Throw away ticketing

I didn't realize there was a term for skipping the last leg of a flight or that it was frowned upon. I've read reviews from 2014-16 but nothing too current. How bad is this? Is it possible to clear customs and then walk over to another airlines? Or would I be shackled and hauled off to jail?

Generally speaking it's not an issue unless you start doing it regularly. Yes, you'll go through immigration and US customs at SFO unless you pre-clear at some place that has a US preclearance facility, such as Dublin or Abu Dhabi. In those cases your bags would be tagged through to YVR and your plan would be sunk.

Lets get some details here. Where is your flight starting? Curious why you don't have a connecting flight to Vancouver that works, and you want an "easy" flight...what ever that might mean.

How bad is this? Is it possible to clear customs and then walk over to another airlines? Or would I be shackled and hauled off to jail?

My understanding is that the most you'll suffer is being retroactively charged back for the full coach fare of the itinerary you ended up actually flying.

Lets get some details here. Where is your flight starting? Curious why you don't have a connecting flight to Vancouver that works, and you want an "easy" flight...what ever that might mean.

Sorry, I tend to be vague or too wordy. Las Vegas is our home airport. I found a nonstop Vancouver to Delhi business class ticket for $1380 thru United being serviced by Air Canada. Las Vegas to Vancouver is an easy flight for us and the nonstop to Delhi is great. We would be returning from Singapore, United serviced by ANA. It stops in Japan then San Fran then goes on to Vancouver. Again a really great business class price. It would be great to clear customs in SF and then get a Southwest (or something)flight on in to LV. We have frequent flyer miles but we decided that if the price for business made sense we could be confirmed business and save miles for later. Does that make sense?

Since you'll have to collect your luggage at SFO to clear customs on the flight back you could theoretically ditch the SFO-YVR flight.

Since you'll have to collect your luggage at SFO to clear customs on the flight back you could theoretically ditch the SFO-YVR flight.

I agree.

I agree.

Great! Thanks

Sorry, I tend to be vague or too wordy. Las Vegas is our home airport. I found a nonstop Vancouver to Delhi business class ticket for $1380 thru United being serviced by Air Canada. Las Vegas to Vancouver is an easy flight for us and the nonstop to Delhi is great. We would be returning from Singapore, United serviced by ANA. It stops in Japan then San Fran then goes on to Vancouver. Again a really great business class price. It would be great to clear customs in SF and then get a Southwest (or something)flight on in to LV. We have frequent flyer miles but we decided that if the price for business made sense we could be confirmed business and save miles for later. Does that make sense?

I would do it. Ignore the last segment.

There is nothing illegal about throw away ticketing. The airlines just don't like it, especially if your a frequent flyer and they see a pattern of it happening all the time. That said, its not the job of the passenger to optimise the revenue of the airlines.

One question on this plan... if you are ticketed on to YVR would you still clear customs in SFO or would you go to a transit holding area? If that happens then you don't get your bags back in SFO. I don't know how it works in SFO but I have seen it in other places.

The main problem would be a rerouting in case of a delayed or cancelled flight. The airline is contracted to fly you to YVR, not SFO, so you could very well be rerouted with a completely different itinerary. This actually happened to me last summer - fine in my circumstance, but would be disastrous in your case.

Sorry, I tend to be vague or too wordy. Las Vegas is our home airport. I found a nonstop Vancouver to Delhi business class ticket for $1380 thru United being serviced by Air Canada. Las Vegas to Vancouver is an easy flight for us and the nonstop to Delhi is great. We would be returning from Singapore, United serviced by ANA. It stops in Japan then San Fran then goes on to Vancouver. Again a really great business class price. It would be great to clear customs in SF and then get a Southwest (or something)flight on in to LV. We have frequent flyer miles but we decided that if the price for business made sense we could be confirmed business and save miles for later. Does that make sense?

Have you tried pricing it directly through to Las Vegas rather than Vancouver on the return?

Or just price it only as far as SFO on the return?

Then your bags stay with you, regardless of any flight changes, etc.

Have you tried pricing it directly through to Las Vegas rather than Vancouver on the return?

 

Or just price it only as far as SFO on the return?

 

Then your bags stay with you, regardless of any flight changes, etc.

Thank you, yes I've tried all of those options. The problem is I loose the great business class price! If it were just a few hundred dollars I'd forget about it but the difference is huge. I've got time to play with it. It'll be okay!

One question on this plan... if you are ticketed on to YVR would you still clear customs in SFO or would you go to a transit holding area? If that happens then you don't get your bags back in SFO. I don't know how it works in SFO but I have seen it in other places.

You need to clear US border controls (immigration and customs) at your first port of entry into the US, regardless of your onward connections. The only exceptions to this are when your originating airport (most major Canadian ones, also Dublin and Abu Dhabi) have US "preclearance" facilities. In those cases you clear US immigration and customs before boarding, so your passage through US airports is treated like a domestic itinerary - no bag claim and re-check, etc. The OP is coming back from Singapore via Japan, so there won't be any preclearance.

We would be returning from Singapore, United serviced by ANA. It stops in Japan then San Fran then goes on to Vancouver.

However, United/ANA have plenty of routes from Singapore to Vancouver that don't pass through SFO, so if the airline changes the route (aircraft maintenance, changed schedules) there's a good possibility the OP wouldn't have the option to bug out at SFO.

And as a technicality, when you knowingly buy a ticket with an itinerary that you plan to cut short at an intermediate airport, it's not "throw-away" ticketing, it's "hidden city" ticketing. (Throw-away ticketing is when you buy, say, a round trip over the Atlantic but only take the outbound flight because you're cruising in the other direction; you literally "throw away" the return portion.)

Both are against the airlines' rules but hard for them to enforce unless one does it habitually.

I would do it. Ignore the last segment.

 

There is nothing illegal about throw away ticketing. The airlines just don't like it,

And technically they can turn around and charge you the fare difference between what you paid, and the ticket would have cost to get to where you ditched the rest of it. They could also charge you a change fee. Unlikely they would do this for a "first offender" but the possibility exists. The greater risk is, as some have said, if the flight gets rerouted and connects through somewhere other than SFO.

Thank you everyone. You've given me a lot to think about.

Gardyloo, thanks. I know when we came back from Rome via Montreal we had to clear US customs and immigration there before going on to EWR but we never actually touched our bags, we saw them on a video screen and said, yep, those are ours....when we have transited in places like LHR and AKL we were held in a transit area and never actually entered England or New Zealand and again, never actually saw our bags. So those are the things that raised questions in my mind. SFO could be different, I have left the US from there but have not come back yet....that will happen in March.

Gardyloo, thanks. I know when we came back from Rome via Montreal we had to clear US customs and immigration there before going on to EWR but we never actually touched our bags, we saw them on a video screen and said, yep, those are ours....when we have transited in places like LHR and AKL we were held in a transit area and never actually entered England or New Zealand and again, never actually saw our bags. So those are the things that raised questions in my mind. SFO could be different, I have left the US from there but have not come back yet....that will happen in March.

That is because clearing US customs while transiting a major Canadian airport is designed to be a simple and pleasant experience. Well as pleasant as customs can be. The US points of entry are just plain painful and annoying. My experience is your bags are not transferred automatically when doing a international to Canada connection in SFO.

When you check in you can also ask to short-check your bags only as far as SFO.

And technically they can turn around and charge you the fare difference between what you paid, and the ticket would have cost to get to where you ditched the rest of it. They could also charge you a change fee. Unlikely they would do this for a "first offender" but the possibility exists. The greater risk is, as some have said, if the flight gets rerouted and connects through somewhere other than SFO.

They can try to charge you the difference but they are not going to.

The airlines will never be able to figure out what the fare should have been. Multi-airline trip such as this involving four different airlines. It is complicated; the revenue from the flight is split across multiple airlines based on fare buckets available at time of booking. A few weeks after booking it will be extremely difficult to figure out what the far would have been.

They need someone (a human as opposed to a computer) to care about a one off trip. If you were doing this every week, it might become worth looking into.

If something goes wrong with the flight, just say, plans changed I needed to be in Las Vegas. Here is the other coupon for that flight, what can you do.

I would not be overly worried about this. If you are they do the extra leg to Vancouver and pick up a discount economy flight from Vancouver to Las Vegas on Air Canada or WestJet. It is a dirt cheap flight.

That is because clearing US customs while transiting a major Canadian airport is designed to be a simple and pleasant experience. Well as pleasant as customs can be. The US points of entry are just plain painful and annoying. My experience is your bags are not transferred automatically when doing a international to Canada connection in SFO.

 

When you check in you can also ask to short-check your bags only as far as SFO.

I thought I read you couldn't short-check? How would that work anyway? The airlines would know for sure you weren't planning on taking your last leg.

They can try to charge you the difference but they are not going to.

 

The airlines will never be able to figure out what the fare should have been. Multi-airline trip such as this involving four different airlines. It is complicated; the revenue from the flight is split across multiple airlines based on fare buckets available at time of booking. A few weeks after booking it will be extremely difficult to figure out what the far would have been.

 

They need someone (a human as opposed to a computer) to care about a one off trip. If you were doing this every week, it might become worth looking into.

 

If something goes wrong with the flight, just say, plans changed I needed to be in Las Vegas. Here is the other coupon for that flight, what can you do.

 

I would not be overly worried about this. If you are they do the extra leg to Vancouver and pick up a discount economy flight from Vancouver to Las Vegas on Air Canada or WestJet. It is a dirt cheap flight.

Im not worried about leaving in SF and would probably do it. But if the route changed to Vancouver and didn't go through SF, as has been suggested, then I'd need to have another back up plan. Not impossible.

You need to clear US border controls (immigration and customs) at your first port of entry into the US, regardless of your onward connections. The only exceptions to this are when your originating airport (most major Canadian ones, also Dublin and Abu Dhabi) have US "preclearance" facilities. In those cases you clear US immigration and customs before boarding, so your passage through US airports is treated like a domestic itinerary - no bag claim and re-check, etc. The OP is coming back from Singapore via Japan, so there won't be any preclearance.

 

 

However, United/ANA have plenty of routes from Singapore to Vancouver that don't pass through SFO, so if the airline changes the route (aircraft maintenance, changed schedules) there's a good possibility the OP wouldn't have the option to bug out at SFO.

 

And as a technicality, when you knowingly buy a ticket with an itinerary that you plan to cut short at an intermediate airport, it's not "throw-away" ticketing, it's "hidden city" ticketing. (Throw-away ticketing is when you buy, say, a round trip over the Atlantic but only take the outbound flight because you're cruising in the other direction; you literally "throw away" the return portion.)

 

Both are against the airlines' rules but hard for them to enforce unless one does it habitually.

Thank you for explaining the difference between throw away and hidden city!

They can try to charge you the difference but they are not going to.

 

The airlines will never be able to figure out what the fare should have been.

Yes, as I said, it's unlikely they would do this, although if you made it a habit you might find they start putting more effort into it. What they COULD do very easily is charge a change fee, which is often $300+ per person for international itineraries. Again, unlikely (but not impossible) that it would be levied for a one off event, but I wouldn't make a habit of it.

Yes, as I said, it's unlikely they would do this, although if you made it a habit you might find they start putting more effort into it. What they COULD do very easily is charge a change fee, which is often $300+ per person for international itineraries. Again, unlikely (but not impossible) that it would be levied for a one off event, but I wouldn't make a habit of it.

An airline could perhaps refuse to allow someone to fly anymore, if they had a pattern of not complying with their rules.

Question: ARE there explicit rules for each airline that state one cannot do hidden city or throw away ticketing types of flights?

Question: ARE there explicit rules for each airline that state one cannot do hidden city or throw away ticketing types of flights?

Yes; they're generally violations of the contract of carriage. Here's Delta's summary page for example. Note they call it "point beyond" ticketing instead of "hidden city," but it's the same thing.

http://www.delta.com/content/www/en_US/traveling-with-us/planning-a-trip/booking-information/fare-classes-and-tickets/ticket-rules-restrictions.html