jgg

This is my situation. We have FF miles to get to Europe but it has to be a round trip ticket. If I was to fly into say Frankfurt and wanted to take a low cost airline to Prague, if my flight from the US to Frankfurt is late, would I have any recourse on the flight to Prague? In other words, if I missed the Frankfurt to Prague flight because my original flight from the US was late(no relationship between carriers), would the low cost carrier book me on the next flight, or am I out of luck and would need to buy another ticket?

I am trying to avoid having to spend an extra night at my round trip destination, but don't want to get stuck with no flight to my next destination.

I guess I would also like to know the answer in reverse, if my low cost carrier from say Milan to Frankfurt is late would United (or whoever) book me on the next flight back to my US destination?

saps

I posted this on the Airline forum:

I think the answer is No...the airlines are not responsible if you miss your flights. They may choose to help you but I don't think they are required to.

Be careful when booking the low cost airlines as they may not even fly out of the same airport. US to Frankfurt flights will land at the main Frankfurt Airport (FRA) but several low cost airlines use Frankfurt Hahn (HHN) which is 80 miles away.

alanRow

If you miss your flight, it's your problem.

All the low costs airlines are point to point and it's your responsibility to ensure that you make the flight.

Few if any will even help you if you miss a connection because one of their flights were late

ms_go

Assuming (from your reference) that you're talking about United, legal open jaws are permitted on FF award tickets (i.e., you're not required to fly into and out of the same European city)--but you can't check these or book them online; you have to call. I'd certainly check that out before looking at the LCC option. You might be able to eliminate one or both of the LCC flights.

http://www.united.com/page/article/0,6722,1141,00.html

TimS

If you miss your flight on a budget airline, not only will you eat the price of your ticket, but buying a new one for a later flight will cost more because it will bs a last-minute purchase and the cheap seats will be long gone.

Michael

Plan to arrive in the morning and connect to a flight that leaves in the late afternoon. That's what we did flying NYC-London-Porto with a airport transfer in London.

stardust

No, low cost airlines won't change your ticket for free. And if you have to buy a ticket right there, it's going to be extremely expensive, no low cost at all !

I'd suggest you use an airport of an interesting city as your intercontinental destination, so you don't mind spending a night there !

Enjoy your trip !

Christina

No airline is responsible for you missing their flight if it was on an unrelated airline any more than if you missed the bus or your car broke down or you just overslept and that's the reason you missed the flight. IF the way you chose to get to the airport makes you late, it really doesn't matter if it was an airplane or not.

alanRow

< No airline is responsible for you missing their flight if it was on an unrelated airline >

Low costs airlines aren't responsible for missing your onward flight with them even if you are flying in with them - no through ticketing, no through luggage either

jgg

Thanks all. That is what I suspected. I just thought since people always talk about flying into London and taking a low cost airline to their destination, I thought maybe I was missing something.

The FF miles we have are on a Wells Fargo Business card which allows us to fly on any airline. For years they let you book open jaw, and about a year ago, they started doing only round trip. Very frustrating for trying to explore Europe!!

WillTravel

You can get particular travel insurance to cover this problem. As part of my general travel insurance policy, my insurance covers instances if I allow at least four hours between scheduled flights at the same airport, or if I make provisions to arrive at the airport at least three hours in advance.

So - if I am landing in London Heathrow (for example) with a scheduled arrival of 11 AM, I should not schedule any flights out of London Heathrow before 3 PM.

If I am in a hotel where it would normally take 30 minutes to get to the airport, I should leave the hotel at least 3.5 hours before the flight.

Angela_m

About through-baggage checking: if your airline, say United, has a baggage aggreement with the low-cost airline it is possible to have your bags checked through which saves you the time of picking up your bags and re-checking them. We recently went through the same situation flying on AA to LHR and taking BMI to Naples. Fortunately, AA had a baggage agreement with BMI and checked our bags through to Naples. You will need to call your airline about who they have baggage agreements with.

alanRow

Low Costs Airlines don't have any through luggage agreements - even if you are flying into & out of the same airport with the same low cost airlines they won't check your luggage through, nor will they alloow you to checkin for your 2nd flight at the 1st airport

They are point to point airlines

So that means for each flight you do with them you have to go to their LANDSIDE checkin desk complete with luggage in order to checkin.

Angela_m

I don't know if BMI Baby is considered a low cost airlines, but AA through-checked our baggage from ORD to NAP just last month. I think it is worth asking your airline.

alanRow

LHR to NAP is a BMI route - if you try to book that route through the BMIBaby website it takes you to the BMI booking engine, whereas EMA to PRG is a BMIBaby route & if you book it you to to the BMIBaby booking engine

bardo1

jgg,

Could you build in some "insurance" time in Frankfurt and just spend 1/2 day (or more) in Frankfurt on both ends?