Playing the 'positioning flight' game - have I got this right ?

Murphy_The_Cat

For next year, I'm looking at playing the 'positioning flight' game for the the first time and I'm looking for a touch of advice.

From what I can gather, this will work
Friday night - fly El Cheapo from MAN to DUB.
Overnight in a DUB hotel.
Saturday, fly DUB to (insert destination here)

then for the retun flight
Sat, 2 weeks later, Leg 1 Depart from (insert departure airport here)
Arrive at MAN (after taking connecting flight/changing plane)
Monday, at least 24 hours later, supposedly take the last leg of the trip from MAN to DUB, but oh dear, how sad, I've missed my flight but pocketed the huge price difference

Is that about the top and bottom of it ?
If its relevant to my plan, its likely to be a journet to/from the US

richardw

For the Friday night flight to DUB, don't pick the last flight of the day.
Pick a flight that is operated by a DUB based aircraft.
Consider if bad weather could risk the flight being cancelled.
Consider if a flight from LBA/LPL could be a back up if there are problems at MAN.

PeacefulWaters

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

For next year, I'm looking at playing the 'positioning flight' game for the the first time and I'm looking for a touch of advice.

From what I can gather, this will work
Friday night - fly El Cheapo from MAN to DUB.
Overnight in a DUB hotel.
Saturday, fly DUB to (insert destination here)

then for the retun flight
Sat, 2 weeks later, Leg 1 Depart from (insert departure airport here)
Arrive at MAN (after taking connecting flight/changing plane)
Monday, at least 24 hours later, supposedly take the last leg of the trip from MAN to DUB, but oh dear, how sad, I've missed my flight but pocketed the huge price difference

Is that about the top and bottom of it ?
If its relevant to my plan, its likely to be a journet to/from the US

Make sure you check your luggage through to the UK airport on the return if your routing means skipping a final leg. Our doesn't.

I'll be testing our plan next month.

Manchester to Dublin on a Ryanair Flex fare. Second to last flight of the day. Fallback would be a mad dash to Liverpool or even Holyhead for a ferry. £120 return each.

Make sure you align baggage allowances appropriately!

(Had I held back on booking, Aer Lingus would have saved us £50 each with lower prices available three months later. No need to rush!)

Hotel stopover at Dublin Airport booked with a Kaligo 3,000 Avios promotional offer. £60 for three of us including breakfast. Courtesy bus transfers from/to terminal.

We've then got Dublin to Philadelphia on US Airways business class. 4 hours in Phili then flying on to Vegas in internal first class.

(This means we bank 560 BA tier points which is virtually silver status. It might have been more comfortable to go Dublin to Heathrow to Vegas meaning Club seats for the whole trip. But fewer tier points that way)

Same journey in reverse with a three hour gap to change terminals in Dublin. If the final transatlantic leg is on an EU airline you have EU261 to support you. We don't.

Ryanair's Flex fares aren't actually that flexible and have to be activated - you have until one hour after scheduled departure to change times. And you'll struggle to get in touch with their call centre if you're delayed when you're over the Atlantic. But if something does go wrong your insurance should cover a replacement final flight.

Caz3121

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

Arrive at MAN (after taking connecting flight/changing plane)
Monday, at least 24 hours later, supposedly take the last leg of the trip from MAN to DUB, but oh dear, how sad, I've missed my flight but pocketed the huge price difference

they will not allow your connection from MAN to DUB to be more than 24 hours. There are a number of reports about refusing to shortcheck baggage as this is "hidden city ticketing" so this may only work if you are travelling with just hand baggage

also if there were any problems with the MAN flight they could route you via elsewhere to get you back to Dublin

I am doing a trip next month starting DUB but am going to take the final flight, have a night in Dublin and travel back the next day (it is worth 40TPs)

bagand96

You might not have to book a return to DUB.

Try doing a multi city DUB-USA-MAN. It might work out a very similar price than the DUB-USA-DUB. That's the case for me later in the summer. Doing DUB-USA-LHR was only a few pounds more than a DUB-USA-DUB and saves the faffing of "missing" the last connection or trying to get bags short checked.

duchy

The last flight needs to be within 24 hours of arrival at MAN- nothing to say that can't be a longish layover which gives you a good reason not to check your bags through- or even better if the onward airline is one that doesn't have a baggage agreement so you have to check your bags in yourself at MAN (I agree sometimes a double open jaw ending at MAN *can* be only five or ten pounds more - and worth paying for to avoid any issues.

That said if you need the miles- Dublin zoo is very good . The mini Murphs would probably enjoy it

Crispy_Ambulance

We're doing something similar this year but coming back straight to MAN. This wasn't much more expensive than a return to DUB and meant that we weren't hanging around with jetlag waiting for our DUB-MAN flight.

There is a risk, as someone else has mentioned, that you might get re-routed to DUB, missing out the MAN connection, but I don't think it's a huge risk.

Murphy_The_Cat

Thank you all.

What I've found so far has all been gleaned from doing a dummy multi stop itinerary for April next year.
If I do a final leg from the US to MAN, the price comes in at £8000, which isn't very attractive.
But if I add an addtional leg, 24 hours later, from MAN to DUB, the final figure drops to a much more attractive £6000.

Sooooooooo, presumably I can book the additional leg as part of my multistop itinerary, collect my bags from MAN and then disappear into the sunset quicker than BA can say "where's Murphy" the next day ?

marsman802

A trick I use quite a lot (London centric I'm afraid due to airport proximities) is to make the final return leg to either DUB or AMS from a different airport even though its the same airline (BA in my case).
E.g. If I fly into LHR then make the last leg to DUB/AMS from LGW or LCY.

Murphy_The_Cat

marsman802 wrote: »

A trick I use quite a lot (London centric I'm afraid due to airport proximities) is to make the final return leg to either DUB or AMS from a different airport even though its the same airline (BA in my case).
E.g. If I fly into LHR then make the last leg to DUB/AMS from LGW or LCY.

If I'm using NCL/MAN/LBA I won't be able to do that, which is why I thought a 24 hour or so delay between the final leg would do the trick.

pollypenny

I'll be interested to see how you all get on. I've not had much luck, or is it skill, in trying these Dublin flights.

DS has moved north so it's Philadelphia or Newark for us now.