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    • August 27, 2008

    Don’t Get Caught By High “Minimum Stay” Airline Ticket Pricing

    Filed under: ABC News — Rick Seaney @ 2:00 pm

    No time to read my ABCNews.com column on getting around higher airline ticket prices caused by pesky Minimum Stay requirements?

    No problem, the highlights are right here:

    • “Minimum Stay” rule is back on almost half of all “legacy airline” roundtrip airfares - and business travelers, and those taking quick trips during the week — hate it.
    • Many cheaper legacy airline roundtrip airfares require at least a one night stay (no day hops), but most require 2 or 3 days overnight, or even a Saturday night - especially on European trips!
    • Airlines call this “fencing in” business travelers who pay up to 5 times the price of flexible leisure travelers

    What can travelers to avoid these restrictions?

    1. Seems simple, but if possible, try to include another day or weekend when you search for airfare - maybe you can fly the “night before” to pick up another day and be fresh for your meeting (plus, that extra hotel night will likely be cheaper)
    2. Checkout lower cost airlines like Southwest, AirTran, jetBlue and even hybrids like US Airways that have one-way airfare structures where minimum stay rules can’t be imposed
    3. Caveat #2, when checking lower cost airline sites, try doing two one-way queries (2 separate tickets) because their systems may be programmed to raise prices on each leg, sinceyou told it your intent on buying a return ticket
    4. Have your boss spring for 2 airline tickets for you and your spouse — that will be cheaper than the one more expensive ticket without the Saturday night stay, for instance — and you can bring along the significant other (”other” can leave on Friday to meet you during that “Saturday night stay” weekend); have a fun weekend on the company’s dime
    5. Buyer Beware - those that take the same trip week after week should Google the term “back-to-back ticketing” - Airlines may have a policy on this so check your airline’s contract of carriage.
    « Even Celebrities Complain About the High Cost of Flying   Back to Basics and Core Values »

    2 Comments »

    1. Back-to-back ticketing is strictly forbidden by most airlines but here’s a variation that is as foolproof as it is simple: fly two different airlines that are not partners.

      There is no way that two different airlines that are not mileage plan partners are going to have any inkling of your plans. And in the extremely unlikely scenario that they find out and take action, the privacy suit that the passenger could initiate against the airlines or third parties who divulged the information would outweigh any repercussions the airline could initiate against the passenger for violating their contract of carriage.

      Example using the following dates:

      Sept 15 Monday
      Sept 18 Thursday
      Sept 22 Monday
      Sept 25 Thursday

      Jane lives in San Francisco. She has two consecutve Mon-Thur business trips in New York. Minimum stay rules require a Saturday night stay in order to qualify for a low fare (in addition to advance purchase requirements). She buys two round-trip tickets as follows:

      American Airlines SFO-JFK, Mon Sept 15
      American Airlines JFK-SFO, Thu Sept 25

      United Airlines JFK-SFO, Thu Sept 18
      United Airlines SFO-JFK, Mon Sept 22

      Bon voyage!

      Comment by Greg Fischer — August 28, 2008 @ 1:56 pm

    2. Another way to help avoid the higher cost of 1-2 day “out and back” trips is to plan for one other stop, thus triangulaing the trip
      (Day one - Home to stop 1;
      Day two - stop 1 to stop 2;
      Day three - Stop 2 to home.)
      And usually this not only helps avoid the higher out and back rates, but your overall cost per stop/trip goes down as well, sometimes significantly.

      My boss frequently uses back to back with one airline, and though their policy strictly forbids it, he has only been called on it a couple times. In both cases he has said, “Fine, I have many airlines to choose from. I’m sure you don’t want to lose me over an this.” In both cases after supervisors huddled in the back room, someone came out and said, “Okay, Mr. Johnson. Enjoy your flight.”

      The downside of back to backs using two different airlines is the dilution of frequent flier miles that occurs. So I make sure I’m on pace to make my Elite status before “yielding” too much to these.

      Davce

      Comment by David Viland — August 30, 2008 @ 10:34 am

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