"Nested" Itinerary????

[MarcB]

Ok...I am after some guidance please...

I have searched the forum and googled, but have not been able to satisfactorily answer my question, so I am hoping someone can assist.

I need to make 2 trips to the USA as follows:

BNE-LAX-BNE (Depart mid-April return early May) (Side trip to YVR but on separate ticket)
BNE-JFK-BNE (Depart mid-Dec return early Jan 2011).

If I price these as 2 returns originating from BNE, the cost is nearly $10k. However, if i book one return from BNE and one from YVR, I can do the same itinerary for about $6k because I can take advantage of low season fares. It would look like this.

Ticket one - BNE-LAX (April 2010) / JFK-BNE (via LAX) (Jan 2011)
Ticket two - YVR-BNE (via LAX) (May 2010)/ BNE-JFK (via LAX) (Dec 2010)

So clearly what I am doing here is using the tickets in the following order

Ticket One - Sector One
Ticket Two - Sector One
Ticket Two - Sector Two
Ticket One - Sector Two

Is this allowed? All the QF conditions of carriage state is that coupons must be used in order. In my view, these are being used in order - but maybe I am missing something???

I should note that I won't breach any min/max stay requriements for the fares with this combination.

Thanks in advance!

[markis10]

I cannot see why it is not allowed, Airlines rely on people not planning too far ahead but can only restrict fares to locations where the ticket is issued, and you are taking advantage of the disparity that exists between fares.

[serfty]

I do this all the time.

The "In order" refers to the specific PNR; does not apply to segments in different PNR.

I am in AKL at the moment; about to take the AKL-MEL outbound flight of a booking with the return segment MEL-AKL in April. Last Thursday I flew the return segment of MEL-AKL where the outbound AKL-MEL was flown in December. (I do this as it's been ~AUD360 ex AKL. This is ~AUD80 cheaper then booking similar flights ex MEL)

[dajop]

Is this allowed? All the QF conditions of carriage state is that coupons must be used in order. In my view, these are being used in order - but maybe I am missing something???

You're using two independent tickets so you are using these in order.

I have done this many times to/from SIN. The only thing is to ensure you carry printouts of both tickets, should you be queried about the length of stay in the US on the first ticket, which is a considerable time.

[MarcB]

Thanks for the help everyone - I thought it looked ok, but I wanted to check before I booked anything. The last thing I need is to be denied boarding!

[djfuzz]

We did this with our DONE4 positioning flights.

However, if you are using credit card travel insurance, you should consider when such insurance expires - ours was the sooner of our return on our outbound ticket or six months. In such circumstances, we woundn't have been covered on our second leg, and had to make separate insurance arrangements accordingly.

[JohnK]

I have done this a number of times in the past and I am in the process of doing it again. My next 4 trips to SE Asia look complex.

Ticket 1 - Award booking one-way
Ticket 2 - Sector 1 (SIN-SYD)
Ticket 3 - Sector 1 (SYD-SIN)
Ticket 4 - Sector 1 (SIN-SYD)
Ticket 2 - Sector 2 (SYD-SIN)
Ticket 3 - Sector 2 (SIN-SYD)
Ticket 4 - Sector 1 (SYD-SIN)

A little confusing but trying to take seasonality out of the price of the airfare....

[trooper]

My understanding is that the only time nesting is seen as "naughty" is when it is used to circumvent fare rules.... Saturday night stay etc..

Clearly your travel is doing nothing of the sort......

Add me to the list who "do it"! In my case LAX-AKL-SYDvv nested within SYD-AKL-LAXvv

[chrisb]

Ticket One - Sector One
Ticket Two - Sector One
Ticket Two - Sector Two
Ticket One - Sector Two

I'm sure lots of people do this, especially when a company pays for Ticket One and the employee takes a side trip at their own expense on Ticket2. I did it in December.

[dajop]

circumvent fare rules.... Saturday night stay etc..

Wow that statement brings back memories. It's been a while since we've had those sort of rules (at least domestically) in Australia. I guess in some places they're still the way of doing business ......