There are indeed a number of threads in TravelBuzz talking about your alleged "easy way".
Here's one of them which focuses on a situation where repeated "drops" by a traveler of the last segment caused the airline to take some action:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...-vs-497-a.html

As well, you posed and received an answer to the question earlier in the Delta forum. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta...l#post15102191

My suggestion would be to either join the TravelBuzz thread linked above or re-join the Delta forum you started earlier. I'll close this thread. Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator.