Originally Posted by dtremit
Apropos of this, I've often wondered what would happen if you booked something like AAA-BBB-CCC (and back). Upon arrival in BBB, you would "accidentally miss" your BBB-CCC flight, then going up to the desk and, upon finding all the other standby options unacceptable, forlornly resign yourself to arranging alternate transportation? Could you get the gate agent for the departed flight to put in an ARNK for the BBB-CCC leg, preserving the rest of the ticket?
Good luck in trying that.
And even then, beware.
I was flying to SNA via LAX on a Sunday night, and stupid me had booked a trip with a 3-hour layover at LAX.
I was more than willing to let UA keep the money and just get my rental car at LAX and drive down to OC, but even in the ticket office they told me they'd cancel the rest of my itinerary if I did that.
So I glumly rode out to the puddle-jumper farm at LAX expecting to sit around for a while doing nothing, only to find my flight to SNA in an oversold status, with Mesa Air only too happy to give out a free round-trip ticket on UA.
I took the bump and got the free ticket and drove to OC.
And when I tried to check in for my return flight, I found out I had been cancelled out anyway. The ticket agent in SNA fixed it easily enough, though. I even got to keep good seats.