Will I be able to get on another connection flight?

Question

Ok, I want to fly from cincinnati to st. louis but its ALOT cheaper to fly from Louisville to St Louis but there is a connection flight in Cincinnati. Will i be able to purposely miss the connection from Louisville to cincinnati so i can board the flight in cincinnati? Wil i be able to check my bags in Cincinnati or will i have to check my bags in Louisville because thats where the flight starts? Its probably a little confusing and i apologize about that but the flight is probably about $200 cheaper to book from Louisville.

Answer 1

Previous posters are correct, it is expressly forbidden in the contract of carriage, and if you do not show up for one leg of the trip, all subsequent legs will be canceled and you will have no recourse for any refund.  The airlines are sneakier than you ;)

However, I will say that if you can get a ride to Louisville for the outbound flight, on the way home you can get off in Cincinnati and they *probably* won't come after you for the difference in fare.  And since it's only the last leg of the journey that you'd be missing, there are no subsequent legs to cancel.  I did it once on Paris-Zürich-Bombay-Zürich[-Paris].  Of course you would have to ask them to only check your bags through to Cincinnati, which would get you some funny looks.

One last thing, if you buy a ticket for SDF-CVG-STL-CVG-SDF, they are only obligated to transport you from Louisville to St. Louis and back.  They could route you through Atlanta instead of Cincinnati for any number of reasons.  If the plane breaks they could put you on Northwest, changing in Detroit.

Answer 2

No, your seat on the connecting flight (from Cincinnati) will be cancelled when you do not show up in Louisville.

They'll probably make you purchase another ticket. Sorry..

Answer 3

Hi, you can not miss your connection and connect to a different city, especially if you have a non refundable ticket. What most of us do not understand is that when we purchase a ticket, it is not just for any flight, your ticket is like a contracted fare with something attached to it called a fare basis code. That code gives all the regulations on that particular fare like 14 day advance notice, no re-routes, etc....

Once you miss your connection , you may jeopardize the validity of your return ticket.