www.CostaRicaTicas.com

OK, so as some of you know I booked my ol flight to AC, and something got me thinking.

Say theirs a scenario; where your suppose to start at destination A, then fly to destination B, before heading off to your final destination C. What happens if you dont actually go to destination A, but you show up at destination B and want to still go to your final spot at C?

Ill use some cities here to make things easier.

OK, so say your suppose to start in New York, then fly to Miami and then finally head over to San Jose, Costa Rica. What would happen if you never actually boarded the plane in New York, but you showed up in Miami and wanted to board the plane to CR?

Would they let you on, or do you have to meet all your flights?


Im wondering because Im suppose to fly from Detroit, to Chicago and then overseas. Price wise it is MUCH cheaper for me to fly to Chicago then it is Detroit, so could I just show up in Chicago?

Hehe,

I thought about doing that myself I'm not sure though, I'm looking forward to seeing the responses.

Maboman

I'm not positive on this, but I would think that you'd have some problems showing up at destination B, by using some other mode of transportation instead of the original departure flight from destination A. Normally, the airlines check you and your bags through the entire sequence, from destination A thru destination C. I'm not exactly sure, but I'd be willing to bet that you might have problems going this route. If you're not sure, just call the airline and ask them. They'll let you know exactly what their policy is. Good luck.
Mikey-B

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You ALWAYS have an option ....... "NEXT" !!!

I called United and she said that ALL major airlines use the same "software system", and that if the passenger doesnt check in at destination A, then by default the name is taken out of the system.

She did shed some light though, she said their have been people that do it. I guess they usually lie and say their flight was delayed and they had to arrange alternate methods and so on.

Back to the drawing board!

Jmac,
I have the answer to your question. I know it because I actually called an airline to ask that exact question.

My buddy from Charlotte is coming with me to CR in May, and he's looking for cheap fares. So we looked at USAir and it has a fare of like $580 CLT-SJO. But the fare for LGA-CLT-SJO was only $420. (It's cheaper to include an extra segment Airlines are weird!!!)

So I asked if he can just get on in Charlotte and skip the LGA-CLT segment. NO CAN DO.

Once you don't show up for your first segment, your WHOLE ticket is automatically canceled. Security reasons.

There ya go Jmac. I had a feeling that the airlines wouldn't be to keen on something like this. Air travel (the way we know it) will forever be changed post 9-11. Good info Orange!

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You ALWAYS have an option ....... "NEXT" !!!

Yea, no kidding. Wait till they start deep, Roto-Rooter style, full-cavity searches at airport security once some dipshit tries to hide a grenade in his bunghole.

Oh yeah baby. Now you're talkin'! Hell, that in itself would be worth the extra price of the airfare !!!!!!!!
(music playing in the background)..... "Moon River"....... ! hee, hee, hee !

_________________
You ALWAYS have an option ....... "NEXT" !!!

I called delta about that several months ago when roundtrip flights from Orlando to SJO were around 250.00 and from Atlanta to SJO was 800. This is the shit kicker, the flights originating in Orlando, came to Atlanta, then to SJO. Same thing on the return flight. I ask if I could board that flight in Atlanta, she said their would be problems with my luggage. I told her I would use a carry on, she took my number and said she would have to check. She called me back and said I couldnt do it, offered no explanation as to why. I would like to hear if others have had any luck with this. Maybe some of our esteemed business frequent flyers can share a trick with us.

I just dont see the airlines logic behind it. At first I was thinking hey maybe its a way of filling planes and making a few bucks off the seats they likely wouldnt sell.

Then I thought again and realized their actually losing more money opposed to just having the seat empty pretty much.


Doesnt make to much sense to me, but Im guessing their is some method around it.

It is absolutely true. I used to do this for business all the time. Flights from BWI to any destination were cheaper than from Pittsburgh. But, in Pittsburghs heyday it was the hub so all BWI flights would go through Pittsburgh. I would buy the tickets from BWI and get on in Pittsburgh

Well that was 15 years ago. The airlines caught on and now the minute you miss that first leg all tickets are cancelled. In these days of non refundable tickets it could be very expensive.

It's not truly a security issue, although that is a factor now with the luggage, it's the airline software that calculates fares based on their perceived needs.

Here is a link. It's a little hard to follow but it gives you some ideas what goes into calculating airfares.
http://www.demarcken.org/carl/papers/IT ... /img0.html

Add into this such things as charging to change a reservation or to fly standby on the same day (when by doing so you will open a seat on the later flight) and you get an idea of a few of the aspects of how some of the airlines have gotten themselves into such financial problems.

Of course top-heavy payscales for pilots and execs, trying to maintain too many different types of aircraft (parts, personnel and training) and trying to keep rapidly aging aircraft in the air plus rising fuel prices don't help things either.

Another on airfares from Consumer Reports. This is in Adobe Reader format. If you don't have the software you can download a reader free from Adobe:
http://ostpxweb.dot.gov/aviation/domfares/web003.pdf

Other air travel stories:
"Why Business Travelers will always pay more to fly"
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/columnis ... sman_x.htm

All things considered, airfares really are a bargain when you consider they're not much more than they were 10 years ago.
"Why airfares stay so low — while airlines struggle"
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/ ... ices_x.htm

It could of course work just in reverse. That is you could get a ride, take the hound, train whatever to get to city A, then fly to C thru B. On the way back from C you could get off at B and never return to A.

However this is also against the rules and any frequent flyer miles could be forfeit. I've also heard of airline threats to charge your card for what the fare would have cost had you bought that itinerary to begin with. However I've never heard of them going after somebody in either way for this type of activity and of course it may not be convenient to get to point A in the beginning of the trip.