one of our party cant go - holiday is fully paid but still having to pay more again?!

duchy

missbiggles1 wrote: »

Regarding air fares, see my earlier posts, for ferries an example of what can happen -

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2004/jul/17/consumerissues.travel

You DO understand the difference between a ferry crossing and a flight - don't you !!! So because one ferry company on one isolated occasion acted outside their terms and conditions -so arguably illegally ( it seems likely BF settled out of court in the case you cite researching further) with a passenger who was clearly not a day tripper down to the amount of stuff he was travelling with .........that an entirely different operator , using an entirely different form of transportation in possibly an entirely different jurisdiction might do the same thing (although they haven't before in decades of air travel) if someone doesn't use the return leg of their flight ?

Uh- Okay !!

duchy

SW17 wrote: »

I'd agree with you that as it stands today airlines are showing no appetite for pursuing individual travellers through the courts on this.

BA are going after travel agents who are issuing a lot of tickets starting outside the UK, if the final legs are not flown. TAs are of course a softer target and easily penalised via ADMs and/or withdrawal of ticketing rights. Corporate customers are also getting warnings about this via their agents.

If they were to go after individuals, it would probably be via their BA Avios balances and status, both of which they could zero without needing to take legal action. If neither of those matter to a traveller and they book direct with the airline, they are going to be ok (at least for now).

Yes I saw they have gone after some of the smaller travel agents -who were a bit blatant in their advice about exiting at London. The bigger players they left completely alone however. I've certainly booked ex EU flights from a UK address with some of the better known companies (via their uk sites using a UK card) and never had any warnings about the need to fly all sectors.

I do think IF and it's a big if BA go after passengers direct it'll be via avios but if they haven't done so by now I suspect they won't except in the most blatant, repeat offender scenarios. I suspect the workaround for most flyers would simply be to move to another One World Alliance member if this became a problem though and their FF status was at risk.

muppetbaby

Moto2 wrote: »

Not at all, I avoid business fares if I can, Flybe, Easyjet, Ryanair etc.
I always buy them at normal budget prices rather than the flexible business rates as it works out cheaper even with missing some of them and having to book a last minute one as a replacement.

These are single point to point tickets though - the "return" is just a separate single in the opposite direction as opposed to a true return portion of a single ticket, so hidden city/throwaway ticketing rules don't apply to these airlines.

dickydonkin

duchy wrote: »

I've certainly booked ex EU flights from a UK address with some of the better known companies (via their uk sites using a UK card) and never had any warnings about the need to fly all sectors.

You would be bound by the carriers terms and conditions regardless and certainly in the case of BA, you are at risk of a potential re-pricing of the total trip which can be significant - or possibly having a BAEC account closed with the loss of any accumulated tier points and Avios - and status with the airline.

I am not aware of it happening YET to an individual, however, I don't doubt that BA are seriously looking into this and I would hate to be the first 'victim'.

I suspect that the closure of a BAEC account or not issuing avios or tier points until the final sector has been completed could also be an option as these would be the easiest sanctions to enforce as opposed to repricing a trip.

There are potentially other complications regarding baggage as many handling agents (particularly in the US) will be reluctant to short check luggage, although this problem is easily circumvented by changing airports in the UK or travelling with hand baggage only.

I have flown quite a few ex EU trips - usually from Dublin or Amsterdam, and I just use the departure/arrival destinations as an add on to my trips with the benefits of additional tier points/Avios to boot.

Just because a passenger has not been penalised in the past, doesn't mean it won't happen in the future and is just not worth the risk in my opinion.

duchy

Someone of course will be the first victim if BA decide to try and stop it but the savings versus risk will vary. Personally I'd never risk it with checked bags but I've had checked bags go adrift several times in the US so have learned to pack well enough that I don't need anything more than hand baggage for up to a week anyway . My next trip ex Euro was £250 versus £700 direct ex LON . Not with BA which would have been £350 .
(I also don't use Avios but another One World FF programme-who arguably may be less interested )