Originally Posted by
ffcm
I'm booking a round trip ticket from Europe to US, but there's an outside chance I may not fly back when I'm scheduled (if at all).
The one-way fares are crazy so booking two one ways isn't doable. The round trip fare is less than half the one way.
Is there a penalty if I cancel the return trip after I'm in the US?
There is no penalty and nothing "bad" will happen or anything like that. Don't worry.
If you decide not to take the return portion, then just pull up your itinerary at aa.com and cancel it. Then, at a later date if you want to try to use the remaining value on the ticket for another US>Europe segment, you can call AA and see what the changes would cost. Otherwise, the ticket will just go away after a year.
*An alternative strategy is to wait until the day of departure to cancel the return portion. Check the flight status to see if there happens to be any major irrops or other delays. If yes, then put in a refund request, and you will receive ~50% of the fare back to your card.