If it's a round-trip ticket, I too would be concerned about having the return portion cancelled. You definitely do not want to pay for a notoriously ridiculously high Memphis unrestricted fare -- and pay a $100 change fee.

You may want to try flying into Little Rock or Jackson, Tenn., instead. These put you 2 hours and 1 1/2 hours outside of Memphis respectively. Since Little Rock is a Southwest city, you may be able to pull down a $200 round trip fare.

I would check Delta's web site. Delta and Northwest like to mess with each other in that part of the country -- cheap fares on Delta to Memphis (Northwest's hub) and cheap fares on Northwest to Cincinnati (Delta's hub).