Already flying to Paris... but now i'm going to Canada as well

[andrewlorien]

Hello frequent flying friends.
I have a question which i don't think i can answer just by searching flight sites.

My partner and i have return tickets to Paris already booked for a three week trip in October.
She's just been offered a work trip to Prince Edward Island, less than two weeks before the Europe trip. I'm going to go with her, on my own dollar. So our default position is : fly to canada and back (10 days or so), home for 10 days, then fly to Paris for three weeks. Time off work is no problem, she works for herself and i have lots of leave in the bank.

We fly economy, we're Virgin Gold, we have enough points to stay gold this year but not enough to pay for any of the international legs. The Paris trip is Etihad (booked through one of the cheap online resellers a few months ago, around $1500), we haven't bought the Canada tickets yet.

So.
If there was a cheap-ish way of joining the two trips together we'd do it. But I think if we forfeit the Sydney-Paris leg of that trip, we forfeit the return ticket too (is that true??). And although a one-way ticket from Toronto to Paris is pretty cheap, a one-way ticket from Sydney to Toronto makes the difference negligible. If we knew about both trips a few months ago it would have been (finally) a chance to buy a round-the-world ticket, but that's too expensive now.

Any good ideas, or should i just buy two return tickets to Toronto or Vancouver before they get more expensive?

thanks,
andrew

 

[MikeeB]

G'day,

I would probably be taking a look at the cancellation policy of the re-seller you purchased your tickets through. Etihad themselves have a cancellation/refund fee of $10USD which isn't too bad.

Without exact dates that you would like to be travelling on it's a little tricky, but there seems to be plenty of availability around the $3200AUD mark for economy fares SYD-DXB-YYZ (Emirates) STOP YYZ-DUB-CDG (Aer Lingus) STOP CDB-DXB-SYD. The tricky bit is finding a one way from Toronto via Paris and finally back to Sydney on the cheap for your significant other, these all come in almost at the same price as the round trip mentioned previously! Perhaps see if the work trip would be willing to subsidise a portion of the same itinerary instead of organizing flights to Prince Edward Island themselves?

Anyway, all that only works if you can get the original tickets cancelled/refunded.

Hope that is of some help to you. In any case, enjoy yourself, wish I was going too!

Cheers

 

[andrewlorien]

Thanks Mike.
Turns out the return to Paris can't be changed or cancelled. Which means we have to show up for the first leg, or lose the whole thing. Should have paid the extra $50 to book it directly through Etihad... maybe i have come to the time in my career where it's worth buying more flexible tickets.

So we're going to fly to Canada and back, then Paris and back, with a week at home in between, which will cost nearly $2000 more than putting a puppet in the seat of the first leg to Paris. Lots of reading and movie watching time for us!

 

[MikeeB]

It's a jetsetter's life

 

[Quickstatus]

Hello frequent flying friends.
I have a question which i don't think i can answer just by searching flight sites.

My partner and i have return tickets to Paris already booked for a three week trip in October.
She's just been offered a work trip to Prince Edward Island, less than two weeks before the Europe trip. I'm going to go with her, on my own dollar. So our default position is : fly to canada and back (10 days or so), home for 10 days, then fly to Paris for three weeks. Time off work is no problem, she works for herself and i have lots of leave in the bank.

We fly economy, we're Virgin Gold, we have enough points to stay gold this year but not enough to pay for any of the international legs. The Paris trip is Etihad (booked through one of the cheap online resellers a few months ago, around $1500), we haven't bought the Canada tickets yet.

So.
If there was a cheap-ish way of joining the two trips together we'd do it. But I think if we forfeit the Sydney-Paris leg of that trip, we forfeit the return ticket too (is that true??). And although a one-way ticket from Toronto to Paris is pretty cheap, a one-way ticket from Sydney to Toronto makes the difference negligible. If we knew about both trips a few months ago it would have been (finally) a chance to buy a round-the-world ticket, but that's too expensive now.

Any good ideas, or should i just buy two return tickets to Toronto or Vancouver before they get more expensive?



thanks,
andrew

If you had booked one part of your itinerary via a bricks and mortar Travel agent, it may be possible to later add a flight or more to that booking. Depends on the flights, airline chosen and the travel agent. Not flight center. Changing the existing itinerary is a different matter.

If you booked a return flight you cannot use the return leg without first using the outbound leg. If you don't turn up for your outbound leg they will cancel your entire ticket.

The best ticket to get for your itinerary would be a round the world, but you are stuck with a return ticket.
What is the cost of cancellation of your Paris return ticket -this will inform you about the pros and cons of 2 returns via Sydney or a RTW

The other option will be to change the date of the outbound SYD-CDG flight. So you still have a (modified) SYD-CDG-SYD. Then get a CDG-YYZ-CDG.

There are 2 flights a day on Air Canada between CDG and YYZ. Start a Krisflyer account to get krisflyer points on AC flights then convert it back to VA points.

 

[andrewlorien]

The return to Paris was only $1500. The return to Canada is $2200. So all up, we've only spent $3700 - it would be hard to book a new series of flights right now for less, and it would not be worth cancelling the Paris trip.
It's just that dumb thing where if it was the other way around - if we were going to Canada second, we could almost certainly just default on the return trip and fly to Canada. Save $800 each, two days less travelling time, and a free week to have fun in Canada. But there are good reasons to come home, and we kind of like being on planes...

 

[Quickstatus]

The return to Paris was only $1500. The return to Canada is $2200. So all up, we've only spent $3700 - it would be hard to book a new series of flights right now for less, and it would not be worth cancelling the Paris trip.
It's just that dumb thing where if it was the other way around - if we were going to Canada second, we could almost certainly just default on the return trip and fly to Canada. Save $800 each, two days less travelling time, and a free week to have fun in Canada. But there are good reasons to come home, and we kind of like being on planes...

What is the cost of changing the outbound date of SYD-CDG flight?.

CDG-YYZ-CDG on AC is about AUD$900 return

 

[andrewlorien]

What is the cost of changing the outbound date of SYD-CDG flight?.

it can't be changed. I hadn't thought of spending $900 and getting a return to Toronto... It's a good idea, that might have been cheaper than a series of one-way tickets or a round-the-world. But since changing the CDG flight means re-booking it (and it's only a month away now), it's not worth it.

 

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