How common is self-transfer?

Toinou · Sun Jul 12, 2020 3:01 pm

Reading on another topic, I started to wonder about self-transferring.
I can't think of anybody I know having done that.
How common is it? Are there statistics? Is it more common is some countries or parts of the world?

Someone83 · Sun Jul 12, 2020 3:11 pm

Not sure, but I’ve done it i few times. Latest was LGW-AMS with easyJet and then AMS-OSL with SAS.

Longer back I’ve done SYD-SIN-HKG with SQ on separate tickets, EDI-BGO-OSL on separate WF and SK tickets and transfered via EWR on separate KL and CO tickets

But it is not anything I do when travelling with my family

miegapele · Sun Jul 12, 2020 3:16 pm

Depends on where you live and how much money you have. In US there is probably very few cases for self transfer because low cost airlines are not that big.
In Europe if you want to go somewhere far with little money, self transfer is the way to do it. Also low costs in Europe doesn't sell connections (with few exceptions). With that said I have done quite a few of self transfers flying ryanair/wizzair/easyjet/others.
Also Ryanair willingly or not operates "hubs" for self transfer. Some of their biggest airports are CRL, BVA, HHN. They have flights to all directions from them. I doubt most people are flying to those as final destination.

peterinlisbon · Sun Jul 12, 2020 3:30 pm

I've done it a few times. I'll give a few examples:

Ercan (North Cyprus) to Des Moines, Iowa.
ECN-IST-LON-DEN-MSP-DSM
(Pegaus, British Airways, Norweigan, Delta) Total cost: 400$

San Jose (Costa Rica) to London, England
Jet Blue to Washington via Orlando, then IcelandExpress to London via Rekjavik. Total cost about 300$.

Istanbul to Kuala Lumpur
Air Arabia to Colombo (Sri Lanka) via Sharjah. Air Asia to KL. Total cost 250$.

Self-connecting can save you a lot of money and if you use Google flights most of the cheapest options are self-connecting options.

Nomadd · Sun Jul 12, 2020 3:34 pm

I'm not sure when self transfer turns into just buying lots of one way tickets, but following cheap fares and inserting delays of several days between legs is a great way to travel the world. Since prices can change from hour to hour, you can't really plan that far ahead and wind up going lots of places you never would have considered otherwise. Being able to survive with carry on makes it a whole lot easier.
Trips planned down to the last minute and detail are boring.

steveinbc · Sun Jul 12, 2020 3:35 pm

I used to self transfer even with alliances when the fare for a through ticket was too expensive. For example, at LHR even though I flew in Air a Canada and was transferring onto another Star Alliance flight with BMI, it was significantly cheaper to buy two separate tickets. They used to let you simply load your bag at the transfer desk at one time then they "encouraged" you to buy a through ticket by changing that to a full in airport check in. Today the through fares are usually cheaper than two separate tickets in most parts of the world so I don't see/do this much anymore
I would think that most self transfers are as described above ie with airlines that don't have interline agreements

IPFreely · Sun Jul 12, 2020 3:40 pm

I doubt it's done much in the US. Usually it's cheaper to buy a through ticket rather than two (or more) individual tickets. And if it isn't, people who think they're outsmarting the system by buying the cheapest possible separate tickets usually learn their lesson the first time their initial flight is delayed and they discover they have no protection for their second flight.

sassiciai · Sun Jul 12, 2020 3:48 pm

I have done quite a few long-haul trips involving self-transfer. I have to go twice a year or so VFR from Belgium to The Philippines. At the "wrong time of year" e.g. around Christmas/New Year, return trips on one ticket can be rather expensive. Doing it myself, I can fly from BRU to HKG, BKK, or SGN with one airline, and use Air Asia/Cebu/HK Express/... for the short final leg, and pocket a nice savings.

As you are taking responsibility for the connection, you must make sure you have a BIG buffer to cope with a delayed first flight into your connecting airport. In fact, the optimum is to turn the connection into a stay-over, and spend a night (or several!) before proceeding to your final destination. This works well for me, retired as I am. Before learning this lesson, I had the annoying experience more than once of having a long haul flight arriving after my connecting flight had left - and guess who is left with the cost of fixing that issue? A night off in HKG or BKK is not such a horrible thing to have to endure!!

Buying an end-to-end ticket from one airline might cost a bit more normally, but it generally takes the financial consequences of missed connections off your shoulders, and that assurance is very comforting!

Last December, I flew from BRU Hainan Airlines via PEK to HKG for €600 return, and 2 cheap Cebu Pacific legs to/from Manila, way cheaper than Cathay was offering. I just made it out of Manila when the Taal volcano erupted, spent one night in HKG, and a long stopover in PEK departure lounge, getting out just before the Corona Virus stopped everything

dmanonice · Sun Jul 12, 2020 3:55 pm

I do it quite frequently on Staff tickets (standby) but I come across it once every couple of weeks working at the airport where someone has an "offline connection". It has become more common with COVID as some destinations just aren't reachable anymore on one ticket.

My Examples (recent)

YUL-KEF-HEL-RIX (Icelandair/Air Baltic)
RIX-CDG-YYZ-YOW (Air Baltic/Air France/WestJet)
YOW-YYZ-AMS-TLL (WestJet/KLM/Air Baltic)
TLL-RIX-LGW-YYZ-YOW (AIr Baltic/WestJet/Air Canada)

miegapele · Sun Jul 12, 2020 3:56 pm

I think if it's overnight stopover it's a stretch to call it self-transfer. It's just simple onward journey.

classicjets · Sun Jul 12, 2020 3:58 pm

I don't know many normal people that do it, but being an avgeek of course I have done it many times for various reasons. I have also booked family on self-connect itineraries and suggested them to friends when I can be confident that there wouldn't be much risk of misconnecting. Google flights and Kayak have been showing "separate tickets" or "hacker fare" itineraries for a while which I am sure has increased the rate of self-connecting among normal people where it makes sense. There are even services like GatwickConnects that are encouraging/assisting/insuring self-connecting itineraries. Of course the nature of self-connecting means there are no statistics about the practice per se; perhaps the best source for gauging the frequency of self-connecting would be anecdotal reports from check in staff as people may ask them to through check bags or show their onward connecting ticket to prove visa compliance, etc.

PatrickZ80 · Sun Jul 12, 2020 5:02 pm

I've done it quite a few times and so far never had any problems. Just make sure to leave enough time in between the flights, a few hours is usually sufficient.

A few years ago I did Eindhoven - Copenhagen - Los Angeles and back Los Angeles - Barcelona - Eindhoven. Eindhoven - Copenhagen and Barcelona - Eindhoven were on Transavia, Copenhagen - Los Angeles and Los Angeles - Barcelona were on Norwegian. Everything went fine, except for the fact that I had to go landside in Copenhagen to check-in as Norwegian didn't offer online check-in for their long haul flights. It did feel a bit weird checking in online for the Transavia Barcelona - Eindhoven flight from my AirBnB address in Los Angeles, but otherwise no problem.

And earlier this year I made a tour Eindhoven - Vienna - Milan Malpensa - Bari - Budapest - Eindhoven. With the exception of Milan, I always had one full day in the city. With flights 2 days apart from each other, you can't really speak of a self-transfer. But Vienna - Milan Malpensa - Bari was on one day with a few hours in between the flights. Vienna - Milan Malpensa was on WizzAir, arriving at terminal 1. Milan Malpensa - Bari was on EasyJet, departing from terminal 2. This meant I had to go landside and get the bus to the other terminal, but it was perfectly doable.

aklrno · Sun Jul 12, 2020 5:06 pm

I do it several times a year. My main residence is in Reno, NV. When doing international long haul I much prefer to connect at LAX because it rarely has long delays on arrival so I’m much less likely to miss connections. I usually fly RNO-LAX on southwest but will us UA or AA if the schedule is better. Doesn’t matter what the long haul is. LAX seems daunting to those not familiar with it, but the farthest walk between terminals is less than 15 minutes, there is good pedestrian access, and the weather for a walk outside is almost always good.

I am really starting to miss my international travel. US residents are now international pariahs so I am spending a lot of time in Reno. At least my dog is happy about that.

Eindhoven · Sun Jul 12, 2020 5:43 pm

Often.

For example when DY still flew DUB-PVD I flew EIN-DUB-PVD on FR/DY. Return was BOS-KEF on WW, few days there and then KEF-STN-EIN on U2/FR.

Also considered EIN-ATH-SIN on FR/TR, but times were inconvenient. I would have to spend the night in ATH, and now due to COVID-19 flights are entirely scrapped.

Calledonian · Sun Jul 12, 2020 9:50 pm

I think it is far more common in Europe than in the US, by it's very nature. It seems to be advertised more by travel booking providers within Europe, too.

Personally I do it at least 5 or 6 times a year. Flew Bristol - Amsterdam just before Covid, and then took a train across to Eindhoven to catch a Ryanair to Madrid, as it worked out so much cheaper than a direct flight or standard connection through Schipol on KLM.

Generally, if it's the same Airport, I try to have at least a 3 hour gap between flights. Learned that the hard way, after flying from Barcelona to Milan Malpensa on Vuelling, intending to get a bus across to the other terminal and get an easyJet flight to Bristol. The Vuelling flight was incredibly late, and I ended up stranded in one of Europe's worst airports.

bfitzflyer · Sun Jul 12, 2020 11:11 pm

I have done it once, PMC(Puerto Montt, Chile) to SCL on LAN and then rechecked onto UA from SCL via MIA to SFO in 2001.

StlHsvSfoSan · Mon Jul 13, 2020 1:43 am

I have done it several times, mainly because when I travel (at least internationally), I like to fly on a new airline. Sometimes it is hard to get a through flight on a new airline, because of scheduling or pricing,

As long as plenty of time is allowed for making the connection (most times I have done it it involved terminal changes and customs/immigration).

Ones that I have done include (STL-ORD typically on AA or UA)
STL-ORD-ZRH (LX)
STL-ORD-AMS (KL)
STL-MSP-KEF (WN/Fi)
STL-CLT-YYZ-VCE (AA/TS) + AMS-CPH-ORD-STL ((SK)
STL-EWR-FRA/MUC-ORD-STL (UA/LH; Lh0

I have done others within the same airline/alliance.

Coal · Mon Jul 13, 2020 3:38 am

I have done it a few times, sometimes painful, sometimes less so.

- SIN-CGK on LH connecting to CGK-DPS on AK: Very painful and really not worth the savings. Back pre-T3 and when LH flew SIN-CGK, for this connection you had to go from T2 to T1. Very painful
- SIN-IST on TK connecting to IST-TLV on TK: Very easy. Did it as buying separate tickets was >15% cheaper than buying as one itinerary. Also allowed me some flexibility on the return to spend two days in IST
- IST-CDG on TK connecting to CDG-SIN on SQ: Very painful even though it was all in T1. I remember having an issue with stitching the PNRs and having to enter France just to check in for the second leg with limited connecting time
- FLL-EWR-CDG on UA connecting to CDG-DOH-SIN on QR: Easily only because I had 12 hours to connect and took the chance to go into Paris to meet up with some friends

vhqpa · Mon Jul 13, 2020 6:55 am

I've only done it a couple of times

LA/DJ AKL-SYD-BNE back in 2009. Quite painful. No way to recheck bag in T1, had to lug it onto a packed commuter train to get to T2. Crazy long queue to check bag once I reached T2. But I had a huge buffer so I still had plenty of time.

FI/DY KEF-OSL-BGO. Daytrip to Bergen was an afterthought so I wasn't too worried about missing the flight as I was planning to be in Oslo that night anyway. It turned out to be quite tight by the time I dumped my bag in a locker, cleared security, and arrived at the gate. The flight was just about to start boarding.

NH/SQ ITM-HND/NRT-SIN. I booked it reluctantly as I usually avoid split airport connections at all costs, especially on two seperate PNRs. But the 2 NH ITM-NRT flights leave either too early, or too late. I planned it so that if I were to miss the flight out of Osaka I still had enough time to take the Shinkansen to Tokyo and make the SQ flight that evening. It ended up working out quite well. As I was only in Osaka for a few days I left my main bag at a luggage minding service at Tokyo station. On arrival at Haneda I took the monorail/train to Tokyo Station, spent a few hours looking around the shops, before picking my bag up and taking the bus to Narita.

blandy62 · Mon Jul 13, 2020 7:13 am

It is not that uncommon in Asia because of the LCCs here like AirAsia, Jetstar....

I did it a few time in SIN, DMK and KUL. It is a bit time consuming but if you have the time why not.... I have the feeling it will be far less common in the post COVID world

Toinou · Mon Jul 13, 2020 8:33 am

Thanks for all your answers. What I read here seems to confirm my first tought:
- People self-transferring do it more for money than because they can't find a connection for the trip they're doing.
- They often practice some sort of stopover which puts them somewhat out of a strict definition of "self-transfer".
- It seems to be mostly practiced by well-trained travelers (avgeeks or not).

All that makes me feel like it will not become really widespread because most travelers may not accept the risks involved. They may prefer some weird connections (either very long or completely out of their way) but still with interlining.
As a side note, I would tend to say that if using self-transfer in intra-European flights, the simple fact of having to plan very long connection time may make land travel (by car, bus or train) competitive in terms of travel time (price may be another aspect obviously).

lugie · Mon Jul 13, 2020 1:59 pm

I've done it in Europe once on my only trip with FR thus far. I nearly missed my connection, literally having to sprint between terminals at MAN, so that kind of turned me off the whole Ryanair experience for the foreseeable future.

I also did it in the US a few times: I was flying from FRA to RDU, where there are no direct non stop flights. Even the connecting options were rather expensive, until I stumbled on deals from FRA to New York area airports (EWR or LGA usually) and found out that you could buy domestic tickets for about $70 one way, so I did that for the outbound. My LGA-RDU flight ended up being overbooked and I got a $400 voucher from Delta for volunteering to take a later one, from which point onward I decided to milk that strategy even further by booking my next flight from Germany to RDU simply to whatever is the cheapest port of entry in North America and then getting a "free" onward connection to my final destination on Delta, it worked out perfectly well.

However, after the near debacle in Manchester I made sure to plan with plenty of time between the arrival of my first and departure of the second flight on the different ticket.

IPFreely · Mon Jul 13, 2020 2:20 pm

A flight from A to B with a night (or several nights) stay before a flight from B to C is not a connecting flight or a "self transfer". By that logic every single flight anyone takes is a connection, even if I fly home and have a 30 day layover before connecting to my next flight.

hohd · Mon Jul 13, 2020 2:45 pm

Somewhat common. I have done with my family at Istanbul a side round trip to Athens as it was way more cheaper than including Athens in the original itinerary by TK. Also have done at AMS, flew by United to AMS, then on easyjet to MAN. If you add enough time, yes it is easily doable. I do it all the time in India too.

bananaboy · Mon Jul 13, 2020 3:50 pm

Quite common - worked overseas and there were many guests from the Channel Islands / ROI / Belfast and Scotland that would fly down to Gatwick to take the charter flight.

Was a pain on the return when they'd only leave 2 hours connection time and the flight back to the UK was delayed. :banghead:

sassiciai · Mon Jul 13, 2020 4:11 pm

IPFreely wrote:
A flight from A to B with a night (or several nights) stay before a flight from B to C is not a connecting flight or a "self transfer". By that logic every single flight anyone takes is a connection, even if I fly home and have a 30 day layover before connecting to my next flight.

While I am sure that you are right - almost - I defy you to define "self transfer" to the satisfaction of the vast majority of people here. The act of including a long haul leg immediately brings in the question of "how long is long enough" to cope with the typical delays that long haul departures frequently have, especially if it is on an airline whose aircraft will spend 12+ hours at the destination. Some have mentioned having to go through immigration & customs in order to check-in self and luggage, and then go back out through all immigration and security. Would you include a maximum transfer time? Would the time be related to the savings one could make, or the costs involved of loosing the connection? Change terminal? Change airport?

There are then those who see that doing a self transfer "safely" leads to the fact that a night's stopover is on the cards, to reduce/eliminate the risk of missed connection, and to enjoy an otherwise unavailable glimpse of somewhere exciting! The stopover only happens because of the desire to self transfer. Imagine if the daily long haul A to B is scheduled to arrive at 12.00, and the daily flight B to C scheduled to leave at 14.30; would you plan to self transfer on the same day?

I wait your definition with interest, and hope that you respond to the challenge

IPFreely · Mon Jul 13, 2020 5:17 pm

sassiciai wrote:
While I am sure that you are right - almost - I defy you to define "self transfer" to the satisfaction of the vast majority of people here. The act of including a long haul leg immediately brings in the question of "how long is long enough" to cope with the typical delays that long haul departures frequently have, especially if it is on an airline whose aircraft will spend 12+ hours at the destination. Some have mentioned having to go through immigration & customs in order to check-in self and luggage, and then go back out through all immigration and security. Would you include a maximum transfer time? Would the time be related to the savings one could make, or the costs involved of loosing the connection? Change terminal? Change airport?

There are then those who see that doing a self transfer "safely" leads to the fact that a night's stopover is on the cards, to reduce/eliminate the risk of missed connection, and to enjoy an otherwise unavailable glimpse of somewhere exciting! The stopover only happens because of the desire to self transfer. Imagine if the daily long haul A to B is scheduled to arrive at 12.00, and the daily flight B to C scheduled to leave at 14.30; would you plan to self transfer on the same day?

I wait your definition with interest, and hope that you respond to the challenge

usflyer msp · Mon Jul 13, 2020 5:44 pm

I do it all the time. MSP-ORD flights are cheap and ORD international flights are usually significantly cheaper than flights from MSP. Sometimes I save 50% this way.

blandy62 · Tue Jul 14, 2020 12:56 am

also self transfer in Europe (at least within the EU) is rather strait forwards as you don't have to clear immigration between flights unlike in Asia for example. That's probably why it is quite common in Europe

jetblueguy22 · Tue Jul 14, 2020 3:11 am

I won't do it simply because I have the worst luck when it comes to traveling. I'd rather pay the premium to have it all on one ticket and make it the airline's problem to get me there. It's like an insurance policy if I'm on a major carrier IMO.

That's not to say I wouldn't evaluate it if it saved me significant money, but I'd still be cautious.

Coal · Tue Jul 14, 2020 4:47 am

I thought of another one and it reminded me that I try to do self transfers with airlines in the same alliance:
SIN-ICN-ATL on KE connecting to ATL-FLL on DL and return on the same. I bought SIN-ICN-ATL RT on KE as they had a US$1,800 promo for business class. Then separately bought DL ATL-FLL RT in domestic F for $300. All in all super good value. What worked really well is my SIN-ICN flight was quite delayed and KE had already held a seat on DL ICN-DTW and DTW-FLL in case I missed the ICN-ATL flight on KE but in the end the connection worked. On the return, I checked in at the DL counter in FLL and they we checked my luggage and gave me boarding passes for all the legs all the way to SIN.

dredgy · Tue Jul 14, 2020 10:08 am

I do it extremely often, as I bounce around alot.
I've missed one flight, and despite not needing too, both airlines provided compensation and accommodation for me.

When it comes to "one stop" international travel from Australia, I don't know anybody who would regularly book flights from a regional town to an international destination on one ticket, except people booking on points. I live near Rockhampton (ROK), for instance, so all international flights would be routed through Brisbane (BNE) at some point. Leisure travellers I know would usually book whatever the best flight deal is - such as Brisbane to Tokyo or Melbourne to Colombo. Then figure out the domestic flights later. I still do this when I'm travelling for business, and when I'm not on a tight budget. I will almost always book domestic flights and international flights separate. Once I did get a great deal on impulse on BNE->MEL->Bangkok, but still booked the flight from ROK to BNE separately.

vuelti24 · Tue Jul 14, 2020 6:17 pm

For this year, I´ve planned a trip to Egypt from Uruguay. A return ticket MVD-CAI was about U$D 1500. Bought two separate tickets: GIG-CAI-EZE for U$D 700 (BA) and MVD-GIG / EZE-MVD for U$D 300 (AR). So U$D 500 on savings for buying separate tickets. And this is for just one ticket...for the whole family (3), U$D 1500 on savings...Unfortunately, COVID-19 came and frustrated all plans...

aklrno · Tue Jul 14, 2020 10:59 pm

I've always found it extra greedy of airlines to tax people who are less experienced at travel, much like a lottery is a tax on those who are mathematically impaired. NZ in particular have driven me to fly on UA more often by making the domestic US part of my RNO-AKL-RNO absurdly expensive compared to LAX-AKL-LAX. I fly business class on the long haul, but I'm not given any option to step down to economy on the 70 minute domestic segment, so I pay for first class (a joke on a CRJ2 or E175). In fact, I think the additional charge is even higher than a normal first class seat. No matter who I fly on the long haul, it's a 10 minute walk to terminal 1 for a WN flight at a fraction of the cost with a better schedule.

Strangely enough if I fly through SFO on UA the RNO-SFO-RNO add on is actually reasonable. That way I only have to worry about an absurdly long connect time to allow for weather delays at SFO. If I do fly through LAX I end up booking the ticket on UA even though it is an NZ codeshare. None of this pricing makes sense to me, but at least I have the experience to find the best price and schedule.

TravelsUK · Fri Jul 17, 2020 9:02 am

bananaboy wrote:
Quite common - worked overseas and there were many guests from the Channel Islands / ROI / Belfast and Scotland that would fly down to Gatwick to take the charter flight.

Was a pain on the return when they'd only leave 2 hours connection time and the flight back to the UK was delayed.

Then the 'Billies' blame you for not protecting the onward 'connection', demand that YOU find them a seat on the next connection etc. etc. etc. the initial delay, of course, was all YOUR fault!!!

PatrickZ80 · Fri Jul 17, 2020 5:10 pm

TravelsUK wrote:
Then the 'Billies' blame you for not protecting the onward 'connection', demand that YOU find them a seat on the next connection etc. etc. etc. the initial delay, of course, was all YOUR fault!!!

That would depend on how it was agreed on.

Basically it can be done in two ways. One is that the employer buys the employee a ticket (employer gets to decide on airline and connections). Two is that the employer gives the employee a certain amount of money as a travel allowance, and with that travel allowance the employee is to buy his/her own ticket (employee gets to decide on airline and connections).

In the first case the employer is responsible for a missed self-transfer. In the second case the employee is responsible.

I can very well imagine that in case employees get a travel allowance, they want to travel as cheap as possible in able to keep as much as possible from that allowance for themselves. That might mean they opt for a self-transfer.

bananaboy · Fri Jul 17, 2020 9:54 pm

TravelsUK wrote:
Then the 'Billies' blame you for not protecting the onward 'connection', demand that YOU find them a seat on the next connection etc. etc. etc. the initial delay, of course, was all YOUR fault!!!

That was exactly it.. "What was I going to do?"

PatrickZ80 wrote:
That would depend on how it was agreed on.

Basically it can be done in two ways. One is that the employer buys the employee a ticket (employer gets to decide on airline and connections). Two is that the employer gives the employee a certain amount of money as a travel allowance, and with that travel allowance the employee is to buy his/her own ticket (employee gets to decide on airline and connections).

In the first case the employer is responsible for a missed self-transfer. In the second case the employee is responsible.

I can very well imagine that in case employees get a travel allowance, they want to travel as cheap as possible in able to keep as much as possible from that allowance for themselves. That might mean they opt for a self-transfer.

These were members of the public, not employees. They booked a package holiday from point B to C, and then booked domestic flights from A to B, without allowing close to sufficient time for any delay. Whilst I could sympathise, unfortunately this was very much their problem to sort out. Possibly their insurer would help out after their return, plus now EU261 would possibly provide some money to help with fosts (for the next few months, anyway).

vegasplanes · Sun Jul 19, 2020 2:21 am

I have done it several times going to LAS - LAX - International destination - fly WN to LAX round-trip, the cheapest and easiest to change flights, especially considering baggage. Transfer at LAX to another carrier, usually a foreign-flag. I make a few hours between flights to allow for potential delays and transfer time, have not missed a flight yet.

vhtje · Mon Aug 03, 2020 12:21 pm

I've done it a few times. QR can offer some very tempting Club-class fares to Asia and Australia ex-EU, which typically means getting myself to HEL/ARN/AMS etc. Since STN and LTN are actually closer to me than LHR, I sometimes choose U2 or some other LCC to connect. I once flew Air Berlin from STN to DUS to connect to an AA flight to ORD.

I also once flew SYD > HKG > HEL > LHR > SFO. SYD to LHR was one ticket on AY, but flying CX, AY and BA. LHR to SFO was a separate BA ticket. The CX agent in Sydney through-checked my bags all the way to SFO (which is against oneworld policy). They were the first off!

In March 2019 I flew MEL > SFO on QF, then SFO > LHR on BA, on two separate tickets. The QF agent in MEL, without prompting, told me he would send a message to BA that I was on my way, and explained the collection/recheck procedure at SFO (which I knew anyway). Considering the two bookings were not linked, and I had not mentioned I was connecting, I thought that was deeply impressive. I dislike international transfers at US airports, because you have to land yourself and go through immigration and customs then check-in again. All that palaver is bad enough, but it can be almost impossible to get from the arrivals level up to departures at some US airports. Try it at TBIT at LAX if you don't believe me. I ended up hauling my heavy bags up a flight of stairs. SFO was better, at least I knew where the elevators were!

LostLuggage · Mon Aug 03, 2020 9:21 pm

It's a great way to travel on the cheap, keeping risk vs reward within reason. The key elements to doing so successfully are definitely hand baggage only, airport knowledge and well-padded connection times.

In peak summer 2016 I did SPU-ATH-TXL on A3 (£60) connecting onto TXL-DUS-BHX on EW (£80). Easyjet, Ryanair, TUI etc weren't selling one-ways from Croatia to the UK for under £300.

Also did GMZ-TFN (NT), TFN-MAD (UX) & MAD-FRA-JFK (LH) return to visit family for Xmas. All-in, less than £450. I don't think that journey even quoted on a single ticket.

Now working for a relatively high-end travel company, I was surprised to learn they regularly ok'ed self-transferring as long as the clients are aware of the consequences and take full responsibility for any missed connections.

aklrno · Mon Aug 03, 2020 9:42 pm

vhtje wrote:

In March 2019 I flew MEL > SFO on QF, then SFO > LHR on BA, on two separate tickets. The QF agent in MEL, without prompting, told me he would send a message to BA that I was on my way, and explained the collection/recheck procedure at SFO (which I knew anyway). Considering the two bookings were not linked, and I had not mentioned I was connecting, I thought that was deeply impressive. I dislike international transfers at US airports, because you have to land yourself and go through immigration and customs then check-in again. All that palaver is bad enough, but it can be almost impossible to get from the arrivals level up to departures at some US airports. Try it at TBIT at LAX if you don't believe me. I ended up hauling my heavy bags up a flight of stairs. SFO was better, at least I knew where the elevators were!

Really, how hard did you try at LAX? Until a few weeks ago when the APM station construction changed things, there were escalators just outside the door, under the canopy. There were, and as far as I know, still are elevators in the corners of the building just outside customs. There are also recheck desks just before the ramp leaving customs. I don't know if you can check bags there that have not been tagged as part of a connection. Does anyone know if that would work at SFO or LAX international arrivals?
Because of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which is decades old, there is always an elevator somewhere at US airports. If necessary, ask a security guard or policeman. There are plenty of those also.

I do lots of self connects at LAX. I've never had to use a stairway unless I was too impatient to wait for a slow elevator.

vhtje · Mon Aug 03, 2020 10:10 pm

aklrno wrote:
vhtje wrote:

In March 2019 I flew MEL > SFO on QF, then SFO > LHR on BA, on two separate tickets. The QF agent in MEL, without prompting, told me he would send a message to BA that I was on my way, and explained the collection/recheck procedure at SFO (which I knew anyway). Considering the two bookings were not linked, and I had not mentioned I was connecting, I thought that was deeply impressive. I dislike international transfers at US airports, because you have to land yourself and go through immigration and customs then check-in again. All that palaver is bad enough, but it can be almost impossible to get from the arrivals level up to departures at some US airports. Try it at TBIT at LAX if you don't believe me. I ended up hauling my heavy bags up a flight of stairs. SFO was better, at least I knew where the elevators were!

Really, how hard did you try at LAX? Until a few weeks ago when the APM station construction changed things, there were escalators just outside the door, under the canopy. There were, and as far as I know, still are elevators in the corners of the building just outside customs. There are also recheck desks just before the ramp leaving customs. I don't know if you can check bags there that have not been tagged as part of a connection. Does anyone know if that would work at SFO or LAX international arrivals?
Because of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which is decades old, there is always an elevator somewhere at US airports. If necessary, ask a security guard or policeman. There are plenty of those also.

I do lots of self connects at LAX. I've never had to use a stairway unless I was too impatient to wait for a slow elevator.

It was a few years ago now - perhaps five or six. You are correct, there are recheck desks in international terminals after customs, but they are for US carriers only. I was connecting from AA (arriving from Mexico) to BA. I remember looking for signage for directions to check-in in the arrivals hall. There were none. I daresay you are correct and there are lifts available, but I couldn’t, for the life of me, locate them. I did, in the end, ask someone, but got a terse reply directing me outside.

My point remains: transferring international to international was not an easy or pleasant experience, and is miles away from the clearly displayed transit procedures available at other airports, e.g. LHR.

aklrno · Tue Aug 04, 2020 12:43 am

vhtje wrote:
aklrno wrote:
vhtje wrote:

In March 2019 I flew MEL > SFO on QF, then SFO > LHR on BA, on two separate tickets. The QF agent in MEL, without prompting, told me he would send a message to BA that I was on my way, and explained the collection/recheck procedure at SFO (which I knew anyway). Considering the two bookings were not linked, and I had not mentioned I was connecting, I thought that was deeply impressive. I dislike international transfers at US airports, because you have to land yourself and go through immigration and customs then check-in again. All that palaver is bad enough, but it can be almost impossible to get from the arrivals level up to departures at some US airports. Try it at TBIT at LAX if you don't believe me. I ended up hauling my heavy bags up a flight of stairs. SFO was better, at least I knew where the elevators were!

Really, how hard did you try at LAX? Until a few weeks ago when the APM station construction changed things, there were escalators just outside the door, under the canopy. There were, and as far as I know, still are elevators in the corners of the building just outside customs. There are also recheck desks just before the ramp leaving customs. I don't know if you can check bags there that have not been tagged as part of a connection. Does anyone know if that would work at SFO or LAX international arrivals?
Because of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which is decades old, there is always an elevator somewhere at US airports. If necessary, ask a security guard or policeman. There are plenty of those also.

I do lots of self connects at LAX. I've never had to use a stairway unless I was too impatient to wait for a slow elevator.

It was a few years ago now - perhaps five or six. You are correct, there are recheck desks in international terminals after customs, but they are for US carriers only. I was connecting from AA (arriving from Mexico) to BA. I remember looking for signage for directions to check-in in the arrivals hall. There were none. I daresay you are correct and there are lifts available, but I couldn’t, for the life of me, locate them. I did, in the end, ask someone, but got a terse reply directing me outside.

My point remains: transferring international to international was not an easy or pleasant experience, and is miles away from the clearly displayed transit procedures available at other airports, e.g. LHR.

I do sympathize with the difficult process of international transfer at US airports. I suspect the person directing you outside was trying to get you to one of the escalators outside under the canopy. That is in fact the fastest way up to departures. The elevators are hydraulic, and thus slow. They can hold about 10 people and their baggage. Most travelers at LAX are origin/destination passengers. Most of the rest are connecting to domestic flights. I suspect international connections are relatively rare and thus not a major focus The ones I used to feel most sorry for were the AKL-LAX-LHR (or reverse) passengers who used to go through a lot just to end up on the same aircraft.

alggag · Tue Aug 04, 2020 2:14 am

I used to do it more often but have started getting away from it just for less stress and hassle on the day of. I came close to missing the onward flight once or twice but so far have made it every time. Worst was when I was doing a self connect in NYC from LGA - JFK for an onward flight to CDG. As I was traveling with my girlfriend at the time I planned something like a 8 hour layover in New York with the intention of going into the city for a nice dinner before continuing on to Paris. Instead a massive snow storm rolled through and the the first leg to LGA left about 5 hours late then ended up diverting before finally getting to LGA about 7 hours behind schedule. We had just enough time to jump in a cab and make it over to JFK about 30 minutes before check in was going to close.

Elgorou · Tue Aug 04, 2020 7:16 pm

I did once, I flew SCL - ARI and TCQ-LIM isntead SCL- LIM, Arica (Chile) and Tacna (Peru) are 50 Km away, was a big difference about the price I bought the tickets at 5000 miles + 10 USD in nationals air taxes + 5 USD in transport betewn the airports v/s 25000 miles ( or 200 USD) + 100 USD in internationals air taxes for fly SCL- LIM non-stop

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