I am flying from the West Coast to New England on CO via EWR. Let's say my redeye arrives at EWR and instead of going on to my final destination, my friend, who lives in the tri-state area, picks me up to go on to the final destination in New England (we are both attending the same event).

On the return trip home, am I going to have an issue if I choose to fly from New England to EWR then on to the west coast? Are they going to notice that I didn't use one of the segments on the trip to New England and possibly cancel my return trip?

thanks

a missed segment will CXL the rest of your itinerary.

That would result in a cancellation of the remaining flights. If you want to skip the EWR-New England segment you should consider booking a multi-destination itinerary West Coast-EWR/open jaw/New England-EWR-West Coast.

Only the last segment can be eliminated without trouble

(but don't try it too often)

If some schedule complication occurs to your first or second leg of the itinerary and you can argue the case, the airline will probably be merciful and preserve your return flight.
Good luck with any checked-in luggage.

Not exactly. If some schedule complication occurs, the passenger would have to get him or herself reaccommodated immediately by the airline.

Let's say that a connection is missed because of a delay. You can't just walk away from the rest of itinerary and expect your return leg to still be valid.

Finally, if by "schedule complication" you mean something like the passenger couldn't make it to the airport on time because of an "accident on the highway" (wink, wink, nudge, nudge), the same principle applies.

The passenger has an obligation to contact the airline immediately to be reaccommodated in the most convenient possible fashion,

Just because there might have been a delay getting to the airport, doesn't mean the airline will just forget about one of the legs on your itinerary.

Finally, as was stated earlier, you can get away with missing your final leg, but try this more than once or twice and you risk being banned from flying the airline again, or at least being removed from the rolls of their ff program.

Is this true, has there been cases of it? I am not saying you are wrong, I just hear this a lot but I have never heard the actual story of someone getting punished for it. So I was just wondering if anybody had this happen to them or someone they knew. Maybe I should have used the search function first.

It's right in the Contract of Carriage.

Read through Rule 6, Section K

co_contract_of_carriage.071410CoC.pdf

I don't know how regularly it's enforced...

Yes I know 2 fellows that were warned after 2nd or 3rd go at it

that they would fofeit all benefits & points if they continued

I know that part is true just was wondering if it is enforced. As I think legally they can reprice your fare as a one way, but do they. As chic mention they have threaten to take away benefits. Just wondering if there are any more threats out there that have been followed through on. Not like I planning on doing this, just curious though.

Chic how close were those trips you heard about. Months, years?

Don't know the details only that they were threatened by snail mail

Neither of these folks know each other & I heard at different times

Doesn't seem worth the chance if points & status matter

The reason I asked, is I was just wondering how long they keep this on record, what raises a flag in their eyes. I have since done some searching but still can't find anybody who actually has anything happen to them or someone they know, besides the letters your friends got. So my conclusion is that it is typically an empty threat. But there has to be more stories out there about getting letters or more importantly actions against someone. Please share if you have them.

Is it worth the miles, no, is it worth lost of status, hey I don't have status any more, so sure.

Safe travels

No need right now, However I have done it once in the past. As mentioned before more curious than anything else. I like to use the forums to become more informed about things, Just hope more people post known experiences similar to how you did.

For the benefit of all involved, it should be noted that this an entirely hypothetical discussion.