exwannabe

It may well be that the residue value is less than the change fee, but that does not make the pax owe money. He just gets no credit.

Throwaway is very different from hidden city.

EDIT: Since at least one above poster seams confused.

Throwaway is buy A-B B-A and not use the return. Technically against their rules if you are doing so to game the system. But except in rare cases no real issue. If in B you call and cancel, they will do the math and either credit you or say no soup.

Hidden city is far different. You buy A-C on a flight that happens to connect in B. You never bought service from A to B, but used such. If you were to call in advance and say you wanted A-B, they will reprice to that fair (plus change fees), and you might well owe money to get on the flight.

The fairy tale that they actually charge people for any such after a flight is comical. Legaly they might be able to sue a hidden city pax for the correct fare, but this does not happen. And they most certainly can not just hit the CC.

howtofreetravel

You are forgetting that the fare has most likely increased in price . You can't just drop a segment without re pricing

Beckles

If you have the time/wherewithal the thing to do is just wait for the trip and hope your flight is significantly delayed or cancelled so that you can ask for a full refund. This is unlikely, but not impossible.

richardinmotion

I don't understand how this is even a remote issue? What recourse could Delta possibly have for not using the return portion of a round trip ticket? What is the possible liability?

howtofreetravel

There is no problem with doing that

Often1

Understand that this is a theoretical technical answer to your question, not what is even remotely likely to happen:

1. Nobody can force anybody to fly any segment they do not want to fly. But, OP has contracted for a routing. If he changes that routing, he is subject to whatever fees and fares he agreed to. For a discounted US domestic ticket that is typically $200 +/- fare difference.

2. DL's remedies include: a) zeroing out and closing your SM account (a big deal if you have accumulated miles and/or status); b) seeking to recover the difference from you (in other words, invoice you, report you to credit agencies if you do not pay and sue for damages). Some would argue that the terms of CC debits would allow DL to debit the CC used. DL could lastly refuse to sell you more tickets, especially until your debit balance is paid.

Of all of these, it is the first dealing with SM which is the only realistic one for people not engaged in wide-spread commercial fraud. for instance there are instances of TA's who do this on international tickets where the RT is cheaper than the OW and then advertise the OW at the RT price.

Just to be clear, this is not intended to be some fear-mongering thread about guys in ninja suits coming to your house to force you onto an airplane. It answers your reasonable question about what the discussion is about.

howtofreetravel

I can 100% promise you delta won't do anything to you it's united who has been barking the tree lately

BigDawg23

Nothing to worry about, I have three different times only used my first have ticket and cancelled return trip. All three times I ended up driving home. My MQS, MQM amd MQD all applied. This year I have one of those scenarios.