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

marsman802

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

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.

Do you know of any groupings like that up north is this purely a LHR/LGW/LCY trick?

I do like these positioning flights but only on my own - not sure I can be bothered with the family (or I should say my wife doesn't let us haha)

Murphy_The_Cat

marsman802 wrote: »

I do like these positioning flights but only on my own - not sure I can be bothered with the family (or I should say my wife doesn't let us haha)

Ordinarily, SWMBO wouldn't entertain the idea either, but the current aspiration is that next we're going to have a week in Hawaii and a week in mainland USA.
The only way that I can 'sell' the idea to The Boss, is that if we can take advantage of the Business Class offers that crop up from time to time, flying from DUB/GOT/OSL that mean that Business Class fare can be (much) cheaper than the standard cattle class fare.
The saving, when I've done dummy bookings is several thousand pounds and more importantly, makes the getting 'permission to book the trip' a goer.

marsman802

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

Ordinarily...

Absolutely! It's definitely a swinger when trying to convince

pollypenny

Perhaps I'd better commission you to book for me, Murphy!

How are the kittens?

Murphy_The_Cat

pollypenny wrote: »

Perhaps I'd better commission you to book for me, Murphy!

How are the kittens?

its at the very early stages ATM, but if/when the BA/AA Bus Class seat sale comes up, I'll gladly share with you how things are going.

The kittens are kittens no longer - biggest kitten goes to big cat school this September. They are both absolutely splended :j:j:j

pollypenny

So it'll be junior rugby, too!

Since we've become grandparents we've not managed to use the BA sake, as we go to the UsA when DIL is travelling, so we can help.

Sounds as if we are avoiding her, but not so. We are off in July, as we did last year. So damn expensive.

SW17

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

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 ?

As Caz3121 mentions above, your bags are the issue. You mention "24 hours later", but this is the key point. If the last sector is up to 23h59m after the previous sector's scheduled arrival, the airline considers it a connection. If the gap between flights is 24h or more, it's a stopover.

Usually (but not always) a stopover results in a higher price, so is your "24 hours" in the dummy itinerary (presumably on ITA Matrix or Google Flights) less or more than 24 hours? If more, it's a stopover and you will definitely get your bags back at MAN, if less then it is a connection and the airline may check them through to DUB. You can request to short check, but it's by no means guaranteed.

However, your overnight might help, some airlines/airports won't check all the way through with an overnight connection and you could be lucky. I don't know what MAN's approach is on this issue, might be worth your while checking it out of on FlyerTalk.

Murphy_The_Cat

SW17 wrote: »

As Caz3121 mentions above, your bags are the issue. You mention "24 hours later", but this is the key point. If the last sector is up to 23h59m after the previous sector's scheduled arrival, the airline considers it a connection. If the gap between flights is 24h or more, it's a stopover.

Usually (but not always) a stopover results in a higher price, so is your "24 hours" in the dummy itinerary (presumably on ITA Matrix or Google Flights) less or more than 24 hours? If more, it's a stopover and you will definitely get your bags back at MAN, if less then it is a connection and the airline may check them through to DUB. You can request to short check, but it's by no means guaranteed.

However, your overnight might help, some airlines/airports won't check all the way through with an overnight connection and you could be lucky. I don't know what MAN's approach is on this issue, might be worth your while checking it out of on FlyerTalk.

hello sw17

This is what I've just done as a dummy booking on google flights, what will 'click through' to AA to book.
Sat 5th DUB- HNL
Sat 12th HNL - DFW
Sat 19th DFW - MAN
Mon 21st MAN - DUB
£1899 Business Class

exactly the same trip, without the final leg on Mon 21st
£2422 Business Class.

The dates/DFW were picked entirely at random, but with it being clickable straight to the AA booking computer (or by phone at a different price with BA or Iberia), it looks like the prices are doable.

With there being 4 of us, it looks like a saving of over £2000 :beer:

p.s Cattle Class fares are coming in at about £1100.

richardw

Don't forget US coach class flights to HNL are often classed as domestic and if you pick a long one, food is not included and can cost a lot.

budgetflyer

PeacefulWaters wrote: »

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.

I think I read somewhere, as well as the TPs, you may also need 4 BA flights to get Silver.