Plane Ticket A to B, B to C, D to A: What happens if I drop B to C?
 

Hi, please refresh my memory on this scenario.

I'm flying from JFK to MAD, then MAD to BCN, then OSL to JFK on one ticket.

I'm thinking of spending a few more hours in MAD. I can buy a separate ticket from MAD to BCN.

Will the airline (AA) let me do this if I tell them in advance?

Thanks.

Sorry that was a bit unclear. MAD was supposed to have been a 4h layover, but now I'm thinking of spending a few hours so that I can actually head to the city. But as I said, I can pay for MAD to BCN on my own.

Will AA cancel the OSL to JFK?

Most likely they will not let you. But for sure do not do it without asking, because they will cancel the rest of your itinerary.

I assume you booked open jaw JFK > BCN (which happens to put you through MAD enroute) and then OSL > JFK. If so, it is almost 100% sure they will void the final leg if you jump ship in Madrid.

Then you would have to pay for a full fare walk-up ticket from OSL > JFK.

You'd be better off paying a change fee now and doing it above board. at least then you know you can get home.

If you have a ticket that has you going from multiple sources to multiple destinations and you do not show up for one of the legs, they may cancel the rest of your ticket.

That's what they used to do domestically. may not be what they do now.

Also, you should call them and ask what happens if you call to cancel a leg and ask that the remainder remain in force. That may work.

I did it before for a trip to Asia, but I booked the ticket via a travel agent and the agent did the cancellation.

I know that I can't be a no show. But I'm going to check with AA to see if they can somehow enter this into the system.

I wonder if they will let me take a later MAD to BCN flight. But most likely I'll have to pay the change fee. But if the alternative is to pay MAD-BCN r/t, currently about $234, then maybe this is an option I can consider.

Yes, it was booked as open jaw JFK -> BCN, OSL -> JFK.

By the way do people know what the change fee is roughly? It's not very convenient for me to call at the moment, but I'll call at night.

As I said, I don't plan to just skip without telling them but am just wondering if I tell them nicely, there's a way to annotate that in the system. As I said, I did this before, but a travel agent did the work.

By the way, in case people are wondering, I'm thinking of stopping in Madrid to see the show on Patinir at Prado. About 22 of 29 extant paintings will be on view. I quite like his work. He's not well known. The Met lent its Patinir to Prado -- I've noticed that that it's been missing and was wondering why.

Unfortunately I didn't find out about the show until today, and I'm leaving next Wednesday.

Nicely or otherwise you need to ask...now.

I don't know about AA but Delta's change fee on international flights has gone up to a whopping $400.00

Sometimes they waive it, most of the time not.

The change fee is $200, but they need to charge the fare difference.

Any experts out there? Is it possible to do something else?

It just seems so silly to me that I'm already in Madrid, and it looks like my cheapest option is to fly r/t Madrid-BCN....

By the way, the fare difference itself is over $400 because they're saying it's now a 7-day advance purchase....

&quot;<i>Is it possible to do something else?</i>&quot; nope - probably not.

Let's review some other practical options then.

Prado opens at 9 and I've a 4h layover. When will the gate close for MAD to BCN? The flight is scheduled to leave at 11. My flight gets in at 7. Of course it could be delayed.

Could experts on Barajas and Iberia comment?

Obviously the only way this can work is I take a taxi, and I think that Barajas to Prado is probably a 30 min ride. Sounds correct? Let's say I can get out of the airport by 8:30, maybe it's worth a rush to Prado?

You really can't expect to enter the Prado at 0900 and make a flight at 1100.

Sorry - give it up. Start planning you next trip and this time include a stay in Madrid . . . .

Thanks, but actually I've been to Madrid a couple of times already, and I do want to see the Patinir show. It's only on until Oct. 7.

Actually I was last in Madrid in April to see the Tintoretto show.

Where is the Patinir show going next? That might make a nice trip!

Note to self - look up Patinir.

I don't think this show travels because his paintings are deemed too fragile. Take a look at Prado's website. I think there're only 29 extant paintings. The show will show 22. 6 are in Spain (4 in Prado, 1 in Thyssen, 1 in El Escorial).

There's an important one in Antwerp that's usually mentioned in art books. It's been lent to Prado. I haven't seen this one. Actually I bet I've not seen most of the ones in this show -- except for the triptych the Met lent.

There's one Patinir in Prado that's especially famous. The last I saw it, it was in the same room as the Bosches and the Bruegels. I found it to be a really exquisite painting because of the hues of green and blue. It's another one that comes up in art books, but the reproductions are usually very poor.

As the Prado webpage points out, Patinir is widely acknowledged as one of the first landscape painters.

Repost on the airlines forum. There are several AA experts that check the posts there. Another option would be posting on FlyerTalk.

FlyerTalk intimidates me usually. Also I don't have that much time to keep in touch with that forum, and I feel that I should read it before attempting to post anything.

AA won't change the ticket for you without the fees and fare changes. You can forget about that.

Now, most airlines in the US have same day &quot;confirmed standbys&quot;. AA has one for 12 hours. Which would be nice if MAD-BCN is operated by AA; but unfortunately, it's not. I don't know and I don't think IB has a similar same day confirmed change program, so you're out of luck.

If you really want to take a risk, you may disappear into Madrid for several hours, and then come back to the airport with a good excuse - something like uncontrolled diarrhea that forced you to hide in the bathroom and miss your connection (or you were kidnapped by aliens/terrorists, or something in that nature). <b>Maybe</b> they will believe you and let you standby on a later flight to BCN. [MAD-BCN has one of the highest frequency of flights in the world, with something like 20 flights a day on IB alone, plus another 20 on 3 other airlines.]

But even if that works, you still need to call AA to make sure they fix your return trip.

It is really not worth the trouble. Fly back from BCN if you want to go to Madrid.