As we wrote a few years ago on TravelGuys, the historical concepts of travel are falling. Besides the programmed and real end of the packages provided by tour-operators, including visits to distant countries with cultures to which we are not accustomed, it is now the packaging of existing offers. This is a basic trend, low-cost, driven by the emergence of low-cost airlines, both in the United States, Europe, and more recently in Asia.

One of the basic trends is the so-called self-connect.

What is self-connect?

Self-connectis the ability to connect between two airlines on two separate tickets.

But what’s so special about it?

Please note that when you purchase an airline ticket, you have a contract with the airline(s) operating the flight. If the flights are operated by different airlines, but the ticket is the same, both airlines are bound by the same contract. Therefore, if the previous flight is late and you miss your connection, you will be booked on the next flight by the airline operating the onward flight and your costs will be covered. This is normal, since you have signed a single contract to get from point A to point B. Also, the luggage is checked from end to end. This is called theinterline.

But with the emergence of low-cost airlines, airlines that only travel point-to-point, passengers started booking itineraries themselves on different electronic tickets. This implies to take important security margins to pass the different controls at the arrival of the first flight, to collect your luggage, to recheck your luggage on the airline of continuation, etc. It is therefore possible if you take all the necessary precautions, and without any guarantee of success. If the previous flight is very late, you will have only your eyes to cry and will be obliged to buy for your continuation or even cancel your trip completely.

So that’s self-connect. More and more passengers are using it.

Also, some airlines have started to offer services that facilitate this self-connection. No real guarantee of connections, but at least their facilitation, for example by offering end-to-end baggage check-in.

Obsolescence of the legacy airlines

This was the argument of the legacy airlines: we offer a seamless experience from start to finish, with full check-in, your luggage arriving on the conveyor belt upon arrival. However, the promise of legacy airlines has waned over time. Even when traveling on the same airline, but with separate tickets, for perfectly legitimate reasons such as combining a business and personal itinerary, many airlines refuse to check you in from end to end, with the same boarding pass, and with baggage arriving on the belt at your final destination. For one reason: it’s a contract, and a contract is a contract!

Only the Asian airlines continue to use interline luggage on departure from their ports of call. And even on different airlines.

Also, passengers are tired of being taken for fools: besides the little assistance received in case of missed connection, the price difference between traditional and low-cost airlines is so important that sometimes, buying a ticket in case of missed connection remains a valid option, considering the little risk taken.

It is also theemergence of long-haul low-cost airlines that has created this new need, the need to have a connection from one’s feeder flight in the airport that offers transit to the long-haul flight.

Initiatives, but when will they be generalized?

For the moment, the initiatives come from two main actors: the airlines on the one hand, and the airports on the other.

As far as airlines are concerned,EasyJet was the forerunner in offering baggage and ticket interlining with Worldwide by EasyJet, especially with Norwegian. It has extended this practice with various leisure airlines throughout Europe, including Corsair and La Compagnie in Paris. On another note, Ryanair has started offering tickets with end-to-end itineraries, especially for business clients.

Airports now also offer some initiatives, such as London Gatwick airport where Gatwick Connects allows you to guarantee connectionsand recheck your baggage quickly on most airlines serving Gatwick.

How can the legacy airlines respond?

It is unbelievable that when baggage interline agreements exist, the airlines are still reluctant to check baggage end-to-end, even on separate tickets. What are the solutions to these new initiatives? Systematically offer baggage check-in on connections at the end of the line, when the minimum connection time is respected.

Of course, if the feeder flight is late, the passenger will have to pay for a ticket again since they are two separate contracts, but the service will at least be provided for luggage and for nominal situations which meet 95% of the cases. This is the only way for the traditional airlines to continue to attract passengers, regardless of the alliances. Interline agreements must take precedence over the contractual aspect alone.

As a passenger, what should I watch out for?

We can’t say it enough: don’t plan self-connections without an escort service if you are traveling with a family, or with people who are frail or don’t speak English! If something goes wrong, you will be in trouble, and may even have to pay thousands of euros to get out of this mess. Or use this system when you can’t cancel your plans. These new services that guarantee connections on separate tickets are therefore totally revolutionary… Let’s see how the traditional airlines will adapt this time… They already have all the necessary tools!