Cancel return flight
 

Hello,
I booked a transatlantic roundtrip ticket but will not use the return leg.
(outbound business class & return economy with BA).
My question is when should I call AA to cancel my return ticket...
before the outbound flight or 24hrs before the return flight...?

Thanks.

Hi msworldwanderer, and welcome to flyertalk!

If you're going to call, do it AFTER your outbound. If you don't need to reschedule, you can just no-show, too. Lots of threads on here about this practice.

Don't call, they might possibly try to charge you extra for cancelling, or because a one way is more expensive.

Keep watching the return leg. If the airline changes it's time several hours, or if they cancel the flight, you can request money back from the airline.

If that doesn't happen, just don't check in for the flight. They'll have plenty of others to put in your empty seat.

This all assumes it is a non-refundable fare, of course.

Yah it is a non-refundable ticket but a friend suggested me to call and cancel (at least try) instead of a no-show as I booked part of the flight business and might be able to get credit to use it later...
also it's an international flight so might have a good value though its economy return (AMS-LHR-LAX)...?

Your best hope is that the airline "fouls up" by changing the flight time enough that it allows you to request a refund, usually a 2-3 hour schedule change is sufficient, since you "can't miss a business meeting." The airline cancelling the flight will also work.

As I said, keep watching the return flight for one of these options. If so, call the airline then and ask for a refund. A weather waiver is your other possible out. If they don't occur, you are unlikely to get any money back, so just don't check in.

Do the math and determine if the change fee eats up the fare. IF there is a flight change before your departure date then you should be able to get a refund. If not, then moving the return out will give you another chance for a flight change. Again, work the numbers and see how it shakes out.

Without knowing the specific fare bases for each segment, can't answer the question for you, but the return portion of a discounted Y ticket with the outbound in J likely isn't worth that much. The change fee may well be in the $300-450 range.

If you're only going to see $200-300 from the ticket and there's a $400 change fee, forget the whole thing. Just no show.

As others note, if the flight is cancelled or there is a significant schedule change or delay, you may cancel for a full refund with no penalty and to your original form of payment.

You need to follow Doc Savage's sage advice above. Fly the outbound, wait as long as you can to cancel the return to see if there is a schedule change or cancellation. If there is a residual value remaining on your ticket (after considering change fees) then cancel it close to departure. If AA changes your schedule / itinerary you can get a full refund but not if you have already cancelled your return!

This.

The main reason is that international round trips are priced much higher when ticketed as two one ways. If you cancel, the airline WILL charge you the going rate for a one way ticket which is often significantly more...sometimes double or triple...the round trip ticket.

They won't "charge" the OP in the sense of sending an invoice for that amount, but the original ticket will likely have no remaining value.