Rhino369

I screwed up booking a flight for my wife. Two mistakes. First, booking basic economy. Second, I screwed up AM and PM, and now my wife is getting to the destination 12 hours after she needs to be there. The return flight is still the right time.

I'm willing to buy a new one way since it was my mistake. But if my wife no-shows on the first flight, I assume that they will cancel her return flight. American won't let me cancel only half the itinerary. Any way around that (absurd) rule.

IADCAflyer

Absurd rule? Especially when you bought basic economy? Wow.

No.

Rhino369

What rationale is there to cancel a return trip if the outgoing trip cannot be made? I'm not an expert in airline logistics, but it seems capricious.

MiamiAirport Formerly NY George

Fees along with credit card revenue are the drivers of airline profits not flying one from Point A to Point B (unless you're in paid International Premium). In this case the OP is out the money. When you book BE that's the risk you're willing to take for a lower fare. Does AA allow standby on BE fares?

MorganB

It has to do with fares. One way fares are much higher than round trip fares.

Rhino369

What does that have to do with it? I paid for the whole round trip. I'm not seeking any partial refund. Just asking they not cancel the part of the itinerary I can use.

MorganB

Price the one way that you are wishing to travel. The price will be much higher than the round trip ticket you booked. It's to avoid people booking a cheaper alternative and then just skipping the flights they dont want. AA has different price structures based on where you are flying, when , return or one way etc. You do have a 24 hour grace period to cancel your booking however so if you have noticed the flight time error within 24 hours of making the booking.

MiamiAirport Formerly NY George

This is the game and it's what (along with credit card revenue) keeps airlines flying. They'd far more want you to buy a whole new ticket now just a one way fare. When you buy a non refundable ticket you are agreeing to either fly all segments or forfeit the value of the ticket if you don't change the ticket. With BE you have agreed that the ticket has no value if you decide not to fly as ticketed.

Rhino369

First, no, the single one way price is not more the round trip in this circumstance. While that might happen in some extreme circumstances, that has to be a pretty special circumstance. Why would the airline routinely price a single one-way more than a round trip baring some extreme tax issues. And even if true (its not), the policy is still not justifiable since the reason seems to be they want to oddly price gouge some one way riders in some circumstances? That's not justification for canceling a flight I paid for.

Dave Noble

Did you make the error < 24 hours ago ; if so, then you can cancel without penalty

If it was longer ago than that, then there was a 3rd error in not checking the tickets when received

What was the mistake in booking basic economy? if dates were fixed then why pay extra for a ticket with a high change fee? Many people buy inflexible tickets and quite intentionally so

If it is more than 24 hours ago, it is something to chalk to experiemce and just see what the cheapest fare an airline is offering for that journey ; maybe a disruption will occur that will impact the non refundable journey and entitle a refund

MorganB

You paid for a round trip. You did not pay for two single flights. I do understand your frustration however as you are indeed wanting to use part of what you paid for but unfortunately AA and most other major carriers do not consider your purchase as two separate flights. Chalk it up to lesson learned concerning booking tickets in general and move forward would be my advice.

Rhino369

Over 24 hours unfortunately. The mistake was that I chose to buy basic economy because I thought the dates would change. I didn't account for the fact that I'm too dumb to keep my AM's and PM's straight.

I guess I can hope there is a delay of over an hour and I'm entitled to a refund for the whole shebang anyway?

asf-07

In fact it is, as it is written in the contract of carriage you agreed to when you made the purchase.

_fx

Do you read the fine print of every product you buy or use? Just because a wall of text says something doesn’t make it “justified” from a laypersons perspective. If Google banned you from all their products tomorrow would you think it’s “justified” simply because the ToS says they can?

OP is wrong, but it’s nicer to offer a constructive explanation, as above posters have done. Namely, airlines don’t make money simply by flying you X distance for Y dollars, but from a complex pricing scheme (that also involves fees, credit cards, etc). If they allowed everyone to skip segments, they’d have to raise prices dramatically to stay in business.

JDiver

That initial information is incorrect for most domestic and near international flights, though it often does apply to longhaul (e.g. transatlantic) flights.

But the OP made several errors here:

Purchased PM instead of AM and failed to take corrective action within the 24 hour cancellation period.

Purchased Basic Economy tickets, which are extremely restricted and are not refundable nor changeable.

Resists being told how the airline works with these and believing the terms and conditions of the fare as well as the Conditions of Carriage apply. They may well be unfair, but they 100% do apply.

I understand the pain. I’ve booked travel unaware of the restrictions, etc. governing my tickets; it’s a common amateur mistake, and one of the reasons for the existence of FlyerTalk. I learned a lot, and keep on learning, because I’ve paid the price. I’ve learned airlines are ruthless to boot, so learning, reading over detailed fare rules, terms and conditions, pouring over the resultant ticket are forms of necessary self-defense.

The OP might price a one way trip if the spouse really needs to be there, but the return will certainly be cancelled if the outbound flight is a no-show.

The OP might purchase a new round trip ticket.

The OP might call and try to change the ticket, though it will probably be pricy to do so because B tickets are subject to No flight changes or refunds and if today will likely require lengthy phone wait times.

It sounds to me like a painful lesson...