Cross booking
The cross-booking (Engl. Cross ticketing ) is a savings method in booking air tickets , is booked in for the return flight, when in fact only one route is flown and will have deliberately forfeited a portion of the ticket. In this way, the passenger saves costs compared to an often much more expensive normal flight. By buying tickets with data that crosses over each other, the minimum length of stay at the destination should be avoided.
use cases
In the case of a cross booking (also known as a cross ticket, cross flight, English: back-to-back ticket), two or more bookings are nested in one another. This method is used to take advantage of cheaper transport tariffs.
Normal booking for 2 trips on 2 dates between the same locations A and B:
- Booking 1: outbound flight appointment 1 A → B, return flight appointment 1 B → A
- Booking 2: outbound flight appointment 2 A → B, return flight appointment 2 B → A
In the case of cross-booking, the second booking is made in the opposite direction - the outbound flight of the second booking is actually the return flight from the first date:
- Booking 1: outbound flight appointment 1 A → B, return flight appointment 2 B → A
- Booking 2: outbound flight appointment 1 B → A, return flight appointment 2 A → B
With some airlines, flights where the return flight is shortly after the outbound flight are more expensive than if the return flight is several days later. This method increases the distance to the return flight, especially on business trips, which can lead to significantly lower tariffs.
A second variant of cross-over bookings is to book two outward and return flights, of which only one part of the route is used on a desired date:
- Booking 1: outbound flight any date A → B (will not be started), return flight date 1 B → A
- Booking 2: outbound flight date 1 A → B, return flight any date 1 B → A (will not be started),
This method uses special offers where two flights are cheaper than one flight with a regular fare.
Airlines have tried to make cross-booking more difficult by refusing to return if the outbound flight is not taken. This has been considered inadmissible in various court rulings in Germany.
Cross ticketing
As air tickets for the return flight (Engl. Return ticket ) are often cheaper (Engl. As a simple way ticket one way ticket ) concerns such a cost advantage for the passenger . Of course, the airline can not force the passenger to take his return flight. However, problems arise if the passenger only wants to use the return ticket without using the outbound ticket first.
Another shopping tactic used by passengers aims to circumvent the required minimum length of stay at the holiday destination with certain offer prices. If the price differences are worthwhile, the passenger buys two very cheap round-trip tickets with a prescribed minimum length of stay, but only uses the outward ticket of one and the return ticket of the other outward and return flight. The customer lets a one-way ticket and a return ticket expire and can still save money.
With their pricing, airlines try to continue to charge business travelers who are dependent on a quick return flight at the more expensive normal tariff, while at the same time they try to open up new customer groups among tourists with special offers, who they want to block from business customers with the required minimum stay. The airlines also adjust their ticket prices to the purchasing power and the competitive situation in the individual countries served, which leads to considerable regional price differences that attentive customers want to use in their favor.
The airlines tried to defend themselves against the savings efforts of their customers to use cross ticketing to undermine the minimum length of stay and thus the tariff system of the airlines by stipulating in their general terms and conditions and in their conditions of carriage that the return ticket would lose its validity if the Outbound flight was not taken. In 2007, however, the Frankfurt am Main District Court decided in one case (Ref .: 31 C 2972 / 05-74) that such clauses in the General Terms and Conditions are to be assessed as "surprising" and therefore not applicable. Therefore, airlines now explicitly point out when booking that the booked flights must be used in the order booked. The ticket for the second part of the flight becomes invalid if the first part of the flight is not taken, or the airline can automatically cancel the return flight if the outbound flight is not taken. However, the Federal Court of Justice ruled in 2010 that such a clause disproportionately disadvantages passengers contrary to the requirements of good faith, so that a ban on cross ticketing in the terms and conditions is ineffective (Ref .: Xa ZR 101/09). A refusal by the airline to transport passengers (with regard to the return flight) can therefore even result in claims for reimbursement and compensation.
example
The following flight days are desired for a flight from Frankfurt am Main to Dresden:
- Outbound flight: on the 9th of the month
- Return flight: on the 10th of the month
- A regular booking of this return flight combination costs 345 euros
In order to save money, the regular flight combination is not booked with the cross-booking, but two return flight tickets at the promotional price, which in this example stipulates a minimum stay of 5 days:
- Booking 1, special price € 77:
- Outbound flight on the 3rd of the month (the exact date does not matter, as long as it is at least 5 days before the return flight)
- Return flight on the 10th of the month
- Booking 2, special price € 77:
- Outbound flight on the 9th of the month
- Return flight on the 15th of the month (the exact date does not matter, as long as it is at least 5 days after the outbound flight)
Only the outbound flight from booking 2 and the return flight from booking 1 are now taken. The other 2 flights expire unused. In this way, the prescribed minimum length of stay at the destination is avoided. Due to the promotional prices, this example still saves € 191.
Cross border selling
Cross border selling is the booking of a flight that consists of several consecutive flights. However, the passenger plans to use only part of the flight route when shopping. Here cheap prices are used which are available for another market, e.g. B. abroad, are intended.
example
A cheap flight in Business Class for € 4,000 goes from Cairo via Frankfurt am Main to São Paulo. The German customer books this flight, which is offered by the airline at a low price in order to win customers in Cairo, but only wants to fly from Frankfurt to Sao Paulo. The more expensive alternative would be a regular return flight from Frankfurt am Main to São Paulo for 6,000 euros.
swell
- ↑ Cross-over bookings: Return flights are also possible without an outbound flight . In: SPIEGEL ONLINE . September 15, 2006. Retrieved May 10, 2011.
- ↑ BGH decision: Cross ticketing is allowed . In: European Consumer Center Germany . April 2010. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved March 2, 2016.
- ^ LG Düsseldorf, judgment of September 25, 2015 - Az .: 22 S 79/15