One or two airlines to destination

[brockenspectre]

HI all

I am heading out to visit friends in the middle of America in May. Am pricing up seats at the moment and my routing will require a change on to a US domestic carrier after the transatlantic sector.

Thus far, the fare for the entire route with BA is much greater than if I price up the transatlantic flight with BA and add the US domestic carrier for the second sector even though the BA second sector is with the same US domestic carrier! Is this pricing quirk quite normal? What are the benefits of a through-fare with a single carrier vs buying a transatlantic ticket with one carrier and the domestic portion with another? I like BA 'cos I will get airmiles and I like the airline but it seems silly to throw money away. The entire routing with the US carrier works out a little less than the BA/US Carrier option.

Thanks.

:ok:

[CargoOne]

It is not even about through-fare, it is about single ticket.
If your first flight would be delayed, then it is BA responsibility to rebook you, provide hotel, meal, etc for next sector. With 2 separate tickets it will be your own problem.
However normally through-fares are cheaper than combination of two fares, so if it is more expensive in your case then most probably you are trying to combine two "un-friendly" carriers within one ticket (for example BA and NWA).
Who is operating your second segment?

[BEagle]

Why not voice your concerns to ba and ask them whether they can match the price of the ba Atlantic/US domestic deal. If they won't, just tell them that you'll probably fly the entire sector with the other carrier....

[Final 3 Greens]

Further to Cargo One's point, the T&Cs for US internal travel are so customer friendly as for international flights.

Also, if you miss your BA flight coming home, due to an internal flight delay you will be on your own and relying on BA to change a non changeable ticket as a goodwill gesture - is that a risk you wish to take?

Having said all of that, if you can save a packet by booking your own ticket and you have insurance cover against cancelled flights and delays, what level of risk are you really taking?

Personally, I believe BA are superior in service to most US carriers, but on the other hand how important is this in the total context of your trip?

As always, the decision is yours ;)

[brockenspectre]

Hi guys

Thanks for feedback thus far. The US domestic carrier is American Airlines ... which with the BA through fare is providing the US internal sector. I hadn't thought about delays/cancellations ... to me an airfare is an airfare (probably because ::touch wood:: I have never really been let down by the system in the past!).

Next question then. The hub for my change of aircraft/airline (irrespective of which ticket I buy) will be DFW. Any idea on how long one should allow for baggage collection/imm clearance and possible terminal change there? I believe the American Airlines domestic segment is actually operated by American Eagle and as that airline operates out of more than the BA arrival terminal I need to be prepared! :ok:

Can you tell I like planning vacations/trips?!! :)

[slim_slag]

Just fly AA all the way. The only thing worse than BA is you have to pay for booze. AA are better in that they give you more legroom. Apart from that you wont notice any difference. If you buy a single ticket to your destination the airline will give you time to clear customs.

Where are you going? Where do you live in the UK? Do you seriously rate BA higher because of their frequent flier program???

[brockenspectre]

slim_slag I like BA for several reasons, chiefly familiarity with the product (a good 90% of my flights over the years for biz and pleasure have been with BA), the positive approach of cabin crew, the availability of gluten-free meals (not a fad but a medical requirement), how it has dealt with the one/two instances of lost luggage etc and, of course, I get airmiles!!

As for flying the route with American, I am definitely tempted to do so despite the comments I have read about its cabin staff. I doubt I will drink the difference between the BA World Traveller fare (currently £672.60p) and the AA coach fare (currently £503.60)! :E However does anyone have any concrete information to the rumour that AA will be reconfiguring its coach class back to standard (i.e., no) leg-room?

FYI I live in SE England and will be flying from LGW to SGF (Springfield-Branson, Missouri), end May.

[slim_slag]

Well, it's your money and if you like BA then give it to them. I'm not sure cabin crew come around enough in economy any more to make a valid determination on whether they are rude or nice :)

Delta seem to have by far the best deal on that route, but as I said, it's your money.

to me an airfare is an airfare (probably because ::touch wood:: I have never really been let down by the system in the past!).

That's when you find out for real who the decent airlines are. Forget about this "nice cabin crew" stuff, when the service goes to plan they are all the same down the back.

[PaperTiger]

glory, check out the same itinerary on aa.com as there is a possibility that the very same BA flight will be offered as an AA codeshare. You'll get BA miles too.

I have certainly saved oodles on a couple of occasions by booking with the sharing airline instead of the 'real metal' one.

[brockenspectre]

PaperTiger good idea .. unfortunately I just checked the BAA website for departures from Gatwick and it looks as if the BA flight is separate from AA (departing about 15 mins apart!) ::eyeroll:: darn!

Anyone else with info on AA turning back the clock on extra legroom in coach? :ok:

[PaperTiger]

Anyone else with info on AA turning back the clock on extra legroom in coach?

Supposed to be completed by the start of 2005 summer schedule, which means most have probably already been reconfigured. You might get lucky.
http://www.smartertravel.com/advice/ed/advice.php?id=7770&ctid=i7770c35p482

[CargoOne]

Well, FF miles wise AA and BA are anyway OneWorld so you can earn miles on both of them towards your BA membership.

It is just my personal opinion and experience - I would never try to save some quid by purchasing 2 separate tickets for the trip where at least one sector is a long haul. You just need to face the problem only once - and you will come to the same opinion :}

As it was correctly mentioned by Final 3 Greens, the real problem you can face could happen on a return flight if domestic sector flight is delayed and you will struggle to get a flight change for non-changeable ticket. Occasionally you could find out that you need to pay extra 500 or 700 quid to get home which is more than your complete internary price...

[brockenspectre]

Thank you all for your help :)

The fact that American is likely to have returned to coach config by the time I fly made my mind up. This morning I telephoned BA to ask about the fare discrepancy and was told that in fact the internet cannot always price up a correct fare when a change in class is concerned.

The upshot then is that BA is now holding until Saturday two separate sector bookings for me under one reference for a total price of £1,040.30p (a fully INflexible fare hehehehe). Transatlantic portion is WT+ and of course the internal is coach with American Eagle.

:ok:

[PaperTiger]

Ah, Eagleflight. Intra-Texas probably ?

Separate tickets might not be so dicey as suggested then. There are likely frequent flights DFW-XXX and back so you don't have to pick a tight connection (assuming you don't mind hanging around DFW for a couple more hours). And if it happens to be a competitive routing (Southwest or Delta/ASA) then I'd expect an APEX fare to be very reasonable for that sector.

[Globaliser]

brockenspectre: Transatlantic portion is WT+ and of course the internal is coach with American Eagle.WT+? Now you're talking! Definitely worth the money.

In any case, I for one would gladly pay a premium to fly BA or VS economy anyway, if compared to AA or UA. They're not all the same down the back, leave alone the issue about extra charges for alcohol. And as for looking after you when things are going pear-shaped ...

One of the pricing problems on the Internet is that for some reason the websites don't always pick up the combinability rules properly. I've been pricing a similar trip (LHR-SFO-RNO-SFO-LHR) recently. No automatic pricing would price LHR-SFO-LHR in N class (needed for BA's current sale fares) if combined with SFO-RNO-SFO, even though there was nothing in the fare rules that prevented it.

Final word about frequent flyer miles: There are many AA trans-Atlantic routes on which you cannot earn BA miles, and many BA trans-Atlantic routes on which you cannot earn AA miles. This is a carve-out for regulatory reasons. Always be careful. (But you can earn QF miles on both airlines. ;))