I am looking to travel from Melbourne, AU to Montreal, CA end of June for 10 days. I was looking up tickets for MEL-YUL and the cheapest flights are priced above $2000. Interestingly, I found MEL-LAX to be $1100 and LAX-YUL to be around $550 seperately. This would save around $400 for me. Am I doing this correctly? What can go wrong?
All prices mentioned are for return trips. [22-Jun to 2-Jul]
Am I Doing Anything Wrong by Purchasing Two Seperate Flight Tickets for One Leg of The Trip ?
Lparousia54 on 09/04/2016 - 12:08
Comments
As above. The main thing is to ensure you'll actually 'make' your connection. LA customs takes some serious time, so allow plenty.
Try to stick on the same airline/alliance if possible. They'll be far more accommodating in the event of issues. If you are delayed, they'll be under no obligation to bump you onto a new flight, but if you stick with the same airline, you can usually talk them around.If you fly on the same airline or airline group and are a member of the loyalty program, you will get more status credits by doing the journey on two flights.
Thanks guys. Sounds like I have a trip to plan.
I guess the higher fare is for direct flights that will save some hassle and time.
Flight prices are a mystery to me - I recently had quotes from the travel agency at the company I work for - Syd to Seattle via LA, business return with Qantas was $8.9k. Downgrade the domestic LA to Seattle to economy and the quote was $5.6k - business class LA-Seattle return certainly isn't $3.3k O_o
I got screwed big time by AirAsia doing this. Their website wouldn't let me book a connecting flight so I booked separately, then when their flight was a few minutes late they wouldn't let me board the second leg because I hadn't booked connecting and made me pay for a new flight the next day. Plus I had to pay accommodation transport and missed one day of a two day trip that I had travelled 4 flights and 3 days to get to .
Budget Airlines do not (in general) do connecting flights. (Unless you are explicitly given the option.)
They do not do baggage transfers either, and require to clear immigration, pick up your bag, and check it again.
When you book, it is mentioned clearly that they have no liability if you miss your connection.If your flight requires a transfer, you have 2 options:
1) do NOT fly a budget airline
2) if you have to, make sure you have at least 3 to 4 hours of transit time (in case of flight delays).===========================================
Just remember:
1) Full fare transferring to full fare => In cases of flight delay, you will be bumped onto the next flight.
2) Full fare transferring to budget => Budget airline has no liability if you miss the flight.
3) Budget transferring to full fare => Full fare airline has no liability if you miss the flight.
4) Budget transferring to budget => Budget airline has no liability if you miss the flight.It depends, there are exceptions. I made a single booking with AA from Sydney to Asia return with transit in KL so both legs are with AA. There are layovers of 4.5 and 6.8 hours respectively. I assume those will be enough or AA will take responsibility.
When booking a trip with transit, first try putting in start and final destination from the beginning and see if the website will propose legs with layovers. If you try to put together a leg by yourself, it may not be checked for feasibility by the website.
That's why I said: Unless you are explicitly given that option.
AA will take responsibility only if you booked your connecting flight in a SINGLE booking.
If you decide to book your connecting flights separately, they will take ZERO responsibility.
Hope that wasn't a lecture for me? I signed in with my story to help answer the question not get high-browed. There was more to my story as I actually did get to check in on time.
Nope. Not a lecture.
Just wanted to go on a rant on how ridiculous airline rules are.
Everyone assumes that "if you miss a connecting flight due to flight delay, you will be bumped onto the next plane" because that's how things have always been.
Budget airlines came in and basically screwed things up.
A good example is TigerAir. Remember the horrible reputation they built from the horrendous TV series?@bsmksg: In that case then I support your rant. I was really peed off . I got there on time but they were way overcrowded and they couldn't get me checked in on time. Rather than put in any effort they just said it was my problem and wouldn't help me as I didn't have a connecting flight. Personally I don't consider being low budget as an excuse for the incompetence that's rampant at Air Asia. Low budget is supposed to mean you don't get unnecessary extras not that the services that are offered are performed poorly.
Beware the possibility of luggages being missed on the first flight…
Also be aware that flights to the US typically include some baggage allowance. However internal flights within the States and flights to Canada typically do not include any baggage allowance in their base fare. So when you go to check in for your connecting flight you may find you have to pay for your bags for your flight out of LAX to YUL.
Whereas I believe there is a TSA policy that if you are entering the US then your bags will not incur additional checking cost through to the final destination as long as they are on that same ticket.Just chuck a day in between, painful but safe.
All good. Just leave lots of time between landing and take-off.