rwk823 From United Kingdom, joined Jan 2011, 18 posts, RR: 0 Posted (3 months 2 weeks 1 day 20 hours ago) and read 751 times:
Hi guys,
I'm looking at PEK as my family's summer vacation. However, I have discovered it's approximitely £3000 cheaper in J if we start our journey in Paris and transit at LHR than just starting at LHR. While I appriciate that this is most probably due to taxes, my question is, would we actually have to take the Paris flights? Is there anyway we could just turn up at LHR and go? As we live just a 2hr drive from LHR, it would be so much easier for us to go there. Thanks in advance!
aloges From Germany, joined Jan 2006, 8357 posts, RR: 47 Reply 1, posted (3 months 2 weeks 1 day 18 hours ago) and read 717 times:
Quoting rwk823 (Thread starter): would we actually have to take the Paris flights?
yes
Quoting rwk823 (Thread starter): Is there anyway we could just turn up at LHR and go?
no
AFAIK, if you skip the first leg of your ticketed trip, you will lose the entire ticket. What you're trying to do is a variation on "hidden city ticketing": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airline_booking_ploys and will not work.
I guess it's a stopover in Paris for you... the horror!
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copter808 From United States of America, joined Dec 2000, 752 posts, RR: 0 Reply 2, posted (3 months 2 weeks 1 day 16 hours ago) and read 686 times:
If you plan ahead enough, you can take the train to Paris for about 38 GBP/person. Only about 2+45 added to the trip and you can go right to the airport. A change of trains will likely be required though.
As others have said, skipping the first leg will likely result in the rest of the trip being cancelled.
Viscount724 From Switzerland, joined Oct 2006, 21465 posts, RR: 24 Reply 3, posted (3 months 2 weeks 1 day 13 hours ago) and read 655 times:
I met someone on a KLM flight BRU-AMS a year or so ago who lives in AMS. He was connecting in AMS to some longhaul KL destination. He said he often takes the train to BRU and originates his longhaul KLM travels there as the fares and taxes are often much lower than if he originated in AMS.
reifel From Germany, joined Feb 2005, 1135 posts, RR: 1 Reply 4, posted (3 months 1 week 2 days 19 hours ago) and read 446 times:
This is a old "problem", but the explanation is simple.
With airlines you always need to look origin and destination, not the amount of flight.
LHR-PEK British Airways may be first choice for most traveler due to the nonstop option and quality brits see in that airline (rather than i.e. Air China). They can sell tickets for a lot of money on that flight, but it will not fill their planes.
So they look at other markets. I.e. Paris-Beijing. There is Air France flying nonstop, and quite a few other carriers, too. Plus a lot of quality carrier offer 1.stop-connections (LH or whatever). So if BA wants these passengers, they need to have competitive rates on that market, and will offer a way cheaper fare for passengers flying from Paris to Beijing with BA. Simple as that.
If you book such a ticket and no show on the sector Paris-London your London-Beijing will be automatically cancelled and you will be denied boarding in LHR. This is a fact and it's written in the fare rules (it's called sequencial use of flight coupons).
HT From Germany, joined May 2005, 6471 posts, RR: 27 Reply 5, posted (3 months 1 week 2 days 6 hours ago) and read 409 times:
Quoting reifel (Reply 4): If you book such a ticket and no show on the sector Paris-London your London-Beijing will be automatically cancelled and you will be denied boarding in LHR. This is a fact and it's written in the fare rules (it's called sequencial use of flight coupons).
Just to complement above statement:
Airlines also offer the traveler full flexibility in his/her order of taking flights / flight segments (LH has this as option in their booking engine), however one trades off this flexibility with paying a full fare, not a discounted one. So this is no option for the budget traveler.
@OP:
Out of LON have you looked into booking a Round the World ticket instead of a return ticket ? Sometimes these turn out to be cheaper, but it will result in more / longer flights and extra day(s).
-HT
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