fly ahead query

[danielt25]

hi, regarding fly ahead, is it essential to have checked into an existing flight, when requesting to fly ahead?

Reason, on Friday, I'm already booked on the 8pm Cairns to Brisbane flight, but I'm now finishing early, and there's current availability on the 4:30pm flight which I'm hoping to catch. (pending cyclone arrival). I could book a guaranteed spot on the 4:30pm flight now (flexi) ... if it turns out there's no "fly ahead" available on Friday, I can use my booked 4:30pm ticket and cancel my booking for 8pm (less $80). However, if I've checked in already on the 8pm flight and don't decide to catch the 8pm flight, then I forfeit the cost of the 8pm ticket.

 

[MacBH]

From my experience it is definitely not essential to have checked in in order to fly-ahead. You can ask to be put on an earlier flight as you're checking in at the counter.

Unless you absolutely have to be on the earlier flight or you have very good reasons to believe that the earlier flight will be booked out I would probably not buy another ticket and just take a chance.

 

[mmikeemike]

After my most recent experience, I'd advise against checking in if you intend to fly ahead. It seemed to be a bit more hassle for the check in agent at MEL a few weeks ago!