Can I get my luggage checked to a layover city instead of final destination?
January 21, 2006 8:55 PM   Subscribe

Can I just leave the airport during a layover and miss my flight to the final destination without incurring penalities on the way back? I know the usual answer is no but my circumstances are a bit different - I'll still be returning from the city I'm supposed to finally arrive at. I'm going from San Fran to New Orleans via Dallas, then six days later from New Orleans to Los Angeles. I just got in touch with a friend I really want to see in the Dallas area and I'd like to just get off in Dallas on the way to New Orleans and spend a day there, then road trip to New Orleans and spend the rest of my vacation there, leaving from New Orleans like I should. Can I do this? I'm interested in why I can or can't since I'm curious, but practical answers would be most appreciated, especially on how I can get my luggage checked only to Dallas (I have to check a bag - don't tell me only use a carryon). What do I tell the desk attendant?
posted by riverjack to Travel & Transportation (21 answers total)
 
Never tried this before. Don't know if this would work, but what if you do the following?: Get off the plane in Dallas and go to the airline desk and tell them you're too sick to continue the trip. (Don't overdo it, you don't want them to call an ambulance.) Tell them you've decided to stay overnight in Dallas and travel again once you feel better, and ask them to fetch your bag. The next day call back and say you've arranged for alternate transportation.

I see this as a white lie with no ethical issues. Unless I'm wrong, it should not in theory cause any financial hardship for the airline. It might even be able to use your seat, resulting in a net gain for the carrier.

Sort of off the cuff, maybe not what you're looking for.
posted by donpedro at 9:08 PM on January 21, 2006


If you miss any leg/flight of your trip (without an excuse -- I don't know if donpedro's idea will work), the airline will cancel all your other flights on the trip. One reason for this is to prevent people from "back-to-backing" -- buying multiple sale tickets to put together a trip that the airline would otherwise charge much more for (e.g. sometimes a round trip with a Saturday night stay is a small fraction of the price of a trip leaving and returning the same week -- so if one wants to leave Monday and return Wednesday, one might buy one round trip leaving the previous Saturday and returning Wednesday and another round trip leaving Monday and returning the next Sunday and then use the outgoing flight of the second round trip and the return flight of the first round trip). If they suspect back-to-backing, the airline may refuse to let you fly with them in the future.

Have you already bought the tickets? One way to avoid a problem would be to buy two separate one-way tickets, rather than a round trip.

You can always try calling the airline and explaining the situation and asking if they will allow it (and take it up the chain of command, if necessary).
posted by winston at 9:20 PM on January 21, 2006


For the white lie strategy, I don't think you'd need to claim to be sick. Just miss the flight and then say "I missed my flight." (But you've got this friend who's local and can rescue you, etc.)
posted by winston at 9:23 PM on January 21, 2006


If it doesn't work, though, wouldn't his luggage just continue on to New Orleans?
posted by danb at 9:31 PM on January 21, 2006


As I understand it, this is now a big issue, with the fear of luggage bombs and such. Check into it before you find yourself ghosted.
posted by Jairus at 9:44 PM on January 21, 2006


I know you said "I have to check a bag - don't tell me only use a carryon," but this will be significantly easier if you do NOT check any bags. Due to current rules, if you do not continue on your flight for whatever reason (including donpedro's "white lie" suggestion, the airline is required to pull your checked bags off the next flight if you don't board. This is a huge pain, and will therefore complicate your efforts.

All that being said, the "road trip" part also presents a unique challenge- you would be better off just taking a flight the next day, since you wouldn't be directly violating your ticket agreement.
posted by crazyray at 10:20 PM on January 21, 2006


Yeah, the airline will pull off your bag, and you'll have to go through a really annoying process to get it back.
posted by Zosia Blue at 10:22 PM on January 21, 2006


Also, Tips on How to Travel with just a carry-on
posted by crazyray at 10:23 PM on January 21, 2006


Call the airline and tell them what you want to do- I think they might just charge you a change fee.
posted by fshgrl at 10:33 PM on January 21, 2006


Can you gate check your luggage? That way it'd be sitting at the Dallas airport waiting for you when you switch planes.
posted by BackwardsCity at 10:37 PM on January 21, 2006


You are turning your trip into an "open jaw," which is usually priced differently than a round trip. You could probably find out the difference by plugging a similar intinerary into Expedia or something. I'm guessing a couple hundred buck price difference, which suggests the airline isn't likely to go along with this, or leave easy loopholes for you, unless you are a frequent flyer.
posted by Good Brain at 10:43 PM on January 21, 2006


You could just call them and tell them you wanna cancel one of your flights and don't mind forfeiting the fee for that leg. Might be messy if they've already issued you paper tix, but in AU we have all-electronic ticketing now and it shouldn't be a major problem.

Really, why ask us? Ask the damn airline already.
posted by polyglot at 11:05 PM on January 21, 2006


Think about it this way:

Do you really want to attract the attention of Homeland Security?

'cause that's what will happen.

remember the days of "fly the friendly skies"? oh, those good ol' days...
posted by five fresh fish at 1:04 AM on January 22, 2006


Response by poster: Thanks for the advice, Polyglot - taken with a smile. Rather than run up some international phone calls beforehand, I thought I'd check here first, but this isn't my only way of looking for the info. I'll call the airline as well as a travel agent, etc. Just looking for some tips from people who have been there.

I booked this through a travel agent (and I'm waiting for a reply from the agency (trying to avoid an "just ask your travel agent" post)). Since I'm flying from San Francisco to New Orleans and from New Orleans to Los Angeles, do I have round trip tickets at all? I can't see how. How does having one way tickets affect this, as most posts seem to think I have round trip.

Also was also just interested in the hypothetical "what if" - not depending on this as the only way to answer this question. Thanks for the advice so far, ya'll.
posted by riverjack at 2:32 AM on January 22, 2006


Response by poster: Oh - just wanted to add that since I'm coming from overseas for over three weeks (and I've been traveling around/working away from home the month before) I have a large bag that holds everything that will have to be checked. I appreciate the thoughts about carryon only - and would LOVE to be using that strategy - but this trip it's impossible.
posted by riverjack at 2:35 AM on January 22, 2006


Your bag of course is going in a cargo container in the airplane hold with about 30 other peoples'. They won't be taking that cargo container off the plane during the stopover, unless you pull one of the moves described above.

Fetching your bag will delay the flight at least 10 minutes while they take out all the rest of the cargo containers to get at the one with your bag. There'll be some grumpy people.
posted by anthill at 5:51 AM on January 22, 2006


To avoid checking your baggage, ship the bags ahead of time to your friend in Dallas.
posted by donpardo at 6:17 AM on January 22, 2006


I've never tried it, but I have always wanted to simply Fedex my luggage to my destination with packaging/labels for returning it.

Airports would be much easier to navigate!
posted by thilmony at 6:39 AM on January 22, 2006


http://www.thetravelinsider.info/2003/0117.htm

Ship your luggage
posted by Izzmeister at 12:06 PM on January 22, 2006


Ship your bags.

If you miss the flight in mid-itinerary, the airline WILL cancel your itinerary. Depending on the fare class, your ticket may be non-refundable, either. As mentioned earlier, this was designed to kill back-to-backs, hidden-city and open-jaw tickets that road warriors used for years to game the airlines.

You mentioned a travel agent. It's time to make them earn their money. So here's the "ask your travel agent" post that you didn't want. :-)
posted by TeamBilly at 6:26 PM on January 22, 2006


Not sure if you're still checking this, but thought I'd comment anyway.

My bf and I were travelling separately and meeting up in Miami to go to the Caribbean. My flight ended up getting delayed so I missed our connection. He got there on time, but missed it waiting for me. They rebooked us both on the next flight, and they gave us the option of which one we wanted to take, both which were the next day. So you could do it by missing the flight, and asking them to rebook you for a flight the next day, and spend the day in Dallas and fly on. You'd give up the roadtrip, but have your day without incurring fees/Homeland security problems. The caveat is though that we only had carry-ons, not sure how it would work with checked baggage.
posted by orangskye at 5:36 PM on January 25, 2006


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