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Skipping a flight on a multi leg trip to save money

We found a great price for a RT trip on Air France to Istanbul from Newark NJ. It has a 16 hour layover in Paris. Since we are taking a two week trip, our daughter asked if we could spend a few days in Paris. She has never been there. Booking a multi-leg trip raises the fare from $700 to $1,600. Flying RT to Paris from Newark is $1,300. A flight from Paris to Istanbul is available from $90. We were thinking of booking the original itinerary through Air France and not taking the Paris to Istanbul flight, staying a few days in Paris and then flying to Istanbul. Will Air France flag our tickets for the return flight for any reason? I tried to explain what we were considering to an agent at Air France to see if it would cause problems but he didn't understand and just wanted to book the $1,600 flight.

I checked Air France reviews and saw that if you are not at the gate at least 30 minutes in advance, they have not allowed people to board even if other people still were. The review said that Air France was not helpful in booking another flight. That makes me feel that it should be OK to not take the second leg of the first flight.

Am I wrong?

Thanks in advance for your input.
Barb J
Allentown PA


Posted by
1219 posts

Yes, you’re wrong. If you do this, you will be registered as a no-show and the remaining flights in your itinerary will automatically be cancelled.

Posted by
4 posts

Thank you all so much. I didn't realize the trouble skipping a flight could cause. I'll go back to looking for good ole cheap flights.

Posted by
362 posts

Did you look at prices for a multi city ticket for just Newark-Paris and Istanbul-Newark? Then buy the $90 ticket Paris-Istanbul separately? I don't know your dates but on Kayak.com for random dates in May I found a United itinerary for about $1100 and a Turkish Air itinerary for about $900. The Turkish Air itinerary takes you Newark-Istanbul-Paris which might seem odd, but a friend of mine actually likes that version in that the flight over to Europe overnight is a bit longer for some rest, TA is a good airline, and the Istanbul airport is new and nice.

Posted by
241 posts

Unfortunely as others have said, if you miss any leg of a flight, the subsequent legs are cancelled. See if you can get an extended layover in Paris. I would call and asked if you can move your Paris>Istanbul leg over a day and treat it as a long layover. Some airlines allow you to create a stopover for no extra charge. Also look at nearby airports. I wish you luck!

Posted by
4 posts

There is a reasonable flight on Aer Lingus RT to Paris. The layovers are short. We can fly to Istanbul from Paris for a few days and then return to Paris for our return trip home. The layovers with Air France were lengthy so I don't think this plan will take us any longer.

Thank you all for keeping us out of trouble.

Posted by
13809 posts

"The layovers are short."

How short are the layovers and at which airport/s?

Posted by
241 posts

It’s air lingus so the layovers are in Dublin. On the bright side when you fly through Dublin, you go through US boarder control in Dublin so when you get to Newark, you’ll be able to walk right off the plane and out of the airport

Posted by
4 posts

The layover in Dublin on the way over is 1:45 and on the way back, 2 hours. The on time arrival from Newark is poor, 51% and 25% of the flights arrive extremely late. I hope we make the connecting flight to Paris. I checked reviews and Aer Lingus has more than complaints than I expected. Not sure that is was a wise choice but the price was right. .

Posted by
182 posts

Look at Turkish Airlines. Book a multi city itinerary. EWR to IST then IST to CDG then CDG to IST then IST to EWR. This makes Paris your “final destination” and Istanbul your “stopover”. This usually works out to be a great price. You will have to go back to Istanbul to change flights, but very worth it. On the Turkish Airlines website, click on multi city itinerary and plug in all the cities and dates to get the airfare. Doesn’t usually matter if you stay in Istanbul for a few days then fly to Paris or if you go to Paris same day you arrive in Istanbul.