Only using the 2nd and 3rd legs of a trip?

[Tortuga]

Hello,

I am based in Argentina and currently in contact with a reputable travel agency in Brazil that has a good price for a return ticket between Sao Paulo and Melbourne via Buenos Aires/Sydney on Qantas. The price is a lot better than what I can find if I were to book myself now from Buenos Aires to Melbourne return. My question is, if she books the ticket how it is with the flight from Sao Paulo to Buenos Aires, and I only need the flight to and from Buenos Aires, will there be any problem? The flight to/from Sao Paulo is with TAM, the others all Qantas. Is it OK to just simply not show up for the first flight and then check in like normal for the Qantas flight leaving Buenos Aires? Anything else I should be checking before I confirm the reservation?? I wish my portuguese was a bit better !! Thanks

 

[Fantic125]

Usually if you don't check in for a sector of a booking the remainder of the flights are cancelled, unless the airline is responsible for the delay.
In the case of what you are suggesting, missing the first leg would mean the 2nd and 3rd legs would be cancelled.
You most probably wouldn't get a refund either as it was you being a no show, not an operational issue caused by the airline.

 

[Tortuga]

Usually if you don't check in for a sector of a booking the remainder of the flights are cancelled, unless the airline is responsible for the delay.
In the case of what you are suggesting, missing the first leg would mean the 2nd and 3rd legs would be cancelled.
You most probably wouldn't get a refund either as it was you being a no show, not an operational issue caused by the airline.

Damn... In contact with the agent now to see what we can do. That would suck a lot. No other options?? Contacting TAM and telling them? I guess even if I did an online check in for the TAM flight, it would still count as a no show if I didn't end up on the plane?

 

[The Rok]

It's a no go unfortunately. As stated you will forfeit the entire trip.

 

[Tortuga]

Thanks for the advice, have accepted that they would cancel the entire trip and I would be left negative $2000 and stuck in Argentina with a sad look on my face when I went to check in at the airport haha!!! I have just been reading about this whole "hidden city" thing and how airlines don't let you do it. I guess it all boils down to market pricing, people in Argentina are willing to pay more to get to Australia than those in Brazil... I could save ~$200-400 if I decided to fly to Sao Paulo the night before and spend 10 hours in the airport to get the cheaper fair and then fly back to Buenos Aires again and onto Australia. In this case I will keep it simple and just stay away from Brazilian flights !!!

*EDIT* the price difference flying out of Buenos Aires is $1200 different to flying from Sao Paulo.... What will happen if we fly from Sao Paulo on the way over, but don't get the flight to Sao Paulo on the way back - can we collect our bags in Buenos Aires and leave without a problem?? Would I just tell the Qantas staff to check my bags only to Buenos Aires?? This is giving me a headache !! I can get 2 adult tickets from Buenos Aires to Sao Paulo for $500 including taxes, throw in $300 for a nice hotel that night and taxis and I still come out +$400 versus flying from Buenos Aires. I would be happy if someone paid me $400 to spend 1 day in Sao Paulo.. Sounds like the better option. I guess all this boils down to everyones "price" when they take option A over B, I have been reading too much about Game theory.... What would you all do in this situation?

 

[Tortuga]

Well I decided to not mess with these "hidden-city" problems and end up with our bags checked through to Sao Paulo. Even though I don't agree with how the airlines work and price tickets I will accept it and put down $5000 for 2 pax return Buenos Aires to Melbourne. Lets hope like JB says, the money goes towards training and continuing the strong safety culture at Qantas. The other option with Emirates involved 45+ hours of travel each way and was cheaper by ~$1000. Decided against that. All of this is in economy as well. Crazy that you can get a RTW ticket for a lot cheaper, South America connections to Australia aren't so friendly. Taking my girlfriend with me, it's been 2 years since I have been back to Australia - my family and friends thought I had become a drug king pin over here. I miss salt and vinegar chips the most...

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Back in the days well before electronic tickets, PanAm had a First Class fare Aust via the US to LHR that was approx $6K whereas the airfare to NYC was about $10K.

Apparently agents would sell this to pax who were just wanted a SYD/JFK return. I believe things got 'messy' or the loophole was uncovered when a pax forgot to extract the JFK/LHR/JFK paper coupons from the ticket after arrival in JFK & was quizzed as to why he hadn't used those flights.

From memory I think he had to fork out a full F class one way JFK/SYD which wasn't pretty. :shock:

 

[Tortuga]

The agent just got back to me saying she has a fare leaving March 7th, back on March 21st for $4300 including taxes all on Qantas... Made me jump for joy.. A few days less in Australia, but a good saving and don't feel so bad now. Looking forward to the holiday, thanks for the advice - this place is a real asset.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

One thing you could do to get the most from the airfare ex GRU (Sao Paulo) is find out how many stopovers it permits & if they can be taken at EZE (Buenos Aires). If you can you could either buy a cheap one way fare EZE/GRU a week prior or even do a OW redemption on LAN then your flight GRU/EZE would be the outbound sector of the special airfare ex Brazil.

You'd then have a legitimate stopover in EZE so you then just travel EZE/xSYD/MEL on your preferred day without having to do anything dodgy.

Maybe there is another city in Brazil that would be more appealing than GRU like a beach resort somewhere (eg FLN - Florianopolis) which you could fly to which would make a nice weekend getaway before your trip to Oz. I'd be asking the travel agent if the airfare ex GRU are common rated with other cities in Brazil. This could be a good alternative as long as it didn't cost too much to get there one way from EZE.

Are you flying back to EZE via SCL (Santiago) as QF will cease flying to EZE shortly?

 

[Tortuga]

One thing you could do to get the most from the airfare ex GRU (Sao Paulo) is find out how many stopovers it permits & if they can be taken at EZE (Buenos Aires). If you can you could either buy a cheap one way fare EZE/GRU a week prior or even do a OW redemption on LAN then your flight GRU/EZE would be the outbound sector of the special airfare ex Brazil.

You'd then have a legitimate stopover in EZE so you then just travel EZE/xSYD/MEL on your preferred day without having to do anything dodgy.

Maybe there is another city in Brazil that would be more appealing than GRU like a beach resort somewhere (eg FLN - Florianopolis) which you could fly to which would make a nice weekend getaway before your trip to Oz. I'd be asking the travel agent if the airfare ex GRU are common rated with other cities in Brazil. This could be a good alternative as long as it didn't cost too much to get there one way from EZE.

Are you flying back to EZE via SCL (Santiago) as QF will cease flying to EZE shortly?

That's a good idea, thankfully this fare she found BUE>SYD>MEL return will end up being cheaper than what it would cost to go to Sao Paulo beforehand and get the originally cheaper brazilian fare. Saved a few headaches and hours on a plane !! We are returning before the end of March so AFAIK we will still be direct on QF17/18. I think Qantas ceases direct flights to Buenos Aires at the end of March and moves over to route via Santiago. I wish it was the A380 instead of the older 747-400, not even sure if the 747 has IFE in economy?. Last time I was at BUE I saw Winala Dreaming I think it was doing the outbound flight to Sydney, the one painted in aboriginal design. Speaking of Florianpolis it is one of my favourite cities in Brazil, I have spent a few months there over the past 2 years and made some great brazilian friends who live there.

 

[Austman]

It's a no go unfortunately. As stated you will forfeit the entire trip.

Not entirely true. I've done it... and more than once. But the advice, in general, is correct. In my cases I called the airline, explained the situation and they cancelled the 1st leg without cancelling the others. So: if the airline will do it, you will be fine. It will most probably depend on the fare rules.