I am going to Miami March 7th through March 12th. Since I live in Wilmington it is much more cost effective to drive to Charlotte or Raleigh rather than paying for a ticket out of ILM. While shopping on expedia I discovered a modern marvel of the Airtravel system.

For $186 (not counting taxes) I can leave out of Raleigh on US Airway and connect with US Airways Flight 1025 in Charlotte after a quick layover. Alternatively if I attempted to just book Flight 1025 directly from Charlotte to Miami, the ticket price $30 more!

Eventhough I still have friends in Raleigh, it would most convenient to leave out of Charlotte. My parents could drop me off at the airport and it woudl be a direct connection. My question is can i book the Raleigh -> Charlotte -> to Miami flight but then just show up at Charlotte-Douglas to ride on the 2nd leg of the flight??

Yet we wonder why the airline industry struggles....

1/27/2010 11:38:47 AM

You can do this, but it'll make your trip more of a pain. You can't print out your ticket or check in online (in my experience). They'll block you out of doing that, and you'll have to physically check in at a desk. There could be potential problems with checking baggage.

I would call and verify with the airline though. I just know that I have missed a first leg of a flight, and been fine for the rest of the flight if I checked in at the desk. (This was this past Sunday btw--checking in at RDU instead of ATL on a Delta flight).

[Edited on January 27, 2010 at 11:45 AM. Reason : ]

1/27/2010 11:42:23 AM

You cannot do this. If you do not show up for the first leg of your trip, the rest of your ticket will be canceled. I considered this in the past and nearly found out the hard way.

1/27/2010 11:42:54 AM

No, it is my understanding that you must obtain your connecting flight boarding passes at your trip's point of origin.

1/27/2010 11:44:50 AM

Gzusfrk is wrong, Saloman is right

Quote :

"You cannot do this. If you do not show up for the first leg of your trip, the rest of your ticket will be canceled. I considered this in the past and nearly found out the hard way."

1/27/2010 11:58:43 AM

Quote :

"You cannot do this. If you do not show up for the first leg of your trip, the rest of your ticket will be canceled. I considered this in the past and nearly found out the hard way."

1/27/2010 12:06:15 PM

I love people who think that buying a ticket for **Origin A --> Stop B --> Destination C** should cost the same as **Origin B --> Destination C**

1/27/2010 12:12:28 PM

well it certainly is counterintuitive that **Origin A --> Stop B --> Destination C** costs less than **Origin B --> Destination C**

1/27/2010 12:14:33 PM

only if you assume that ticket pricing is based solely on # of legs and distance

1/27/2010 12:17:13 PM

Quote :

"With respect to all of our fares, Southwest Airlines does not prohibit or penalize what is commonly known as “hidden city” ticketing, nor does it prohibit or penalize what is commonly known as “back–to-back” ticketing. “Hidden city” and “back-to-back” reservations and tickets are authorized for travel on Southwest Airlines. It is important to note that your luggage will be checked to the final destination as shown in your reservation record. Should you choose to deplane at a stopover or connection point, you will be responsible for making arrangements to have your luggage delivered to you. Southwest will not entertain a lost or delayed baggage claim or interim expenses in this circumstance."

http://www.southwest.com/about_swa/customer_service_commitment/customer_service_commitment.pdf

Quote :

"Back-to-back ticketing US Airways does not allow the combination of two or more roundtrip excursion fares end to end for the purpose of circumventing minimum stay requirements. Throw away ticketing US Airways does not allow the usage of round trip excursion fares for one way travel. Hidden city/Point beyond ticketing US Airways does not allow the purchase of a fare from a point before the passenger's actual origin or to a point beyond the passenger's actual destination."

http://www.usairways.com/en-US/travelplanning/drs/inappropriatebookings.html

[Edited on January 27, 2010 at 12:27 PM. Reason : depends on the airline]

1/27/2010 12:22:06 PM

PRICE
DISCRIMINATION

1/27/2010 12:25:26 PM

Quote :

"I love people who think that buying a ticket for **Origin A --> Stop B --> Destination C** should cost the same as **Origin B --> Destination C**"

Maybe I do not understand the skewed economics of the airline industry but from a simple economic perspective and even fucking common sense origin B -->destination C should be cheaper.

This would be like getting buying a Ralph Lauren Polo cheaper at the local belks than driving to Smithfield's to buy one from the factory outlet store.

1/27/2010 12:31:33 PM

I would assume it's because their RDU is cheaper to operate & maintain than their CLT hub is

[Edited on January 27, 2010 at 12:38 PM. Reason : or cause of that \/]

1/27/2010 12:34:42 PM

Quote :

"Since airlines often fly multi-leg flights, and since no-show rates vary by segment, competition for the seat has to take in the spatial dynamics of the product. Someone trying to fly A-B is competing with people trying to fly A-C through city B on the same aircraft. This is one reason airlines use yield management technology to determine how many seats to allot for A-B passengers, B-C passengers, and A-B-C passengers, at their varying fares and with varying demands and no-show rates."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_discrimination

Quote :

"skewed economics of the airline industry"

just cause you don't get it doesn't mean it's "skewed".

I'm not trying to be a dick, too much anyway. there's a reason they do this and they have a lot of economic incentives in mind when they enforce it.

[Edited on January 27, 2010 at 12:39 PM. Reason : .]

1/27/2010 12:36:51 PM

Quote :

"You cannot do this. If you do not show up for the first leg of your trip, the rest of your ticket will be canceled. I considered this in the past and nearly found out the hard way."

1/27/2010 12:44:52 PM

I love the people telling me I'm wrong when this happened on Sunday, and was able to board the flight and make it to the destination. Like ^* said, it depends on the airline.

1/27/2010 12:48:55 PM

What happens if I, oops, missed flight A. Since though my layover in City B is 4 hours and the drive to city B is 2 hours, I get in my car to haul ass to city B in order to get to City C which is far away. Surely, this happens more than an insignificant % of the time

[Edited on January 27, 2010 at 1:00 PM. Reason : l]

1/27/2010 12:59:51 PM

That was exactly the situation this weekend for us. And I've had it happen before where flights were canceled at a specific airport, and driving to the second airport was the only option.

[Edited on January 27, 2010 at 1:25 PM. Reason : A]

1/27/2010 1:02:04 PM

Depends on the Airline. I called and asked about this with US Air and they said no, my whole ticket would be canceled.

1/27/2010 1:24:05 PM

Quote :

"And I've had it happen before where flights were canceled at a specific airport, and driving to the second airport was the only option."

I would have complained until they fixed this. Unless you're in a big city or something you shouldn't have to drive to another airport on your dime.

1/27/2010 1:26:54 PM

It was an hour drive, and it was literally the only option for getting out before the entire airport region closed. It was worth more to me to make it back before work on Monday than to sit around and complain about the weather.

1/27/2010 1:28:26 PM

I believe American will cancel your itinerary if you "no-show" for the first segment of your trip. They may also charge a "no-show" fee.

1/27/2010 1:32:05 PM

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/index.php would be an infinitely better forum to discuss this topic.

Although hidden city fares have been a topic in the lounge before I just don't remember what thread or who was asking.

1/27/2010 3:28:25 PM

Quote :

"That was exactly the situation this weekend for us. And I've had it happen before where flights were canceled at a specific airport, and driving to the second airport was the only option. "

Missing a flight, or having a flight cancelled due to weather are completely different circumstances. Neither case is one where any carrier is likely to cancel your itinerary. Both instances imply that you actually showed up to Point A, and for any number of reasons weren't on the plane.

Hidden City/B2B ticketing is explicitly banning the practice of intentionally abandoning the first leg of the flight, which causes all kinds of hiccups and fuckups.

It's also entirely possible (and on busy travel days, very likely) that when you don't show up to Point A, they will give your ticket to a standby customer, and you wouldn't even be able to check in at Point B, because the flight will be full.

Southwest is a very noteable exception for a couple of reasons. Primarily because they are one of (along with JetBlue) a couple of domestic airlines that don't participate in the same ticketing clearinghouse infrastructure. They also use block seating for capacity planning, rather than individual capacity tracking. They also don't oversell flights like all the other domestic carriers do. Basically Southwest is a pretty awesome airline (so is JetBlue actually).

[Edited on January 28, 2010 at 6:17 AM. Reason : .]

1/28/2010 6:14:43 AM

Shit son ! Once a Jew always a jew

1/28/2010 9:29:42 AM