Originally Posted by
snowbeavers
Hi,
We are travelling internationally as a family of four and need to fly back to the US from South Africa. However, the difference between a round-trip and one way fare is significant (several thousands of dollars). I am tempted to just book the return and not use it and book it 3 months later to save the money. I have read reports of airlines coming after the passengers for the difference of fares. Do you think this is worth the risk? We do not live in North America anymore if that makes any difference.
The risk of a family being hounded by an airline over throwaway ticketing (for the return portion of a restricted ticket) is extremely low. I would say that the average US person no-showing for a return part of a ticket has a far greater probability of being hit by lightning than to be hounded by an airline for no-showing on the return half of a roundtrip ticket.
I would probably book the return portion out as far as possible on the calendar and hope for an airline schedule change to hit and benefit me.