Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
This web page contains the most frequently asked questions.
- Why can you offer tickets in first class with around 70 % discount?
- What is the "price" that I will have to pay for such
rock-bottom fares?
- Will I not get problems with the airline I intend flying with?
- May I start my journey in my home country by not using the first
coupon?
- In which class am I booked? May I do stop overs on-route?
- Will I receive miles/bonus point with such deep discount tickets?
- Is there anything else I need to know about?
Due to the fact that most network carriers discriminate their customers in
the carriers home country, we find ways to buy tickets
for you in countries
where the airlines offer cheaper prices.
All you have to do in order to profit from those fares is to start your
journey in such a country.
The only "price", your
opportunity costs, are 1 1/2 days of your valuable time.
You will have to fly from your home town to the starting point of the final
journey. We call this starting point "country X". It is necessary
that you stay one night in country X from where you will start your trip the
day after.
Please understand that first off all, that we do not mention the name of
country X on our web pages as it is part of our knowledge to find such places.
If you do not want to stay overnight in country
X, we have another solution
for you. There is also the possibility to start your journey in another
country. In this case, all you need to do is a transit in country
X. However,
there is no need to stay there overnight nor will you need a visa in this
latter case. For more details on this topic, please see here,
why we recommend you to fly with Emirates or Qatar Airways in this case.
Not at all! First of all, it is not
illegal flying from another country. Second, the airline staff is not even
interested, from which country your journey starts, neither do they usually
know about the price discrepancies. The only staff that is not happy when
Westerners buy their ticket in country X is the airlines country manager from
country X. However, you will not have to deal with the process of buying the
ticket. We will do this for you.
No, it is not allowed not to use the first flight
coupon! The contract between the airline and the customer clearly
says that the passenger must start his journey with the first flight coupon.
This rule applies for most paid tickets, and so does it for your ticket.
If you do not use the first coupon, e.g. from country X to Frankfurt, all
consecutive coupons (e.g. Frankfurt - Singapore) will be cancelled.
If you nevertheless want to start your first class flight in your home
country, the airline will ask you to pay the hefty price difference between
the fare on your ticket and the fare that applies from country x to your final
destination. Hence, you must start the journey with your first class ticket in
country x.
It is a completely different story on the way back. In theory, airlines may
try to force you to pay the above described price difference if you end your
first class journey in the airlines home hub. In some rare cases, we know they
tried to get their money by sending the customer a nasty letter. What
passengers usually do in such cases is either not to react at all or to
involve a lawyer. In practice, what happens is that the airlines cancel the
last segment which the passenger did not use (and not wants to use). By not
using the last sector you can save a lot of time and another overnight stop in
country X.
We will book you in first class (= "a"
class) for transcontinental flights. The flights from country X to
the airlines home base (e.g. Frankfurt in the case of Lufthansa) will be in business
class (= "d" class) if no first class is offered by the
airline.
Flights with Emirates and Qatar are usually in
first class for all segments.
In theory, you may do unlimited stop overs on-route as you are booked in
first class. However, we strongly advice you to tell us in advance on which
destinations you want to do stop overs, as prices of the tickets may differ.
When flying with a European airline (e.g. Swiss), in no case you must not
do a stop over in that carriers home country. In theory you are allowed to do
so but the so-called HIP (highest intermediate point) rule will apply. The HIP
rule means in short: If you want to fly "country x - Zurich - Singapore"
and do a stop over in Zurich, the system will automatically check the "most
expensive part of the ticket" and ask you to pay this difference to the
airline. I.e. if "country X - Singapore" costs 3'000 EUR and if
"Zurich - Singapore" costs 10'000 EUR, thanks to HIP you will have
to pay the difference of 7'000 if you are doing a stop over in Zurich.
To summarize: Stop overs are possible if they
don't happen at the carriers home hub.
You will receive the full amount of miles/bonus
points. If you are not yet a member of the frequent flyer program of
the airline you are flying with, we will gladly assist you in opening an
account for free. Please ask our staff! Remember: One round-trip "country
X - Europe - Asia" will bring you around 30'000 bonus miles, which is
good for at least one European round-trip ticket in economy!
Not that we know. If you have
nevertheless additional questions, please feel free to ask our staff. We are
here for helping you.
