Originally Posted by
NY-FLA
Of course, cancellation can be made right after the BP is printed, whether it's printed at home, or at an AP kiosk. Despite the magic flashlights and the advanced magnification tools, the knights/officers, of course, know not the difference.
I wouldn't recommend it.
Technically, you need a "business"-related reason to gain access to a secured area of the airport. Having a ticket on a flight that day gives you a "business"-related reason. But the instant you refund the ticket (or cancel the reservation), you have eliminated that reason, and you therefore would be in the security area under false pretenses. It doesn't matter what the printed boarding pass says; it matters what the airline computers say.
So, I would recommend that you book the fully-refundable ticket for a LATE flight (perhaps the last one of the day). That way, you can go to the airport, see your family off, then LEAVE the security area before you refund the ticket.
Yes, you could print the boarding pass at home and cancel before you even go to the airport, and YES, probably the TSA would never find out. But you wouldn't want to get caught with a "false" boarding pass if the TSA were to decide to have the airline check out your pass....or if you were at one of the stations (like ORD) where TSA has started scanning all barcodes to compare the printed pass to the data in the airline computers. Not worth the risk of ending up on an SSSS list, IMHO.