China Airlines using married segments on TPE to AKL

[Familyman1]

China Airlines' flight from TPE to AKL has a stop in BNE. There is good award seat availability in J with Qantas points in July 2024 for TPE to AKL but not for TPE to BNE (i.e. the same flight). I'm assuming this is a married segments issue. I'm after 2 seats in J from TPE to BNE. Does anyone know if I would get away with booking TPE to AKL seats and asking at check in if I can leave the flight in BNE.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

China Airlines' flight from TPE to AKL has a stop in BNE. There is good award seat availability in J with Qantas points in July 2024 for TPE to AKL but not for TPE to BNE (i.e. the same flight). I'm assuming this is a married segments issue. I'm after 2 seats in J from TPE to BNE. Does anyone know if I would get away with booking TPE to AKL seats and asking at check in if I can leave the flight in BNE.

If you have bags? Not likely. If you don’t have bags you could just get off the plane in Sydney. I’d advise the crew you weren’t feeling well so they could contact ground staff to ‘offload’ you. Otherwise there could be a delay looking for you.

While not illegal, this could be considered a breach of the terms and conditions of the frequent flyer program. If redeeming miles though China Airlines this could see your account suspended. If this was through Qantas and China Airlines bothered to follow up you could also be in trouble there. Although given you aren’t feeling well and are doing this as a ‘one off’ you’ll probably be ok.

 

[AIRwin]

If you don’t have bags you could just get off the plane in Sydney

Brisbane not Sydney

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Saying you are not well can open a bigger can of worms.
Worst if they assume you have covid.
With the world just coming out of covid, you don't want or need the angst of "trouble", but that is just my pov.
Or if they call you an ambulance.
Use the full points (if you have it) to AKL, and then buy an el cheapo JQ flight back to BNE.
That is what I would do.

 

[justinbrett]

It’s not actually a married segment, because TPE to AKL is sold as a single segment. TPE to BNE and BNE to AKL are also sold as individual segments in parallel, but a certain number of seats (likely the vast majority) will be reserved for all through pax.

It could be considered even more strict than a married segment, as it’s not a matter of decoupling the segments, there is only one.

 

[jase05]

It’s not actually a married segment, because TPE to AKL is sold as a single segment. TPE to BNE and BNE to AKL are also sold as individual segments in parallel, but a certain number of seats (likely the vast majority) will be reserved for all through pax.

It could be considered even more strict than a married segment, as it’s not a matter of decoupling the segments, there is only one.

Yeah, it’s an interesting one.
Pre Covid we did the BNE-AKL return trip in J and I reckon J was half full at best. I wonder what loads are like for the respective legs in all classes and whether the bulk are only travelling between Australia and Taiwan.

 

[Familyman1]

While not illegal, this could be considered a breach of the terms and conditions of the frequent flyer program.

Thanks for the warning MEL_Traveller, and for the other replies. It's a shame it is not a safe option to skip the BNE-AKL leg because the points required to fly TPE-BNE-ALK versus TPE-BNE are identical and the fees are very similar.
Do you think it would be a similar situation to not taking the last flight of a multisector Oneworld reward booking? I have heard of people doing this without consequence.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Thanks for the warning MEL_Traveller, and for the other replies. It's a shame it is not a safe option to skip the BNE-AKL leg because the points required to fly TPE-BNE-ALK versus TPE-BNE are identical and the fees are very similar.
Do you think it would be a similar situation to not taking the last flight of a multisector Oneworld reward booking? I have heard of people doing this without consequence.

It can be the same, or different. If the last flight is standalone, and not married, etc… you can jump off. No need to complete. In fact you should probably schedule that flight for a few months down the track and have a freebie!

But if the last flight is married, or a single flight like TPE-AKL, same issues apply if you are trying to circumvent prescribed availability.

 

[jpp42]

Do you have an Australian passport? If so, they will let you in, but if some other passport I would be concerned because you would not be in the Australian immigration system as planning to enter Australia. You also may not have paid the correct charges to disembark at Brisbane, given it was supposed to be a through flight only. Either of these might cause Border Force at BNE to question your status back to the airline and possibly cause them to investigate, etc. I'm not sure the worst case scenario given you are a QFF member and not a China Airlines member, but it's definitely not something I would be keen on doing for an international flight.

 

[Familyman1]

Thanks for the advice. I'll plan an alternative stategy (I think I have just found one).

 

[Optics]

China Airlines' flight from TPE to AKL has a stop in BNE. There is good award seat availability in J with Qantas points in July 2024 for TPE to AKL but not for TPE to BNE (i.e. the same flight). I'm assuming this is a married segments issue. I'm after 2 seats in J from TPE to BNE. Does anyone know if I would get away with booking TPE to AKL seats and asking at check in if I can leave the flight in BNE.

Can I ask if you booked this with QF points?

I am having a similar issue with returning from Rome to Mel. I can book QF award flight FCO to HKG (via TPE) and can then book HKG to MEL (again via (TPE). Alternatively, I can book FCO to TPE but I can't book TPE to MEL. The QF site Multi-city tool won't even allow TPE as an option to start a Classic Awards flight.

 

[Familyman1]

Can I ask if you booked this with QF points?

I am having a similar issue with returning from Rome to Mel. I can book QF award flight FCO to HKG (via TPE) and can then book HKG to MEL (again via (TPE). Alternatively, I can book FCO to TPE but I can't book TPE to MEL. The QF site Multi-city tool won't even allow TPE as an option to start a Classic Awards flight.

Yes. I have managed to book FCO to TPE to BNE using Qantas Points and the Multi-city tool this morning. I was also having the problem you are having. It would not allow me to complete the booking. However, I got around this problem by extending my stopover in TPE to over 24 hrs. It works fine then. So I am leaving FCO on 10 July (sorry if that was the flight you were after) and leaving TPE on 12 July. The only problem with this work-around is that it costs 20,500 more points (but no extra in fees/taxes). It's still worth the extra points because the fees/taxes are only 127 Euro per person. You could try a call centre booking to see if the shorter stop-over can be booked - I didn't try this option. It's always so painful ringing the call centre.

 

[Optics]

Yes. I have managed to book FCO to TPE to BNE using Qantas Points and the Multi-city tool this morning. I was also having the problem you are having. It would not allow me to complete the booking. However, I got around this problem by extending my stopover in TPE to over 24 hrs. It works fine then. So I am leaving FCO on 10 July (sorry if that was the flight you were after) and leaving TPE on 12 July. The only problem with this work-around is that it costs 20,500 more points (but no extra in fees/taxes). It's still worth the extra points because the fees/taxes are only 127 Euro per person. You could try a call centre booking to see if the shorter stop-over can be booked - I didn't try this option. It's always so painful ringing the call centre.

Not my date, thanks, I'm in June. Thanks for the tip re stopover, that allows me to at least enter TPE to start the flight. Unfortunately, there now doesn't seem to be any availability TPE-MEL on the relevant dates.