US Airways Dividend Miles - Unwanted US Airways flight SFO -> SEA on May 17

I booked a multi-city trip itinerary with US Airways. The second part of my trip is SFO -> SEA, but my plans have changed, and I will no longer be taking the flight. Instead, I have booked a flight from SFO -> LAX. The now-unwanted flight appears to be a Non-refundable flight.

What should I do, if anything? Is the flight transferrable? Would it be possible to cancel or refund the flight? How about through my credit card company?

Hi,

Most of the tickets on US airways traveling within US is non refundable. The whole idea of offering tickets at less expensive cost is to make it non refundable. The name on the tickets cannot be changed on US Airways.

Have you made one single multi city? or do you hold 2 tickets?

If that is one single ticket, you could be in trouble. As per the fare rules of any airline, if you miss or drop any of the segments without getting the tickets re issued, you would end up losing the remaining ticket value.

In this case, you have to call US Airways and tell them that you would not be taking one of the flights. They would re price the remaining itinerary as per the current fares. You would end up paying a change fee of $150 and whatever difference in the price for the new set of flights.

Unfortunately, your credit card company would be of NO use as this is an airline policy and does cover it under their terms and conditions.

The only option - Call US airways, tell them to re issue the etkts - Pay $150 and diff in the price and swear you would never make a change .Full Stop...

If you have 2 tickets, then you have to consider the value of your flights...If it's less than $150...which i assume....Good bye.....If more, than call up, cancel and use the credit for future with change fee and diff in price applicable.....

I hope i have been clear enough...

DO NOT MISS THE FLIGHTS UNLESS YOU WOULD END UP BUYING A NEW SET OF TICKETS ALTOGETHER.......

Thanks and Regards
taran_2005

If this is the last leg of your trip, you can just skip it. Good luck getting a refund though.

As taran said, by all means DO NOT just skip that SFO-SEA segment - the remainder, if any, of your multi-city ticket will be cancelled.

It's too late now but for future reference try calling and changing the flight before just buying a new ticket for one different segment. You may get lucky and get a res agent that would just change the segment without charging you anything.

You didn't say how you intend to get back on your original itinerary from SEA instead of LAX. That answer could affect what course of action is best now that you've bought another ticket to get to SEA.

Jim

The above advice holds true regardless, but just wondering whether you're on United, not US. Perhaps you've left out the connecting point, but if those flights are nonstops, you're not traveling on US.

US Airways has never flown SFO-SEA. Are you sure this isn't a United codeshare that you purchased through US Airways as part of your ticket?

And as mentioned, skipping a segment = all subsequent segments are cancelled. You either need to change the ticket and pay fees or lose ALL of the ticket after the flight you miss.

US Airways has never flown SFO-SEA. Are you sure this isn't a United codeshare that you purchased through US Airways as part of your ticket?

Airlines listed serving that route are AS, UA and VX... only likely option is a United codeshare.

I'm guessing that the second ticket the OP bought for SFO-LAX is probably on whoever had the lowest fare, but maybe my assumption that most business trips aren't booked months in advance when plans can and do change is wrong. The original ticket had to be either on UA metal SFO-SEA or US SFO-PHX-SEA.

I'm also assuming that SEA isn't the OP's final destination since he's now ending in LAX and said nothing about getting from there to SEA. Hence my comments about him getting back on his original itinerary at some point.

To give any accurate response to the OP's questions we really need to know what is left from the original ticket after getting to SFO and what the 2nd ticket purchased includes.

Jim

You guys are good :) Indeed, it is a United codeshare that I purchased through US Airways.

Thank you for the tip that skipping a segment = all subsequent segments are cancelled; fortunately, this segment is the last one on this particular ticket, so I am fine with missing it.

Actually, my SFO->LAX ticket has a layover in PHX (it's US Airways), and I would like to stop in PHX, skipping the LAX part. Strangely, the SFO->PHX->LAX ticket cost less (about $100 less!) than just SFO->PHX.

What site(s) do you use to see which airlines serve each route?

There may be better sites but any of the online independent sites like Kayak, Expedia, etc will give you a list of flights by various carriers between two cities. The only carriers that may not show up are those that strictly sell through their own site - WN, probably Spirit and Allegient.

Jim

You guys are good :) Thank you for the tip that skipping a segment = all subsequent segments are cancelled; fortunately, this segment is the last one on this particular ticket, so I am fine with missing it.

I know what threw me was that you said it was the 2nd part of the multi-city ticket that needed the change. I think of a multi-city as being A-B (stay for a while) B-C (stay for a while) C-A. So I assumed that SEA, being the 2nd part, was one of the intermediate stops and not the ultimate destination.

Jim

You guys are good :) Indeed, it is a United codeshare that I purchased through US Airways.

Thank you for the tip that skipping a segment = all subsequent segments are cancelled; fortunately, this segment is the last one on this particular ticket, so I am fine with missing it.

Actually, my SFO->LAX ticket has a layover in PHX (it's US Airways), and I would like to stop in PHX, skipping the LAX part. Strangely, the SFO->PHX->LAX ticket cost less (about $100 less!) than just SFO->PHX.

What site(s) do you use to see which airlines serve each route?

I would recommend that you not try to claim miles for your tickets. You are using hidden city ticketing, something that US Airways prohibits in their contract of carriage.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airline_booking_ploys#Hidden_City_Ticketing

It is possible that US Airways could try to bill you for the fare difference involved, or shut down your US Airways account, or take back your miles. If you want to do this, just realize you are a bit outside the rules.

It is outside the rules, but as far as I can tell US (and most other airlines) make no effort to enforce the rule, other than to cancel further segments on that ticket.

They reward full miles for the segments taken and certainly do not penalize frequent flyer accounts or try to collect the extra cost (even when making subsquent tickets).

They are scattered reports on FT of airlines cracking down on habitual abusers of throw away ticketing. To me though, that proves the point that the airlines don't care about occasional violators (i.e. they could enforce the rules when they want to, but choose not to for those who only do it occasionally)

Plus in this case the OP bought a US ticket to use instead of the UA metal SFO-SEA segment, so US actually came out ahead.

Technically the OP didn't use hidden city ticketing - he bought the ticket intending to end up in SEA but his plans changed. Even if US did question it, all he would have to do is tell them his plans changed and show the boarding passes for the SFO-PHX-LAX segments that were used instead.

Jim

They are scattered reports on FT of airlines cracking down on habitual abusers of throw away ticketing. To me though, that proves the point that the airlines don't care about occasional violators (i.e. they could enforce the rules when they want to, but choose not to for those who only do it occasionally)

That's basically what I would suggest: don't make a habit of doing this (and if you do, leave no tracks), because airlines don't like people evading their rules.

Technically the OP didn't use hidden city ticketing - he bought the ticket intending to end up in SEA but his plans changed. Even if US did question it, all he would have to do is tell them his plans changed and show the boarding passes for the SFO-PHX-LAX segments that were used instead.


Except what the OP is doing, if I am reading the posts correctly, is flying XXX-SFO on a XXX-SFO-SEA ticket and dropping the last segment, and then flying SFO-PHX on a SFO-PHX-LAX ticket, and dropping the last segment again. So he's actually doing hidden-city ticketing on two tickets. ;)

Well, we understand it differently then. The OP said that a change of plans resulted in him having to be in LAX instead of SEA, but he was getting from SFO to LAX via PHX on US. That's why I don't see the second ticket as violating the hidden city ticketing rule - he needed to be in LAX and bought a ticket to get to LAX.

On the first ticket (multi-city) the hidden city rule is intended to stop intentionally buying a ticket that goes through the desired destination to another less expensive destination with the intention of not taking the last segment. So far, nothing suggests that the OP had this intention when he booked the 1st ticket or that the fare from where-ever to SFO to SEA was less expensive than the fare just to SFO.

That's why I don't see it as an automatic violation of the hidden city rule.

Now, if US just looks at the 1st multi-city ticket and sees that the ticket is for somewhere-SFO-SEA and the OP no showed the SFO-SEA segment, it's possible that they would think it violated the hidden city rule. Which is why I said that an explanation and proof of the 2nd ticket being used to back up the explanation should demonstrate that no violation was intended - it was just a change in plans that necessitated the change.

Jim

Well, we understand it differently then. The OP said that a change of plans resulted in him having to be in LAX instead of SEA, but he was getting from SFO to LAX via PHX on US. That's why I don't see the second ticket as violating the hidden city ticketing rule - he needed to be in LAX and bought a ticket to get to LAX.

On the first ticket (multi-city) the hidden city rule is intended to stop intentionally buying a ticket that goes through the desired destination to another less expensive destination with the intention of not taking the last segment. So far, nothing suggests that the OP had this intention when he booked the 1st ticket or that the fare from where-ever to SFO to SEA was less expensive than the fare just to SFO.

That's why I don't see it as an automatic violation of the hidden city rule.

Now, if US just looks at the 1st multi-city ticket and sees that the ticket is for somewhere-SFO-SEA and the OP no showed the SFO-SEA segment, it's possible that they would think it violated the hidden city rule. Which is why I said that an explanation and proof of the 2nd ticket being used to back up the explanation should demonstrate that no violation was intended - it was just a change in plans that necessitated the change.

Jim

That was my understanding originally, but OP clarified to make it clear that s/he was using hidden-city at least once, and arguably twice:


Actually, my SFO->LAX ticket has a layover in PHX (it's US Airways), and I would like to stop in PHX, skipping the LAX part. Strangely, the SFO->PHX->LAX ticket cost less (about $100 less!) than just SFO->PHX.

Actually, my SFO->LAX ticket has a layover in PHX (it's US Airways), and I would like to stop in PHX, skipping the LAX part. Strangely, the SFO->PHX->LAX ticket cost less (about $100 less!) than just SFO->PHX.
?

Strange if you are attempting to apply common sense - but in airline terms, you are penalized if your origin or destination is one of that airline's hubs.

For instance, most of the time ABE-CLT-(Florida) prices out cheaper than ABE-CLT.

One of the biggest rip-offs in the Delta system was CVG. When it was a DL hub, Cincinatti people would routinely drive to the nearest city served by DL and connect back to CVG to avoid being gouged. It makes sense to the revenue management gnomes though

That was my understanding originally, but OP clarified to make it clear that s/he was using hidden-city at least once, and arguably twice:

You're right - I either misread that correction or forgot the last part of it. But the question is still whether either ticket was bought with the intent of getting a cheaper fare by using a hidden city or whether a later change made not flying to first SEA and then LAX possible.

I don't think even US would say that plans can never change after a ticket is purchased. The hidden city policy is about intent. Nothing so far indicates with any certainty that the OP bought both tickets with the intent of getting lower fares by using a hidden city. But I'll admit that I have some questions about the OP's intended itineraries, especially the first, although it may just be a case of terminology. For example, if the OP wants to end their trip in PHX it would make sense that he started in PHX, so why buy a multi city ticket for only PHX-SFO-SEA which is effectively a one way ticket with a stopover in LAX? To me a multi-city ticket is only necessary when one needs multiple "stopovers" on one itinerary. But maybe he meant connecting instead of multi-city.

Jim

I'm currently doing long-term travel with some segments by air, some segments by car, some segments by bus. My first ticket, which was multi-city because I needed a stopover in SFO, was not intended to use a hidden city. The flight I booked, with its additional segment to SEA, was MORE expensive than just going to SFO.