Originally Posted by jan_az
I have never heard of this concept. I once cancelled a trip and got my money back because the outbound was delayed so much I could not make the meeting. But I think we are in "urban legend" territory here
No, Trip in Vain is a valid piece of airline jargon. When I lived in Philadelphia, one of my day business trips to BOS had the outbound cancelled. We went to the service counter and the agent put "trip in vain" as the reason for refund.