Nested Return Flights

Question

I am currently in Europe and have the following flight scheme:

1. Europe → USA (September)
2. USA → Europe (Christmas)
3. Europe → USA (January '15)
4. USA → Europe (July '15)

First, does it make a difference which combination of returns I book? (That is, (1+4), (2+3) versus (1+2), (3+4).) Say I would like to keep two flights open right now (3, 4) – is there anything I can do without paying the huge additional price of business class or similar?

Second, is there anything else I should think about? I'll try to book all four flights with the same frequent flyer program – any other hints?

Answer 1

What you are describing is called Nested or Back-to-Back ticketing.

Many airlines will have policies against back-to-back ticketing, but ONLY when it's used to circumvent ticket conditions.

For example, if your ticket had a minimum stay of 7 days, and you used back-to-back ticketing to return 3 days later, then this would be a violation of the conditions for many airlines.

Given the time ranges involved in your example, it seems unlikely that any ticket conditions would be in play here, so I would not expect you to have any problems. Even then, I've never heard of an airline taking any action for a single abuse of back-to-back ticketing, even when it was against ticket conditions.

However what doesn't make much sense to me is that you're saying that you want to keep flights 3 and 4 open. The best way to achieve this is to simply not book those flights now! Book flights 1 and 2 now (as a simple return ticket), and then when you know the dates for flights 3 and 4, book those (again, as a return ticket).