Flight with same company and a layover, bought through external website: what if I miss the second?
I want to go from A to C, and Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) has a route with layover in B. I found two tickets:
From the airline website: layover of 3 hours in B
From an external booking website (ExploreTrip): they found ticket in 1) as well as a ticket with only one hour change in B. The ticket/route was not offered on the airline website. This ticket has a single PNR, including the two flights.
What happens if the first flight (A to B) is delayed, so that I miss the second flight (B to C)?
I think that:
If I bought the ticket offered on the company's website, they clearly would re-book me on next available flight at their own cost.
But what if the ticket was bought on the external website?
Could the company claim they were not selling themselves that ticket with short transition time, and hence are not accountable?
I know that for some multi-airlines tickets, loosing a connection just means loosing the ticket.
Could it be also the case if I travel with the same company?
Best Answer
tl;dr: if the PNR given is good for the airline website, you are good to.
This is difficult to assess. The problem is that "umbrella" PNRs exist for many legit purposes, consider these like a folder where you can have many individual trips with their own PNR. Often the booking agency won't let you know without some prodding (usually over the phone) the individual PNRs either -- your clue will be the fact you can't log into the airline website to see your trip with the PNR given. But the 3rd party website, checkmytrip and similar does show your trip.
So using such an "umbrella" the 3rd party is perfectly capable of creating two independent bookings. As they say, don't suppose malice where stupidity would do -- some crafty travel hacker software engineer who thought of grafting two trips together might have forgotten the MCT checks.
Because there's such a thing in the GDS, called Minimum Connection Time which is not accessible to the general public (grrr) but is often posted by insiders to various wikis, flyertalk, etc. So you need to Google (or ask here and we will Google for you, it's not like we know) the MCT for the given route. It will be like International-to-International at airport B or some such. If the booking is within the MCT then such hacking is unlikely and the airline doesn't sell you for whatever random reason and you should be good to go.
If the PNR given to you allows you signing in to the airline website showing the whole booking, you are good to go. If it doesn't and when calling the 3rd party customer service you are given two PNRs for the airline, you are in trouble. Merely having two PNRs for a complicated trip wouldn't be trouble, in fact it's quite normal but for a single trip with two legs on the same airline, that needs to be on the same PNR. (As an example, I was flying Amman-New York-Vancouver on Royal Jordanian and Cathay Pacific and you can book this with American Airlines over the phone and you will end up with an RJ, a CX and an AA PNR -- for whatever reason, none of the three will sell you this ticket online.)
If third party does offer booking within the MCT then I would screenshot it and ask them WTF are they doing and if the feign ignorance then send it to at least the airline but also, if USA based, I would email info@iatan.org because I think the IATA would be quite interested in such a blatant rule violation.
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What do I do if I miss my layover flight?
Contact the Airline Assuming you have missed your flight (or are about to) and you are not at the airport, contact your airline through their local number. You should be able to retrieve this via your airport's website. If you want to book a new ticket, your airline is likely to request a change fee.Can I get off at my layover instead of destination?
You can get off at the layover stop, but checked luggage will keep on flying to the final destination.Do I need to change flight in layover?
Do you stay on the plane for a layover? In most cases, you'll have to switch to another plane, but sometimes (rarely) if the plane you are on is continuing to your next destination, you'll stay in your seat.Do you get charged for missing a flight?
Although airlines often charge you for a new ticket if you miss a flight, there are important exceptions. But to find out if you qualify, you need to act fast. Calling the airline before your departure can significantly increase your chances of getting rebooked on the next flight at no additional charge.Flying Alone for the First Time | Connecting Flight Procedure | How to Catch a Connecting Flight
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