When You Can You Skip Your First Segment And Still Fly — Two Bus Codes To Know To Save Money On Airfare

Normally, skipping the first segment of an airline ticket cancels the flights that follow. There’s an interesting exception, though, with Finnair. You can book its bus connection from Tampere or Turku to Helsinki airport, leave the bus unused, and still take your connecting flight. That’s great for flexibility, and also when originating travel in one of those places is cheaper. Skipping segments used to be a great technique for saving money, but now if you do it – and it usually violates an airline’s rules – you’re mostly limited to skipping the last flight in a reservation, not the first one or one in the middle. Back in the days of paper tickets you might book travel from a city that’s cheaper, connecting through the one you’re originating in. You’d do it on a different airline, rip out the first coupon, and present yourself at the airport for the trip you actually wanted to fly. (This was also done, and called a ‘first strike’ on certain electronic itineraries of airlines that don’t partner with each other when it would get the fuel surcharges to drop out of pricing the ticket.) Searching domestic flights in French Polynesia for my honeymoon years ago, I found a glitch where Travelocity was pricing everything in French Pacific francs at 90% off. It became an incredible mistake fare – book Air Tahiti Nui from Papeete to Los Angeles (which forced paper tickets back then), rip out the first coupon and present yourself in Los Angeles for any travel in the world at 90% off. When I first started traveling for work 30 years go, cross-country roundtrips without a Saturday night stay could easily run $2,000 in coach. Washington Dulles – San Francisco non-stops were that much, but traveling to Baltimore would make the trip $600 thanks to Southwest. I’d fly Baltimore – Washington Dulles on United Express and connect to the same United flight I actually wanted to fly, and save $1,400. That got me an extra flight segment, 500 mile minimum, and earlier check-in (before online checkin!) which was a tie-breaker for upgrades. But another way to save money was United’s bus service from San Francisco to San Jose. I’d book the bus to make the destination San Jose, which was cheaper. You didn’t have to take the bus, you’d still earn the miles for that segment anyway, and you’d rip out the paper coupon. No worries. So the idea of an airline that gives you that permission to throw away a segment and that won’t cancel the rest of your itinerary is kind of cool! Finnair’s FAQ says: Yes, you can travel on your connecting flight even if you don’t use the bus connection. You don’t get a refund for the unused bus. That can be useful if you book Tampere–Helsinki–London and later decide to spend the previous night in Helsinki. Or a friend offers you a ride to the airport. You can change how you get there without giving up the flight. And since airlines price journeys according to the markets they’re selling, adding a connection can sometimes reduce the price. That’s the underlying economics of throwaway ticketing I’ve written about before. Here, the airline expressly allows the unused segment. These are the two codes to search: XTP — Tampere bus station. XTZ — Turku bus station. Search on Finnair’s website or app, choosing the bus station rather than the city’s airport. The itinerary identifies the ground segment as Bus Service for Finnair, with a green notification. These buses start in the city centers and take about two hours to reach Helsinki airport. Then run the same destination and dates from Helsinki, HEL, and compare prices. This permission applies to the bus, not to a skipped connecting flight, and Finnair is bringing back flights between Helsinki and both cities this month. The airport codes are TMP and TKU. Daytime buses will continue, while late-night bus services end as flights return. Topics on this page