Can my daughter skip her return flight if she extends her trip in Florida?

Q My daughter has a package holiday booked to Florida next April. While she is there, she would like to extend her stay and travel on to Miami and the Bahamas. She would not, therefore, use her return flight to London. Is this OK for her to do?

Sheila M

A You ask a very good question, since in some circumstances failing to show up for one or other of a return flight can have serious and expensive consequences.

I will get to your daughter’s situation in a moment, but let me explain the context first. When someone buys a return flight, they agree to take both the outbound and return legs. If they fail to show up for the first flight, then often airlines will regard the contract as broken and cancel the inbound leg automatically. This happens with “legacy” airlines such as British Airways but I am not aware of the budget carriers, eg easyJet and Ryanair, doing the same: they will normally hold open the return reservation.

The converse, taking the first flight but dispensing with the second, is a long-running tradition. In the bad old days many airlines typically sold return flights staying over a Saturday night for much less than a one-way ticket so it was common practice to buy a round-trip with no intention of using the return leg. The same still applies on some routes.

In theory the airline could pursue the passenger for the difference in fare, but I have not heard of any British carrier doing so.

In your daughter’s case, I cannot imagine that a package holiday company will mind one bit if she does not appear for the return trip. She might, though, want to ask the holiday company if it is possible to defer her return trip on payment of a fee – and use that for returning from Miami/the Bahamas with a connecting flight rather than buy a whole new transatlantic ticket.

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Q Really stupid question, but next week I am flying with easyJet to Berlin. I haven’t flown for ages and am unsure about the airport procedures. I have checked in online and printed off my boarding pass. I will be travelling with hand baggage only. I don’t know whether I have to stop at check-in on my way through to get my documents checked to ensure I’ve properly completed the German passenger locator form?

When I get to the airport can I just go straight through security to departures, or do I need to go to the check-in desk first?

Ursa Minor

A A really good question, and the answer is: it all depends. Anyone checking bags in with the help of a human agent (as opposed to self-service bag drop) is likely to have their paperwork thoroughly examined at that point.

But with cabin baggage only you can still happily go straight through security to departures – just expect to be checked there. To the best of my knowledge, the giant budget airlines, easyJet and Ryanair, are content to check passengers’ documents at the departure gate.

To minimise stress for everyone, though, it’s good to offer to present the documents quite a lot earlier while you are landside if you can find a person to engage with. You usually get a sticker or a slip of paper to show you have passed the necessary checks for your destination. There is generally less time pressure than at the gate, and if a discrepancy is identified well in advance there will be scope to do something about it.

You will also have more opportunity – if it is needed – to argue your corner if the airline is finding a fault that you don’t think exists. The converse is that you’re at the gate, the flight is going in five minutes and the ground staff won’t let you board …

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Q British Airways has just cancelled our flights to Orlando on 10 November. Any idea what’s going on?

Name supplied

A The background leading up to this disappointment begins with visitors from the UK, Ireland and Europe’s Schengen Area being banned from travelling to the US – as an apparently short-term Covid measure – in March 2020. Finally, American officials have promised the prohibition will be lifted, for fully vaccinated travellers only, from some time in November.

Maddeningly, with barely a fortnight until that month starts, we still have no idea of when exactly the easing of restrictions will take place. That is extremely stressful for travellers, especially those who are desperate to see loved ones in the US. And for the airlines it presents particular problems. They could schedule flights in the hope that the rules will change on 1 November, as some reports have suggested. If the bet pays off, the carriers can look forward to solid, profitable bookings in a month where demand is traditionally low. But if the White House doesn’t opening things up at the start of November, they run the risk of flying near-empty flights at great cost to themselves – and the environment.

British Airways clearly believes the chance of an early restart is slim. It has delayed the restart of routes to Orlando – as well as nearby Tampa, and Las Vegas – by two weeks to 15 November.

I asked BA about this, and a spokesperson told me: “Like other airlines, due to the current coronavirus pandemic and global travel restrictions we are operating a reduced and dynamic schedule.”

For disappointed passengers like you, I trust the airline pointed out its obligation under European air passengers’ rights rules to offer you an alternative flight on a different airline rather than simply providing a refund.

Meanwhile, with every day that elapses without a decision from the US, you can expect more and more flights to be cancelled on all airlines serving Florida.

As with the UK government’s promise to remove the need for PCR tests after arrival “in October”, such broad timeframes become ever more frustrating the closer you get.

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Q I am hoping to travel to Ibiza in a couple of weeks, probably around 27 October for four or five days, returning on 31 October or 1 November. I can fly to and from any London airport. But I have noticed two things: first, easyJet and Ryanair have flights out but not back; second, fares are ridiculously high for my preferred return dates, especially on Sunday 31 October.

Anthony W

A The last Saturday in October marks the end of the official IATA summer season in the northern hemisphere, coinciding with the clock change in the UK and many other places. It is typically the final day before airlines such as easyJet and Ryanair – along with British Airways – drastically trim their Mediterranean flights. They either reconfigure to a network more attuned to business, family visits and city breaks, or (especially during the coronavirus panic) simply park their planes.

There is no compulsion for airlines to align any changes with the end of “official summer”, but they often do.

On Saturday 30 October 12 Ibiza-London flights are scheduled: seven on British Airways, two each on easyJet and Ryanair, and one on Jet2. A week later, there is only one, on BA.

Which leads to the answer to your second question. Fares are high because the final weekend of October is when many families are returning from the half-term holiday. On Sunday 31 October easyJet and Ryanair have taken themselves out of the picture, leaving lots of passengers to chance very limited seats. One-way fares on Jet2 from Ibiza to Stansted are currently at €615 (£530) for a flight of just two hours, 40 minutes.

Some of the demand is spilling over from Sunday to Monday 1 November, again with just Jet2 and British Airways fighting it out for your business but with fares around £300.

If you can possibly schedule for a full week later, please do. Only BA will be flying, but your trip will be much cheaper.

Email your questions to s@hols.tv or tweet @Simon Calder