argh i messed up on booking dhs flights!

[eagle]

about a month ago i booked some flights for dh to go from rural illinois to tel aviv.

what i didnt notice is was this:

from champaign, il to chicago
at chicago, 20 hour layover
chicago to london.
at london, 23 hour layover
london to tel aviv


tel aviv to london
at london 19 hour layover
london to chicago
at chicago 16 hour layover
chiago to champaign

first, i feel like a COMPLETE idiot that i didnt notice those layovers. i feel like a total country bumpkin. IDIOT. stupid!

we are going to drive 2.5 hours to chicago to skip the champaign <-> chicago flights. no problem. but london will be a problem.

dh noticed the itinerary today and he leaves in 5 days.

im bitching about myself. why did i not look at the itinerary more carefully??

anybody know of any super cheap motels in london? (im only half joking. im looking around right now myself. but i thought id throw this out there just in case...)

anyway, thanks for listening.

i did kind of wonder why travel time seemed like 3 days from chicago to tel aviv. i thought it was maybe weird timing plus the time change. now i know why. its because it is almost 2 days layover both ways!!

[eagle]

also dh has a good friend in london. but guess what? his friend is out of town during this time. bummer.

[eagle]

ooh, there are hotels at heathrow. AND there is a "Japanese-inspired capsule hotel". i would totally book a room there if it was just me and the kid! what a fun experience! (yeah, i am the kind of person that finds that amusing. its just one night)

[TwinFoxes]

Is the Champaign to Chicago a completely separate flight? Because they might not let you skip the first segment.

Don't beat yourself up too much...there are worse places to have a layover than London! :) He might want to get a pass to the airline's club for that day too.

[eagle]

they might not let us skip from champaign to chicago? bc its international?

ugh. im going to have to call i guess! what a mess!!!

[kaharris83]

Be sure to call the airline. If you don't show up for a flight they will cancel the rest of your itinerary. Good luck and I hope you can get it sorted out.

[roseyloxs]

Be sure to call the airline. If you don't show up for a flight they will cancel the rest of your itinerary. Good luck and I hope you can get it sorted out.

:yeahthat:

[TwinFoxes]

they might not let us skip from champaign to chicago? bc its international?



No, because the airlines are insane. I've tried to skip segments before on domestic flights, and it's a royal pain. Don't just not show up, you could be in for a nasty surprise (like a canceled flight, or a higher ticket price). Sorry to be the bearer of bad news...but imagine the bitching post you'd have if his whole trip was canceled!

[eagle]

im sure glad i bitched here. i really was going to simply drop dh off in chicago and book him rooms. i called travelocity and they confirmed that i cant just not have him show up at the champaign "airport" (more like a bus terminal).

it costs $300 to change flights on these particular tickets and travelocity cannot do it. i have to go through british airways and they are not answering their phones, no matter which options i choose on their menus.

this mess is so ugly ugly. and i think we may just end up sticking with that terrible original itinerary. dh is going to HATE me! i wish i could fly for him, i feel so terrible!

[crl]

Oh no. I totally live in terror or booking the wrong days or whatever when I book travel for us. I am sorry!

Catherine

[eagle]

last question.

on the return home

tel aviv to london
at london 19 hour layover
london to chicago
at chicago 16 hour layover
chiago to champaign

can we skip the chicago to champaign flight without penalties, do you think? what happens if you miss the last leg?

[crl]

Dh missed the last leg of his return trip from Okinawa (military booked it as he was returning from an overseas assignment and they insisted on booking him as close as possible to our home which meant a 23 hour layover at an airport two hours away when we hadn't seen each other in four plus months). Of course I just went and picked him up. As far as I know nothing bad happened, the military just paid for a flight he didn't take.

Catherine

[mom2binsd]

Hi neighbor (I'm in Bloom-Normal)....if the Champaign flights are like the one's from here, there is always a chance they cancel the Chicago flights...I know many folks who've had to rent a car/take the bus that the airlines provide.

I wonder if you went to the C-U airport if they'd be able to help.

[kozachka]

I've skipped last leg of a flight with no problem, often it is cheaper to book a ticket to a destination other than your intended and get off at the connecting city. Your DH would need to make sure not to check in luggage on the way back though. Or else the whole flight will be delayed until they find and offload his suitcase/s.

If your DH does not want to go into town, he can sleep at Yotel. It's a good option for a longish layover. Minimum stay is 4 hours. I paid 39 pound for that for my DH two weeks ago, but depends on their availability. I've stayed at one in Amsterdam airport several times and it has nice beds and shower but no shampoo or conditioner. Free wifi, too.

At this point, I'd pay extra $300 and change the flights. Chances are it was a relatively cheap ticket for the itinerary to begin with, and hotels and food will cost more or same at best

In the future you might want to use ITA Software website or app to find best fares. If you chose the right option, you'd see the flights and layovers visually displayed as bars.

[hillview]

you can skip the last leg without an issue

[misshollygolightly]

Noooo! What a pita! I'd probably pay the fee and change the flights. So sorry you're in this predicament!

[nfowife]

You should be able to skip the last leg, and generally when you return to the states from overseas you have to get your luggage and go through customs, then hand it back over. So you would just keep it and leave the airport in Chicago. I did this on a trip back from Italy the military had booked me and wouldn't change and it was not a problem.

[TwinFoxes]

I've never heard of any problem skipping the last leg, I've done that before. I would pay the $300, it's less than I expected honestly this close to the departure. I'm so sorry this happened. Oh, BTW, it's the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebration this weekend, so BA is probably slammed with travelers, and also shorthanded.

Agree about ITA, it will alert you to long layovers.

[candaceb]

When we lived in C-U, we ended up skipping the last leg more often than not because the flight would be canceled and we could drive it quicker than waiting for the next flight!

[lhafer]

Sounds like he needs to catch up on Anthony Bourdain's Layover show!

London Layover (http://www.travelchannel.com/tv-shows/the-layover/episodes/london)

Chicago sights and sounds (http://www.travelchannel.com/video/take-in-chicagos-sights-and-sounds-11433)

Hope he is able to work something out, but if not - hope he has a safe trip!

[eagle]

sorry i wasnt clearer before. its a $300 change fee in addition to changes in the fare.

so i called british airways and they told me that travelocity needs to make the changes (thats not what travelocity told me yesterday, grr). and i called travelocity back and after 45 minutes found out it was going to cost $1300 to drop the champaign to chicago legs. they CAN NOT simply keep everything as is and cut out the champaign <-> chicago parts. maddening.

so my husband agreed that it was better just to keep the ridiculous old itinerary, fly up to chicago and spend the night there, even though we can drive there in 2.5 hours.

ive booked 3 rooms, one in chicago and two in heathrow (one in a yotel!). and i will never again make the mistake of missing the layover hours.

i am driving up to chicago to pick him up for the last leg.

thank you so much! again, i am SO glad i posted here and found out what to do and what NOT to do!

now to see if i can figure out some quick day trips in london. thank you for the bourdain link lhafer! a great place to start!