Here's the situation: I have an upcoming ticket, purchased from KL, YVR-YYC-AMS-Africa (round trip). The first leg is a codeshare operated by WestJet (WS). I'm trying to figure out whether I can skip it.

I live in YYC (this cheap J fare was only available originating in YVR, YYZ, or YUL, and was 2x the price if purchased originating in YYC), so if I can avoid the silly hop to YVR and back, it would be nice.

I'm aware that missing a segment will cause subsequent segments to be cancelled, and that it's possible to reinstate them for an exorbitant fee. But I'm curious, what might this look like in practice? If I no-show the WS segment, how quickly will that information be transmitted to KLM? The connection at YYC is short, and YVR-YYC is a short flight, so there's not a ton of time (<2.5 hours) from when I could be declared a no show on the WS flight to departure of the KL flight. Would KL actually find out about the no-show and cancel my segments within that amount of time?

The other consideration is that, since I live in YYC, I should actually be able to show up at the KL counter in YYC before the WestJet flight even leaves YVR. I could tell them I changed to an earlier WS YVR-YYC flight, and perhaps even produce a boarding pass to that effect, and claim that WS couldn't check me in for the KL segments at YVR. Of course, it would have a different PNR on it, but would they look that closely?

Anyway, I have a positioning flight YYC-YVR booked and will take it if need be. I'm aware this is a risky idea. Just curious how risky, given the fact the first leg is operated by an airline that's not even a SkyTeam partner.