Originally Posted by
LondonElite
That may be true, but not essential to the contract violation argument. I'm not taking sides on the issue, and I've dropped a final segment more than once in my life, AND I don't believe anyone is ever going to make a big fuss about it, but I'll reiterate...the airline is offering different fares to different cities. That this fare pricing may seem illogical to us is not relevant. From the perspective of the airline, they are perfectly within their rights to reroute you to get to the final ticketed city C in a way which avoids the traveller's intended destination in B.
From the consumer's perspective I can also understand the tempting argument that no one is getting hurt by only flying half of what was bought, but it is a circumvention of the original fare.
I was thinking it may be an issue regarding the contract breach if they assess a 'penalty' for not taking the connecting flight.
If the seat is one that is essentially unsold, a bill $500 for the missed segment may not be an actual assessment of damages? Therefore it might be an invalid contract term.
i haven't done the hidden ticketing, but i have purchased a round-trip fare when intending to fly one way only. This was just last year for an internal European flight where LH wanted E600 one way, but were selling the return for E129.
Bit of a no brainer.