"Cheating" on airfare

I found a flight that changes planes in Las Vegas that is cheaper than a one-way ticket there.

What would happen if I booked this cheap ticket AND a couple days later booked a return flight? Would I get red-flagged by the airlines? Or worse, black-flagged? (A little Seinfeld reference, thankyouverymuch.)

 

Since you're booking it as 2 one-ways and just skipping the second leg of the first flight you will be fine. If you booked it as a RT and skipped the second leg of the first flight they'd likely cancel your return ticket.

Make sure not to check a bag and also don't make a regular habit of it or they can cancel your FF account and have done that to people.

 

correct check no luggage and just leave as long as its a one way if u booked a rt they would cancel your return trip

 

I've done if with no major problems. But when a flight gets canceled or severely delayed prepare to have a backup plan just in case. Use skiplagged.com to help you find routes.

 

I wouldn't do this too often. I know people who got banned from flying certain airlines since they abused this.

 

Just a word of caution.
If you miss the connecting flight going there is a chance they automatically cancel your entire return flight.
You will want to make sure to call (document dates and names) to ensure your return flight is not cancelled.

 

The whole idea is NOT to book a return flight. OP specifically said he will wait a couple days and book his return flight. Never do a RT and think you can get away with this.

 

I did it once before I knew it was frowned upon by the airlines. I just couldn't understand why the hell it was cheaper for me, living in Houston, to fly from Austin for a trip and connect...in HOUSTON.

So I rented a car, drove to Austin, caught the flight and then on the return leg I never connected to Austin.

 

Yup, RockyBalboa, that's a very common thing for a lot of flights out of Houston these days. The fares out of here are ridiculous now, especially to Vegas. My understanding is the "rationale" for this is that United is trying to attract flyers from Austin and route them through Houston, as opposed to their going through Dallas on American. Given the rate at which they lose money ... I don't know it's really working! Change you'll love ...

 

The Vegas fares have actually been quite reasonable. I just booked first class for Sept for $550 which is about $150 cheaper than it was in February. However...the fares elsewhere? Holy smokes.

Philly is hovering around $800 and Lima Peru is over $3k (biz class). American is about to get plenty of my business because they're a grand cheaper to Lima and a hundred cheaper to Philly. I have some other routes coming up too where AA beats United.

 

Careful with the AA reservation to LIM when booking Biz fares. Avoid the 757 if there are more than 4 rows in the Biz cabin. Try to route via MIA on the 767 since they usually have the real international seats. Usually the cheapest Biz fares to LIM are on the old domestic First Class seats which are horrible and not worth the add'tl cost.

 

Yeah I saw the routes with the old 757's but they are doing some DFW-LIM on 767's with the lie-flat's. I will make sure to grab one of those birds!

I upgraded a couple times on CO and UA before I really knew the differences in service and was just happy to be riding up front. When UA took over they were still flying an old livery bird that was straight out of the 80s. I rode up front and was like "really? I spent miles on THIS?".

I am now a more savvy traveler lol

 

Also...I am going to do The Platinum Challenge with AA to grab status quickly. For $240 or whatever it is I think that is a superb deal especially since I will be buying first/biz fares and will hit the 10k points quickly.

 

Most (at least 98%) of AA's 767s have angled-flat seats. They're in the process of retrofitting their 767 fleet to lie-flat seats. This is one big negative about AA since UA and DL have lie-flats on pretty much every int'l-configured aircraft.

I agree with the Platinum Challenge. Let me know if you have any questions about AA's program. I'm not too knowledgeable with Platinum status since I'm Exec. Platinum though.

 

Ok will do...thanks!

I figure that even though I'd have to connect on just about every flight I have a better chance of not being forced onto a stupid RJ like United is doing on routes that at the very least deserve an A319 or A320.

So the angle flat and lie flat are different? How can I tell the difference prior to booking?

 

Yeah one good thing about AA is that they don't use RJs that often. I remember reading about UA using RJs on midcons which is ridiculous.

Correct, angled flat isn't 180 degrees flat when in bed mode. If you're used to United's flat bed seats then you will notice the difference on your first flight. The only lie-flat seats for AA are on US Air's A330s and AA's B777-300ER (77W). US Air utilizes their A330s to most of their European destinations and Brazil. AA utilizes the 77W to Sao Paulo, Hong Kong, and London. The only 767 for AA with lie-flat seats is on the JFK-ZRH route. Everything else is angled-flat seats or recliner seats... Best way to tell is take a look at the seatmap on AA's website and comparing it to SeatGuru's seatmaps. Just note that Seatguru isn't always up-to-date.

 

Ok thank you for the tip. Good stuff! I looked at that DFW-LIM map and saw the icon for what looked like lie flat to me so I assumed that is what it was. But then again...they're $1000 cheaper on the fare than UA so I'd deal with the angle to save a G. If it were a longer than six hour flight then I would think about the full flat beds.

And yes...UA is RJ happy to the point of driving people insane. I saw they were flying IAH-LAX on them and I rode one from RDU-IAH awhile back. No bueno!

 

I was trying to fly to Mobile, AL last year and found the same thing except the much cheaper fare came from Beaumont. But here's the catch, United doesn't have service out of Beaumont anymore. It's a bus that runs from the Beaumont airport to IAH. The fare from IAH to Mobile was stupid expensive. So I just drove, left work at 5p and pulled into Orange Beach, AL at 2am. I made sure to haul back a ton of Yuengling and Sweetwater beer.

 

No shit? They run a bus service?! That's so United.