Request for Guidance on a Goofy Ticketing Issue

Since the ticket is a thru ticket, the train segment is no different than an
airline ticket - if you miss the train, your onward reservations will be
canceled.

Jeff

"John Smith" wrote in message
m...
Please help me decide the best course of action to take he

I have purhcased 2 tickets on Air France from LAX to Brussels at a very
favorable rate. The ticket has two segments: The non-stop flight from
LAX
to CDG and then a train ride to Brussels later that evening.

Paris is my desired destination, but I am prepared to take the train to
Brussels and spend a night, returning via train to Paris the next day.

Here is the question: Do I need to take the first train ride to Brussels
at
all? I know about the whole connecting flight/itenerary cancellation deal
on flights, but does that apply to train segments too? Ideally, I would
like to skip the train trip altogether, but not at the cost of having the
return flight cancelled. I am considering taking the first train trip to
Brussels and returning the next day to Paris. If I skip the return Train
Segment, will it cancel the later flight tickets?

The worst scenario is not that bad, really: Take a train back to Paris
for
a week and then return to Brussels and catch the return train ride as
ticketed, and the later flight back to LAX.

Any advice? The ticket as laid out above is about 1/2 the price of a LAX
to
CDG ticket on the same day, so I am money ahead with extra train tickets
no
matter what.

Jeff Hacker wrote:

Since the ticket is a thru ticket, the train segment is no different than an
airline ticket - if you miss the train, your onward reservations will be
canceled.

Does the airline know if you made the train? I took the train, they
stamped my ticket. How would the airline know I was on the train.
Granted, this was TGV from CDG to Lyon, and on AA, but it I don't think
it would be much different from Brussels to Paris,

On Thu, 02 Oct 2003 05:33:01 GMT, mrtravel
wrote:
Jeff Hacker wrote:

Since the ticket is a thru ticket, the train segment is no different than an
airline ticket - if you miss the train, your onward reservations will be
canceled.

Does the airline know if you made the train? I took the train, they
stamped my ticket. How would the airline know I was on the train.
Granted, this was TGV from CDG to Lyon, and on AA, but it I don't think
it would be much different from Brussels to Paris,

I've been following this thread with interest, and have been reluctant
to weigh in until now. I caught the TGV from Paris to Brussels a
couple of weeks ago on a ticket that had originally been booked as a
return ticket from Brussels to Paris and back with two companions who
had bought my ticket with theirs. Circumstances dictated that I had to
meet my friends in Paris, so they travelled out from Brussels with
their tickets as well as mine, and I returned on the return portion of
the ticket with no problem, despite not having used the outbound
portion.

There is really no way I can see that the airline could say for
certain that one particular person was or was not on that train (as
seats are rarely booked by name), unless there is a requirement for
the stamp to be in the airline ticket itself or the airline requests
that you present the train ticket when checking in for your return
flight. If you need that and you don't have it, you could have a
problem, but this is highly unlikely. The question is, do you want to
take the chance?

Tara