Cheaper Fares by flying from AMS or DUB

Glad it works!

Remember although it's called the Amsterdam trick, other European hubs work just as well and may be cheaper. Brussels is often a good one and Dublin, Frankfurt, Copenhagen, Oslo and Barcelona can work too. If you've got time, shop around!

Last summer I had to cut a family holiday in Tuscany short by a couple of days to attend an urgent meeting in Shanghai, as I was looking for an UC fare with only 3 days before departure fares were coming back £4500+ [plus I was losing my return flight and having to pay for a new flight back to the UK] ---- looked on Expedia for flights back from Pisa to the UK and while playing with options typed Shanghai as the destination --- came back at £1800 including the business class flight with BA back to LHR, - the "Pisa trick" was a great result and softened the blow of losing a few days holiday

Just seen that this could save me about £5k for a family trip to LA next year so have a couple of questions for those that have done the Amsterdam (or Pisa!!!) routing...

If you choose the AMS-LHR leg for the day before (to maximise CH time) are you able to use DTCI at LHR the next day?

Also, how much time would you allow between your LHR-AMS flight (one way ticket) and returning back?

Good question about DTCI - I don't know for sure, but don't see why not. It's not unusual for passengers transiting through LHR to require an overnight stay before an early flight after all.

In theory you could get straight back on the plane that brought you to AMS, as arriving & departing passengers aren't segregated at Schiphol and you exit straight into the gate area for the return flight. Might raise an eyebrow with the crew and the gate agents though, as no doubt they'll guess exactly what you're up to!

If it were me, I'd give myself at least a couple of hours in Schiphol so it doesn't look too obvious. There's plenty there to occupy you for a few hours, not least an excellent free observation terrace. And of course you can use the BA lounge (not that it's up to much - the food selection's even worse than Servisair at LHR!).

When I have done this I have flown out with KLM and then 2 hours later back on the BA.
KLM are a good airline as long as you avoid the Fokker jets.

Yes you can do DTCI the next day.

At the starting EU airport, I would leave many hours (could make it a day trip), or schedule it so the return is the same aircraft as the outbound, as IMO reduces the risk of missed connections due to delays (if you're delayed going out, the return flight on the same aircraft will also be delayed. Most of the time!). Just make sure you have printed your BP, or have it on your mobile. BA has a very good app.

[Darren Wheeler]

In these days of miles, tier points runs, couriers etc. etc. I very much doubt the crew will comment or even care. It may even be that the return crew are different as hours have been reached.

The OP raises an interesting point: we're always given dire warnings about not missing the initial leg as doing so invalidates the entire ticket.

But is there actually any evidence that that's the case - particularly if the short haul and long haul legs are on different airlines?

Was the OP just lucky or have they stumbled on a useful loophole?

Anyone care to test it?!!

Quite. Recently on the dreaded BA flyertalk board there was someone who asked this question and actually put it to the test (as I recall, he had two tickets for the leg in question, for some reason). All of the knowledgable experts preached catastrophe, but sure enough he got away with it.

I'm not advocating trying it, though!

In theory you could get straight back on the plane that brought you to AMS, as arriving & departing passengers aren't segregated at Schiphol and you exit straight into the gate area for the return flight. Might raise an eyebrow with the crew and the gate agents though, as no doubt they'll guess exactly what you're up to!

I noticed this when doing an ex AMS to LAS a few weeks ago. On disembarking there's no segregation so we could have milled around for a few minutes & boarded the same plane back! As it happened we were booked on a flight a couple of hours later so simply went to the BA lounge. All so easy as we didn't even exit landside so no immigration or anything.