I am curious to know your thoughts on this situation. A friend of mine recently purchased a ticket to LAX departing from PHL. He has one connection so the flight is PHL->EWR->LAX. Apparently, on the day of departure he will be in the vicinity of EWR. He was tempted to just make up an excuse for missing the original flight and meet the rest of the party at PHL. I am wondering if this is something which can be done, if so it must be a good enough excuse. What are your thoughts on this situation?