Chaining same day round trips
I'm curious about this since I've never seen or done anything like this. I'm trying to travel from SFO to NRT and the price is substantially higher than LAX to NRT, more than double!
I figured I might have a cheaper airfare if I booked a roundtrip from SFO to LAX and another roundtrip from LAX to NRT, which does indeed save me quite a lot of money.
My question is whether or not this would work on same-day flights. If I went from SFO to LAX on Saturday and I wanted to go from LAX to NRT while still at the airport, will I be able to do that? Where would I be able to print my boarding pass and such? Similarly, on the round-trip back, (NRT->LAX), if I want to go from LAX to SFO on the same day, would I have any issues being in the airport on the same day?
TL-DR: I want to go from SFO->NRT but SFO->LAX->NRT is cheaper as separate round trips. Will this cause any issues at the airport?
Thanks for the info!
Best Answer
No, you won't have any issues with the airport or airlines as a ticketed passenger travelling a longer routing on two tickets, people do this every day all over the world.
That is, if the flights go as planned...
Your issues start if your first leg is delayed or cancelled - because the second leg is a completely separate ticket, the airline has no obligation to accommodate you should you end up missing it and having to catch a later flight.
Ensure you book with sufficient time to make the connections plus additional wiggle room, taking into account any checked luggage you may need to retrieve and recheck on the second airline. This takes time, so give yourself plenty of it.
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How do you book round trip and one-way at the same time?
Book the flights required for one person, then book the second set of flights for the other person, making sure they are on the same flights (as required) for the second person. If that seems too difficult, phone the airline and tell them what you require and book with them over the phone.Does Round trip mean same day?
A roundtrip flight is a flight itinerary that includes one flight to a destination and another flight back from that destination, such as flying from NYC to Paris and then Paris back to NYC. The route may include layovers or connections, but the start and endpoint are the same.What happens if I buy a round trip ticket and only use one-way?
Contact the airline before the day of the flight. Ask the company to modify the round-trip ticket for one-way usage. Although airlines practice a varying degree of flexibility, many airlines will modify a round-trip fare to allow one-way use, though some airlines may charge a penalty or fee for this service.Can I book a round trip within a round trip?
There are a few ways you could take a 'nested' trip, but in its simplest form, it's a round trip within a round trip. One is nested within the other.Tip Tuesday: How to Daisy Chain
More answers regarding chaining same day round trips
Answer 2
Have you looked at https://www.skiplagged.com? This website tries to find such "hidden" tickets where you use segments for your purposes. I've flown domestic and internationally searching through this site, but I have not ended up using a "hidden" segment coincidentally.
Answer 3
I did that years ago; had return ticket from home to Stansted and a return ticket from Stansted to Italy. I had to go through passport control, luggage reclaim, check-in and security before boarding the next flight.
Worked for me, but you need a good buffer as you're responsible for any delays, which makes it a slow way to travel.
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