Is it advisable ‘self -consisting’ between flights?

“I’m going to Lebanon and Syria,” Jeroen Van Marle casually announces. (I must emphasize that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs warns against the trip to parts of the first and the entire second). After his visit he will go from Damascus to Berlin.

“While I planned trips, I found offers for ‘self-transference’ tickets that had an attractive price,” says Jeroen. “The best flights were from Damascus through Istanbul to Berlin in Turkish Airlines. But booking through companies like Mytrip and Gotogate was much cheaper, if I was prepared to accept the discomfort of verifying again in Istanbul.”

While I am not the best fan of online travel agents (OTA), I have reserved through Mytrip and Gotogate without undue problems; Mytrip reimbursed a flight canceled quickly and in its entirety.

These Ota exist because airlines want additional sales energy. In a perfect world, Turkish airlines would sell all their tickets directly. But this is not how the aviation business works. The carrier wants to be relevant in the intensely sensitive part of the market rate, such as people looking in Skyscanner and other price comparison sites.

In the absence of direct flights between the Syrian and German capitals, the obvious connection point is Istanbul: partly because it is a great center, and also because it is directly on the route.

After Jeroen contacted me, I made a test reserve from Damascus through Istanbul to Berlin through Turkish Airlines on October 8. The aforementioned rate is £ 532. The two online travel agents, Jeroen, mentions that both quote almost 200 less, for someone prepared to run the risk that the first flight is late. There is a 55 -minute one -hour connection window, which should be enough.

Jeroen continues: “I am curious to know how it will go, and if they require that you go to ‘land’ and return through the security in Istanbul.”

With just cabin luggage, and having registered in advance in Turkish Airlines, Jeroen should be able to follow the transfer procedure in Istanbul: go through a security control and then go directly towards the door for the flight to Berlin while remains in the air.

This is just as good, because the last time I was in Istanbul to overcome passport control took almost an hour.

Online travel agents often sell “guaranteed” self -control, offering a certain degree of coverage for a new flight if it loses the connection. But observing the guarantee of Mytrip, for example, “extreme climatic conditions” and the strikes are not covered. In my experience, these are two of the most common causes of a lost connection.

Much better to build in a shock absorber and make the most Istanbul, one of the largest cities in the world. Flying from Beirut to Bucharest in a couple of weeks; I have reserved a “Autoconnecta” through Larnaca in Cyprus Airways and Wizz Air, but with a stay during the night on the built -in island.

Why, however, the difference in rates? In fact, it is rare in aviation that a ticket from a via b a c is more expensive than the sum of the flights from A a B and B a C. so it falls deeper.

The agreement through Turkish Airlines is for a totally flexible ticket (with a complete refund if you request one) and a 30 kg reviewed luggage marine. It also comes with a guarantee that if Damascus’s first flight to Istanbul is late and the connection is lost, Turkish Airlines will take care of it, which will reserve it on the next flight available to the German capital.

If you can travel only with the cabin luggage and are tempted with a self -control to save cash, be careful with a couple of difficulties: first, you must be properly documented for the intermediate airport.

For example, a self -consciousness of the United Kingdom to Katmandu in Nepal through Delhi would not work unless he has an Indian visa. Although it will remain “in the air”, the airline that flies in the first leg needs to know that he has permission to enter India.

And if things fall apart, with a connection to the lost forward, rescuing the trip can be extremely expensive, as I discovered in Singapore earlier this year, when my autoconexion of British Airways-Justar collapsed and ended up spending the equivalent of £ 1,000 in executive class in Emirates, the only flight I could find.

Read more on the plane and trains of Simon Calder