Is it possible to drop first leg of international reward ?

[Celtic2]

Hello. Wondering if anyone has faced similar situation.

I booked an award ticket from Syd to lax, operated by united airlines. There is an overnight layover in Melbourne. Will it be possible to call virgin and get them to drop the first leg so my flight will be from Mel instead of Syd.

Regards

 

[9171]

Absolutely impossible. Flight costings are fickle. If you want to use whatever ticket you found cheap, you will have to book another flight MEL - SYD.

 

[Quickstatus]

@Celtic2
Welcome to AFF
I dont know what you mean by your post when you say overnight layover in MEL and then SYD-LAX
Could you Please detail your current bookings

 

[9171]

Quickstatus, it seems clear to me - the OP found a ticket from SYD-MEL-LAX. It was cheap as it involved an inconvenient overnight layover in MEL. OP wants to know if they can get to remove the SYD-MEL leg. This is not possible. Simple.

 

[SYD]

@Celtic2
Welcome to AFF
I dont know what you mean by your post when you say overnight layover in MEL and then SYD-LAX
Could you Please detail your current bookings

Presumably booked as SYD-MEL-LAX. Will require a positioning flight MEL-SYD rather than losing the lot…

 

[9171]

yep that is what I said.

 

[SYD]

@9171, Snap. Comments overlap a lot. Although not sure what happened with your quoting?

 

[Celtic2]

Sorry for the confusion. I am actually based in Melbourne. The flight I found was Syd -> Mel -> Lax. It was booked using points. This reward seat was only available from Syd rather than as a direct flight from Mel to lax. I don’t fully understand the ins and outs of pairing city, I think that’s what’s it’s called.

Since Syd to Mel flight is operated by virign, I wanted to know if they could drop the first leg.

If not then I will travel to Sydney and then get back to Melbourne. Go home and then leave again early morning for uniteds flight

 

[Cynicor]

You’ll need a flight to Sydney, sorry. No way around it

 

[9171]

Sorry for the confusion. I am actually based in Melbourne. The flight I found was Syd -> Mel -> Lax. It was booked using points. This reward seat was only available from Syd rather than as a direct flight from Mel to lax. I don’t fully understand the ins and outs of pairing city, I think that’s what’s it’s called.

Since Syd to Mel flight is operated by virign, I wanted to know if they could drop the first leg.

If not then I will travel to Sydney and then get back to Melbourne. Go home and then leave again early morning for uniteds flight

Hey there Celtic, it is very common that a flight that goes the "long way" is cheaper. Hence SYD-MEL-LAX is almost always going to be cheaper than simply MEL-LAX. Sounds counter-intuitive as the airline will be transporting you more on the cheaper ticket. But that is what it is. They offer the cheaper longer ticket to attract customers that otherwise would leave their planes empty.

 

[jase05]

Hey there Celtic, it is very common that a flight that goes the "long way" is cheaper. Hence SYD-MEL-LAX is almost always going to be cheaper than simply MEL-LAX. Sounds counter-intuitive as the airline will be transporting you more on the cheaper ticket. But that is what it is. They offer the cheaper longer ticket to attract customers that otherwise would leave their planes empty.

Nothing to do with being cheaper as it’s not a revenue ticket. It’s an award booking but the point still stands that you can’t drop the first leg

 

[9171]

Nothing to do with being cheaper as it’s not a revenue ticket. It’s an award booking but the point still stands that you can’t drop the first leg

What do you mean? Cheaper can mean either less dollars or actual award availability. What is the point of your post? What am I missing?

 

[SYD]

What do you mean? Cheaper can mean either less dollars or actual award availability. What is the point of your post? What am I missing?

Married segments. Quite common for award seats.

 

[9171]

Married segments. Quite common for award seats.

What are married segments?

 

[ben95]

Married segments. Quite common for award seats.

But in this case it’s VA’s award inventory for SYD-MEL and UA’s award inventory for MEL-LAX. I have not seen rewards ticket applying married segment to multi carrier trips before. I guess it’s a way for VFF to force people to burn more points on the domestic J?

What are married segments?

Say for OP’s trying to find MEL-LAX direct inventory but nothing is available. But when he searches SYD-LAX inventory becomes via MEL on the same MEL-LAX segment. Essentially in this case the SYD-MEL and MEL-LAX segments are “married” and have a distinct set of inventory for SYD-LAX separate to the inventory of SYD-MEL and MEL-LAX segments.

 

[SYD]

What are married segments?

Touches on what you commented about revenue bookings but can also apply to award bookings.

What are Married Segments?

Image: Adobe Stock. If you've ever booked a flight, chances are you've come across the issue of "married segments". But what are they, and how do they

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

But in this case it’s VA’s award inventory for SYD-MEL and UA’s award inventory for MEL-LAX. I have not seen rewards ticket applying married segment to multi carrier trips before. I guess it’s a way for VFF to force people to burn more points on the domestic J?

We can only guess…

 

[SeatBackForward]

Sorry for the confusion. I am actually based in Melbourne. The flight I found was Syd -> Mel -> Lax. It was booked using points. This reward seat was only available from Syd rather than as a direct flight from Mel to lax. I don’t fully understand the ins and outs of pairing city, I think that’s what’s it’s called.

Since Syd to Mel flight is operated by virign, I wanted to know if they could drop the first leg.

If not then I will travel to Sydney and then get back to Melbourne. Go home and then leave again early morning for uniteds flight

Please don't consider just "missing" the first leg. If you do this, you'll be considered as a no-show and then all the remaining legs on the ticket will be automatically cancelled also.

 

[SYD]

Please don't consider just "missing" the first leg. If you do this, you'll be considered as a no-show and then all the remaining legs on the ticket will be automatically cancelled also.

Similarly, dropping a sector at the end (hidden city) can have you banned or sent a bill for the fare difference.

 

[9171]

Similarly, dropping a sector at the end (hidden city) can have you banned or sent a bill for the fare difference.

So they say, but does this actually happen?

 

[SeatBackForward]

So they say, but does this actually happen?

For reward bookings, they have all your details and then link it to any future bookings. I suppose they have this for an international flights too in terms of Passport details.

Post automatically merged: Tuesday at 10:32 PM

Similarly, dropping a sector at the end (hidden city) can have you banned or sent a bill for the fare difference.

Which is understandable, both parties have made a commitment to get from A to B. IF the airline couldn't get you there, you'd be hitting insurance, so if you also don't get there by your own volition, then they are essentially inverting a travel insurance claim. But the difference is, they already have your money!