Transit on a multi city ticket

hank_scorpio

Newbie
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Dec 23, 2021
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Hi all,

I'm about to book a multi city trip that starts with Melbourne > Frankfurt via Colombo. Last week it showed me this as one flight with 2 legs. For example:

Flight 1: MEL > CMB Economy classic reward, 90 min layover, CMB > FRA Business classic reward. (both flights with Sri Lankan Airlines)

Unfortunately when I searched MEL > FRA again today, it's not showing any availability for classic rewards seats. However, if I break them out as two seperate flights in the multi city search tool both flights they show up again. It's displayed as:

Flight 1: MEL > CMB Economy classic reward
Flight 2: CMB > FRA Business classic reward

If I book this way will I be able to just transit in Colombo and check my bags all the way through from Melbourne to Frankfurt. I want to avoid having to go through customs and collect my bag then check in for my 2nd flight in Colombo, particularly given the layover is only 90mins.
 
Not sure when you are going but I would be wary of transiting Sri Lanka right now. The economic situation is dire, the country is bankrupt and there are ships full of fuel waiting to dock because the cargoes have not been paid for.

Sri Lankan is a state owned carrier and I worry about their financial state. I’d worry about them going under, or being unable to pay for fuel, and your tickets evaporating. These tickets are on points so, in case of cancellation by UL, Qantas will probably just give you your points back, and only rebook you into available reward space.

Good luck and I hope you have good travel insurance.
 
Not sure when you are going but I would be wary of transiting Sri Lanka right now. The economic situation is dire, the country is bankrupt and there are ships full of fuel waiting to dock because the cargoes have not been paid for.

Sri Lankan is a state owned carrier and I worry about their financial state. I’d worry about them going under, or being unable to pay for fuel, and your tickets evaporating. These tickets are on points so, in case of cancellation by UL, Qantas will probably just give you your points back, and only rebook you into available reward space.

Good luck and I hope you have good travel insurance.
Travel insurance may not even cover this… depends how they treat it and whether it is a known (pre-existing) event, etc.
 
Travel insurance may not even cover this… depends how they treat it and whether it is a known (pre-existing) event, etc.
Yeah it's definitely a good point and something that has been on my mind. I did a search today to see what insurance policies cover airline insolvency and it looks like there are a few. RACV seems to be one of the better options at first glance, but I'll have a proper look when I have more time.
 
It probably will not happen for a while but the new Sri Lankan PM has said that he wants to sell off Sri Lankan Airlines. Of course he is just as likely to be out of office before he has a chance to do anything.

 
It probably will not happen for a while but the new Sri Lankan PM has said that he wants to sell off Sri Lankan Airlines. Of course he is just as likely to be out of office before he has a chance to do anything.

Interesting. My inherent optimism is leading me to think that the government will try to ensure it stays alive until it can be sold off. Time will tell I guess.
 
Yeah it's definitely a good point and something that has been on my mind. I did a search today to see what insurance policies cover airline insolvency and it looks like there are a few. RACV seems to be one of the better options at first glance, but I'll have a proper look when I have more time.

This won't really apply because your "purchase" is with Qantas, not Sri Lankan. Qantas will honour their commitment by refunding your points if Sri Lankan flights are cancelled, regardless of the reason. I don't think travel insurance will cover this situation as their goal is to make sure you are whole, not to ensure that you can travel. So you can't do something like book a cash business fare (in lieu of the cancelled flight where you got points back), and expect insurance to help.
 
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Just curious why you're flying Sri Lankan to Frankfurt. Surely there are other OneWorld/Emirati carriers that can get you there?

-RooFlyer88
 
Just curious why you're flying Sri Lankan to Frankfurt. Surely there are other OneWorld/Emirati carriers that can get you there?

-RooFlyer88
It was the only decent option to get a reward seat with a business leg that I could find. We’re happy to fly in to almost any city in Europe, we’re ultimately starting our trip in Split, so FRA was just an option that got us close. I left our options wide open & was even looking at departing from BKK and other cities across Asia, but that was seemingly our best option. Everything else involved 3+ legs or economy the whole way.
 
It's great to see you're flexible on routing and final destination. I certainly think you shouldn't have too much issue finding business class awards to Europe. I'm curious, though, if you could comment on when you plan on travelling roughly?

As an aside, here's one award itinerary in J I found flying QF/BA from ADL to ZRH on July 26 in J:
Screen Shot 2022-05-19 at 00.47.58.png

-RooFlyer88
 
It's great to see you're flexible on routing and final destination. I certainly think you shouldn't have too much issue finding business class awards to Europe. I'm curious, though, if you could comment on when you plan on travelling roughly?

As an aside, here's one award itinerary in J I found flying QF/BA from ADL to ZRH on July 26 in J:
View attachment 277745

-RooFlyer88
Thanks so much for looking at this for me, I really appreciate the assistance!
The timing the more restrictive element in our equation. We're trying to leave on the evening of Thursday Aug 25th as my partner has limited leave & only wants to take the Friday off. So we could leave arvo/evening of the 25th or anytime on the 26th, but we'd need to be in Split on Saturday 27th by the afternoon for an event.
 
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