Hi there - hoping some of you veterans may be able to lend some advice regarding clause "The fare is only valid if the ticket is used in the sequential order of the flight coupons". Was not able to turn up an answer in existing threads (please advise if I missed).

Question: Is this clause enforced on Air France? Any way I can get away with not using the first segment of a two-segment booking?

Background: A few months back I booked a R/T on sale from Montreal to Abu Dhabi (via CDG) on Air France. Personal, not business. Fare class does not allow changes. As the trip with my buddies evolved, turns out we will end our trip in Istanbul and it's now apparent that flights for me to get back to Abu Dhabi to catch my return trip home are very inconveniently timed, expensive, and... going in the wrong direction!

On the other hand, I can get a good fare from Istanbul to CDG where I could, in theory, catch the CDG to YUL leg of my already-booked return. Doing this and just burning the Abu Dhabi to CDG coupon will save time and money and see me stay in IST a little longer.

Is this at all do-able given the clause above?

Thanks!

46N