JJeffrey

Just go online at aa.com, pull up your reservation, and cancel it. This accomplishes exactly what you were trying to do by calling (removes you off the flight, etc.). You of course will not be charged any change fee or anything like that unless you try to rebook using any residual value, as mentioned above.

Often1

But, do check on the day of travel that the flight is not cancelled or substually delayed. If so, request a refund of that segment.

blitzen

Why is this coming up repeatedly. We are not talking about hidden city ticketing. He booked a round trip and will only use one way. It must be a very weird case that a round trip is cheaper than a one way (which is what the airlines don't like about it). Paying more and not using it has no disadvantage for the airline.

no1cub17

That isn't very weird at all. It's less common than it used to be, but I'd say it's not unusual at all for one way to be more expensive than roundtrip.

jjglaze77

I have a very similar situation involving a RT award ticket (Eco Web Special). Rather than call to free up the seat on their behalf, I'm keeping the return portion hoping for a delay long enough to trigger a free cancellation / refund. Especially since it sounds like you were unsuccessful in getting the return cancelled, why not give that a try?

SeeBuyFly

No, we are talking about throwaway ticketing, which is also against airline rules.

JonNYC

it's not hidden-city, it's the equally prohibited throwaway ticketing.

The system isn't that you get to make that (incorrect) determination.

Often1

The words "hidden city ticketing" did not cross my keyboard. This is throwaway ticketing.

Rather than having a debate about who is disadvantaged, go read the contract which OP agreed to and you will see.

azepine00

Equally archaic and nonsensical concept in airline pricing.

Encouraging ppl to noshow seems rather wasteful...

JonNYC

It isn't if you understand how it actually works.

And, the rule is the rule-- it's not up for vote.

869

Totally off topic but AA hasn't operated any flight I've booked on-time for over a year now, though my activity on AA looks more like a tourist than a road warrior right now. Just two weeks ago, was holding out for a delay on a Eco Web Special ticket and, sure enough, scored a 2.5 hour delay around lunch time for my 8:30pm flight.

MiamiAirport Formerly NY George

If the OP doesn't do this often simply do nothing. Given that flights mid week are packed more than likely there will be some standby happy to get that seat. If the OP so desires he/she can monitor the flight that day to see if the flight is cancelled or significantly delayed.

cmtlatitudes

OP, you purchased your ticket in good faith. And then your plans changed. Or may change. Go on your outbound trip. Keep an eye on changes to the return. As others have said you may be entitled to a partial refund if there are any. Otherwise, call and cancel the return trip with a TBD date once you've arrived at your destination. Maybe something will come up where you can use the return segment, minus the change fee, in the year after you booked your ticket.

For a period of 3-4 years I was so busy and there was so much going on with work and family in different cities, I didn't keep good track of my plethora of changes to tickets. Sometimes I didn't even find a ticket or reconcile my flights until an entire year had gone by, or more like 2 years, and I was SOL on most of them. (There's a ~2K United ticket and a $800 Delta ticket that still makes me wince when I think about them.) During that time-frame I probably lost $4-$5K of personal funds on ticket remnants I forgot I had, and/or lost lock on expiration dates, across United, Delta, and American. With a few WN flights in the mix as well.

It's not like any of the airlines ever sent me a reminder "hey, you know that $1200 ticket...." ...."come use your return by the expiration date or we're going to sue or ban you or take your miles". (Actually, a reminder would have been really nice and totally welcome, LoL.) There's any number of times I've delayed returns, changed return cities, ended up flying on a different carrier because of date/city changes, or for a number of reasons decided last minute I had to drive instead of fly. I usually am pretty good about remembering to cancel. But there's a couple I forgot or overlooked in the moment. None of the airlines have even had any contact with me about any ticket once I cancelled the initial scheduled return date or if I missed a flight. All the reach-out was on my end. I don't think I'm on a " watch list" anywhere. (lol. that i know of).

Is AA really becoming as draconian as some are making it sound?

MiamiAirport Formerly NY George

As the OP indicated the value of the return was less than $200 so there's no residual value. If the OP never made a practice of this AA isn't going to put him on a watch list.

azepine00

I am sure the same explanation was given when all fares required sat stay, had to be roundtrip and cost of air travel was out of whack..

Thankfully things are changing and one day we ll laugh at these bizzarre anachronisms... apparently that day is not today in aa world...