(question is in bold, if you dont want to read a lot heh)

so! just found this site today, its been a great find as i've got a couple questions about traveling at the moment.

my current situation is i am a us citizen looking to move back from london to san francisco after 7 years, i found out only recently that i can leave for california sooner than expected, and have had quite a battle trying to find a decent fare for august. with the exchange rate constantly falling, all the fares originating from the uk were fiercely expensive. so alternatively, i decided to book a return fare from san francisco to london, with the intention of only using the return portion of that fare.

i suppose my question is *how should i approach the airline when it comes to canceling the first leg of the journey?* should i notify the airline now to tell them i wont be on that flight, or wait until right before; do i explain that im already in the uk, or say i have other arrangements and now only need the return?

i dont suppose my situation is of any concern to them at all, but i would imagine they would like to resell my seat if i am not going to be on it. as it is a pretty restricted fare, i wouldnt think rescheduling it would be possible, nor changing the outgoing flight to being after the return or something silly like that.

anyway, just looking for some opinions. i like the idea of this site a lot, think i will be using it quite a bit in future. ironically, i dont really like traveling (especially, the whole airport related part of travel) but for some reason i always find myself having to go some where... guess i better get savvy about it!

thanks!