Yep, this has been a thing for a while. Airlines use a variety of complicated ways to price their tickets, leading to situations where you can get a cheaper tic

Yep, this has been a thing for a while. Airlines use a variety of complicated ways to price their tickets, leading to situations where you can get a cheaper ticket by booking a longer flight and skipping part of it. Wikipedia has an article about it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airline_booking_ploys https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airline_booking_ploys If you really are going to miss a short-haul flight to a major airport like that, there's a good chance that they'll change your ticket for you. They might charge a fee. In the worst case, they might upcharge you -- for example, if the flight directly from Heathrow really was more expensive than the fight with the extra hop. Call up the airline and talk to an actual person. Which may require some time on the phone, unfortunately.