Can you drop 2nd leg of award ticket?

United airlines. Award ticket IAD (Dulles) to Zurich with 2 hour stop in Brussels. I would actually be closer to destination if got off in Brussels. Business class award available on the Zurich ticket but not on the only to Brussels segment. Any consequences to booking this way as it would open up more business class awards? Could work through Frankfort Germany in the same way.

I would call the airline to see if they can adjust your reward ticket for you.

 

Keith

To do this, you would have to travel with carry-on only. Your bags would be checked through to Zurich.

Business class award available on the Zurich ticket but not on the only to Brussels segment.

 

This makes no sense to me, as of course there's biz availability on the BRU segment if you can book IAD-BRU-ZRH. Now, if you're saying that the website won't give you the option of just booking IAD-BRU, well I've run into similar situations with the Aeroplan site (usually when trying to piece together a TA flight with a connection from YQB); I've always been able to get the itinerary I wanted by calling in (and of course paying the phone booking fee...:rolleyes:)

 

I would definitely call, as I'm sure they will be able to work something out for you.

This is a situation known as "married segments", part of overall airline yield management. You can do a search to find more articles, but here's a short quick and dirty for you. LINK HERE.

This is a situation known as "married segments", part of overall airline yield management. You can do a search to find more articles, but here's a short quick and dirty for you. LINK HERE.

 

Thanks for the link. Yes, this explains the situation well - and it also shows how different programs have different rules/options, as according to that blog:

 

Luckily with Aeroplan, if you give proper instruction to the telephone agent, you can bypass married segment restrictions.

 

In which case, maybe it's better to discuss train options from Zurich... :D

Don't try this. If it's a RT ticket and you miss a segment, the rest of the ticket will be cancelled. Call UA as suggested.

This is a situation known as "married segments", part of overall airline yield management. You can do a search to find more articles, but here's a short quick and dirty for you. LINK HERE.

 

Thanks that is what I wanted to know -- there are ways to work around including a layover that would allow the short visit we wanted in Germany to see a relative.

Don't try this. If it's a RT ticket and you miss a segment, the rest of the ticket will be cancelled. Call UA as suggested.

 

This problem is mostly about the one way penalty. Doing a Rotterdam to Boston cruise on HAL and the ONE way ticket is $2,500 and the roundtrip is about $1,500 in economy. Award tickets are done one way so that solves that problem but creates others like lack of points.:p

This problem is mostly about the one way penalty. Doing a Rotterdam to Boston cruise on HAL and the ONE way ticket is $2,500 and the roundtrip is about $1,500 in economy.

Consolidators and/or cruise line air travel could help with this problem. There are pros and cons, of course, but being able to get a one-way long-haul ticket for half the price of a round-trip long-haul ticket can be a big pro in this balance.

 

If the IAD-BRU-ZRH ticket is a one-way award and you can build in a stopover at BRU, then you will be able to get your bags back at BRU. And then it doesn't matter much if your plans change and you unexpectedly miss the BRU-ZRH flight.

Again, if you really want to end at the first stop then I would call the airline and see if your reservation can be adjusted.

 

Keith

This problem is mostly about the one way penalty. Doing a Rotterdam to Boston cruise on HAL and the ONE way ticket is $2,500 and the roundtrip is about $1,500 in economy. Award tickets are done one way so that solves that problem but creates others like lack of points.:p

 

I am not sure exactly about what you want to do, but just be aware that UA does not allow a stopover or multi city booking on a one way award ticket.

I am not sure exactly about what you want to do, but just be aware that UA does not allow a stopover or multi city booking on a one way award ticket.

 

I am not sure of the rule but I am sure that last Feb. (2015) on United award ticket from Washington DC to Bali I went from IAD to SFO stayed overnight and then got on the flight that went from SFO to TPE for a 3 night layover before taking flight from TPE to Bali on EVA (partner flight). This was one economy saver award booked with $25 fee agent about 6 months out. We completed that trip with another award ticket (Tokyo) NRT to IAD. I booked 3 sets of tickets for our party using points from credit cards (my ticket and husband's in one phone session and cousin's about 3 months later separately). The lady agent also allowed us to upgrade to E+ on United flights for cash upgrade fee. $260 was total bill for 2 roundtrips to Asia. Your experience might be different but in this case the fee for the agent paid off wonderfully and the arrangements were exactly as we wanted them. Hope to pull off the same type of situation on the next adventure Rotterdam to Boston where we need just one way ticket to Europe and we will train and car the rest of the way.

 

There are lots of ways to book a flight and the key here was stopover VS layover (only one layover allowed but the stopover SFO was less than 24 hours and was the next flight to destination so no problem with change of planes.) Also Taipei cost less for segment than Tokyo even though would fly the route through Tokyo if we started east rather than heading west. No logic to the rules but the deal is sweet if it works for you.

There are lots of ways to book a flight and the key here was stopover VS layover (only one layover allowed but the stopover SFO was less than 24 hours and was the next flight to destination so no problem with change of planes.)

Be careful here....you have "connection" and "stopover" reversed. It's a stopover if it is more than 24 hours on international, whereas connection is less than 24. Stopovers are much more restrictive and are often cause for the fare to be "broken", resulting in a higher cost.

Thanks for that. That is why the $25 fee is sometimes worth it -- they see things and work with segments all the time and my poor tired dysfunctional brain only has to answer what they ask me. Words do make a difference.

I'd call the airlines that fly your desired route. I did an overnight layover flying from LAX to Sydney one way. It was on Hawaiian Airlines, and they only have one flight out to Sydney, so our flight from LAX arrived in the evening, and the Sydney flight left the following morning around 11 am. It was perfect.