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I am going back to London at the end of May. I want to buy a BKK to LHR ticket now, while they are quite reasonable. However, I don't know where I will be on that date - I could still be here, or I could be in Thailand for a week's jolly-up before returning to the land of warm beer, cold service and frigid women.

Question 1.
If I book a PNH-BKK-LHR ticket, can I be in BKK on the date of the flight, miss the PNH-BKK leg and still check-in for the BKK-LHR leg. I understand that sometimes a no-show on the first leg is treated as a no-show for the second leg.

Question 2.
If I book a BKK-LHR but am still going to be on PNH on the day of the flight, can I buy a Thai Smile / Airways one-way flight from PNH-BKK and when I check-in at PNH, show them my onward flight from BKK- LHR with Thai Airways and they will check my baggage all the way through to LHR?

I obviously don't want to have to clear immigration and customs in BKK and then have to go to departures, check in, go through security and immigration.

Does anyone have the answers to these two separate questions?

Question 1 - You will need to need to plough through the fare rules attached to your booking. Most cheaper fares will say that you have to fly the sectors in the booked order. There is also the issue for the airlines of the fees they are charged by the government or airport for handling and for departure tax etc. On top of this it may cause problems for the airline in terms of submission of advanced passenger manifest information to whatever authorities may require it.

Question 2 - Almost certainly not.

ur better off buying a separate ticket PNH- Bangkok ( either airport)
and a ticket Bangkok - LHR
question 2; NO WAY

phuketrichard wrote: ↑Fri Mar 31, 2023 2:04 pm ur better off buying a separate ticket PNH- Bangkok ( either airport)
and a ticket Bangkok - LHR
question 2; NO WAY

But then I have the problem of having to clear immigration and check in again in BKK, and I want to avoid that at all costs.

I can't see why I can't check by bag all the way through to LHR at Phnom Penh if I am using Thai Airways/Thai Smile and they can see my onward ticket to LHR from BKK. Unless their systems only show what's on my ticket and nothing more.

Bluenose wrote: ↑Fri Mar 31, 2023 1:47 pm Question 1 - You will need to need to plough through the fare rules attached to your booking. Most cheaper fares will say that you have to fly the sectors in the booked order. There is also the issue for the airlines of the fees they are charged by the government or airport for handling and for departure tax etc. On top of this it may cause problems for the airline in terms of submission of advanced passenger manifest information to whatever authorities may require it.

Question 2 - Almost certainly not.

Q1, I did see that on a ticket of mine once. And wasn't a cheapie ticket, it was London to Bangkok to Sydney and back again. It was upfront, but at a reduced priced (£5400) but less than the full fare. It said if you don't fly a "sector" the remaining sectors are cancelled/void. I thought at the time this seemed extremely harsh.

Q.2 I am still not convinced I can't do it, as long as I use the same airline. I think it depends on what information check on staff at PNH can see on their screens regarding Thai Airways bookings from Bangkok. The worst that can happen is I don't get on board the plane for the BKK-LHR leg and they pull my bags, which is exactly what they would do on a 2-sector ticket if I didn't show up for the second sector.

@PSD-Kiwi You do a bit of flying now and then, what do you think?

bags are ONLY checked thru to the final destination on a fly thru ticket

go on and try

U'sed be be you could buy a SFO- BKK-SFO ticket ( as they were cheap in SF) thru a travel agent
and use the BKK -SFO part first an than the first part second>
times have changed

phuketrichard wrote: ↑Sat Apr 01, 2023 11:00 am bags are ONLY checked thru to the final destination on a fly thru ticket

go on and try

U'sed be be you could buy a SFO- BKK-SFO ticket ( as they were cheap in SF) thru a travel agent
and use the BKK -SFO part first an than the first part second>
times have changed

The problem is that even if they would allow it, it all depends on the check-in staff and the extent or lack of knowledge in the matter. It sounds too risky to try it, especially with a close transfer time.

Looks like a couple of weeks in Thailand before I head for London is on the cards.

Doc67 wrote: ↑Fri Mar 31, 2023 1:14 pm I am going back to London at the end of May. I want to buy a BKK to LHR ticket now, while they are quite reasonable. However, I don't know where I will be on that date - I could still be here, or I could be in Thailand for a week's jolly-up before returning to the land of warm beer, cold service and frigid women.

Question 1.
If I book a PNH-BKK-LHR ticket, can I be in BKK on the date of the flight, miss the PNH-BKK leg and still check-in for the BKK-LHR leg. I understand that sometimes a no-show on the first leg is treated as a no-show for the second leg.

No. Unless you buy a full flex ticket which is never reasonably priced you will be considered a 'no show' in Phnom Penh and the 'No show T&C' will be applied. Generally that means you're bumped for all segments and lose your ticket fee (partly).

Doc67 wrote: ↑Fri Mar 31, 2023 1:14 pm Question 2.
If I book a BKK-LHR but am still going to be on PNH on the day of the flight, can I buy a Thai Smile / Airways one-way flight from PNH-BKK and when I check-in at PNH, show them my onward flight from BKK- LHR with Thai Airways and they will check my baggage all the way through to LHR?

I obviously don't want to have to clear immigration and customs in BKK and then have to go to departures, check in, go through security and immigration.

Does anyone have the answers to these two separate questions?

No, in that case you have to clear immigration and allow for enough time to make the rounds at Suvarnabhumi.

In the old days, tickets were bought through agents, and these agents had access to all sorts of information. These days, the agent is largely non-existent. The downside is that all the work that was second nature for the agent is now the responsibility of the customer.

Most booking systems are actually quite streamlined, and for the majority of customers, it works just fine. For the minority, it seems unnecessarily complex or expensive or inflexible.
For instance, buying a return ticket is easy if your travel dates are known. Quite often, I don’t know for sure what my return date is. All too often, I end up buying two one-way tickets.

Some airlines have pretty good telephone booking systems which don’t have a major impact on price. I’ve often spoken to an emirates human being instead of booking straight off the website. Picking and matching bits of a route. The Pandemic put a nail in the coffin for some of this flexibility, though.

Emirates, Thai and Singapore had offices down near Olympic, I think. Something outside the norm might be best done person to person, if these facilities still exist.

(From Thai airways website, quick search)
https://www.thaiairways.com/en_GB/contact_us/index.page?

Booking pages for airlines are great for some stuff, but flexibility is sacrificed in favour of convenience.

I agree, if flying with the same airline, it should be possible to check all the way through. Thai smile and Thai, you might well be able to do so, even with separate tickets. It depends on the route, too. Such as baggage handling facilities. Bangkok shouldn’t be an issue.
Different sectors operated by different airlines under code sharing or partner airlines usually stays convenient, so long as it’s all on the same ticket. But not always.

Marketing also comes into it. The fare pricing out of PNH via BKK to London could well be cheaper than BKK-LHR. buying the cheaper ticket to circumvent the fare difference will be a factor in why missing a sector is not possible. Airlines and booking systems can be incredibly restrictive if your plans don’t match the norm.

Doc67 wrote: ↑Sat Apr 01, 2023 9:42 am

phuketrichard wrote: ↑Fri Mar 31, 2023 2:04 pm ur better off buying a separate ticket PNH- Bangkok ( either airport)
and a ticket Bangkok - LHR
question 2; NO WAY

But then I have the problem of having to clear immigration and check in again in BKK, and I want to avoid that at all costs.

I can't see why I can't check by bag all the way through to LHR at Phnom Penh if I am using Thai Airways/Thai Smile and they can see my onward ticket to LHR from BKK. Unless their systems only show what's on my ticket and nothing more.

They won't forward luggage when you have multiple tickets. Not even when the tickets are from same airline.