts+Cs).

Good point about hotel booking but I'm not suggesting that I should get a refund or not pay for the return flight. I'm paying for the return ticket just not using it.

Same as the hotel. If you pay for a room and then dont turn up, they dont try and charge you an extra fee because you didnt turn up - you just paid for the room.

[psychocandy]

In theory, if you paid by card they could bill you for the invalidated discount since those were the T+Cs you signed up to when you bought the ticket.

Whether they would is another matter.

Could they though? Yes, you have broken the t+cs but whether they could bill your card is another matter.

[TimberWolf]

In a similar vein, fully comprehensive car insurance can be cheaper than third party fire and theft.

[Pondlife]

Well, if you book a hotel room for 5 days, and stay only for 3, all you pay is for 5 days. The hotel wont charge you extra, for not staying over for 2 more days. Flying from heathrow is always expensive, for long haul, I always book a flight to mainland and then catch onwards flight. It costs me a couple of extra hours, but savings are well worth it; and not forgetting the duty free is far better.

HTH.
Dave

My point was that other companies charge you for not using a service you agreed to based on their Ts+Cs and therefore the airline company would be within their rights to charge you the full non discounted price if you broke them (Ts+Cs).

[rd409]

If you decide not to stay in a hotel after booking by card and don't tell them, what happens?

It was copy/paste as I'm lazy.

Well, if you book a hotel room for 5 days, and stay only for 3, all you pay is for 5 days. The hotel wont charge you extra, for not staying over for 2 more days. Flying from heathrow is always expensive, for long haul, I always book a flight to mainland and then catch onwards flight. It costs me a couple of extra hours, but savings are well worth it; and not forgetting the duty free is far better.

HTH.
Dave

[TimberWolf]

On occasion I've bought a outward and return legs using two different airlines.

[TheFaQQer]

If you decide not to stay in a hotel after booking by card and don't tell them, what happens?

I'd guess that an airline is unlikely to charge you for a non-appearance, whereas a hotel would.

I've never missed a flight on a return, but I've missed plenty of single tickets in the past. Because BMI used to charge an admin fee that was greater than the tax (which they have to refund), I never claimed the tax back from them - but I always checked in in advance, so they couldn't sell the seat twice