Oysterman

I am planning a trip to visit my in-laws next month and am searching for a one-way ticket and will drive back home with my wife. Unfortunately a round trip ticket costs less than a one-way, which does not make much sense.

What would happen if I book a round trip ticket and not show up for the return leg? Would I be put on the TSA red flag list????? Has anyone else encountered this situation yet?

NoStressHere

Okay, did a search. Found lots of Legal/Illegal/rule breaking discussions and some other stuff but no good discussion about Intl throwaways.

Trying to do Intl to US flight. Might only need one way, might fly again in the future. Most folks usually suggest buying the RT (which is at least half the cost of one-way) and then throwing away the return.

Seems to make sense - especially with the stories of folks that have flown flights but the airline does not show them checked in - which of course is very wrong, but it happens.

But, with an Intl flight I am thinking the paperwork and systems are much more strict and they might catch it?

Again, the question is not about illegal or breaking the rules, but will the airlines do something about it.

SlowTrekker

As long as you don't make a habit of this, I wouldn't sweat it. If you've been forced to cancel a return recently, or think you may have to again soon, don't do it. If you legitimately have no intention of ever using the return leg, you're violating the CoC.

If you have several possible return dates, select the one that is as far in the future as possible, you probably have a reason to use it then if you think about it long enough.

If it turns out you need to use the leg before the day you chose, pay the change fee and use it.

s25843

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=528776

indufan

Good luck finding a judge that would enforce that at the end of the day.

To the OP, go for it, you won't have a problem.

Oysterman

So when the return date comes, should I still check in for the flight and then not show up, or not check in at all and call SMS????

SlowTrekker

if your plans unfortunately change and you find that you don't need the return ticket, I'd go with
c) do nothing

It would seem that in most cases, as long as you don't rub the airlines face in it, they'd prefer to avoid the ill-will of rabid enforcement (Post-RPU anyway)

gayparav

I do that all the time (international on Delta). I have never been contacted about it. You are not supposed to do it but it's impossible for them to enforce.

Don't do anything. Don't call AND don't check in. That would put you in trouble.
25% or return lega are not used. That's why they overbook flights. And anyway if the plane fly with an empty seat, you've paid for it. Don't worry that they'll wait for you. If you haven't checked in, they'll know you are not going to fly.

Vincent

allystl

This can also be done on one way tickets too. Unfortunately, sdf to ATL is 10 times more than sdf to atl to stl, so.......... I have soooo many unused segments atl to stl because I got off in Atl. The only time, in years, that DL ever said anything was when the rep laughed when I was trying to reissue a valid ticket and she had about 15 unused legs to sort through! And she just laughed and said...u don't like stl all that much, huh? ;-) Just make sure that if you ever need to do this on a one way that you don't check bags or they will go all the way to the final destination. Good Luck!

indufan

This is a whole different beast. This is hidden city ticketing and Delta will go after you for this. Apparently each time you did this, you had one-way tickets, otherwise you would have never been able to get back because your entire trip would have been cancelled when you missed an outbound segment.

tkey75

Just be sure and note the ticket # (not the conformation #). This is how you will be able to get credit for the unused segment. The value of this will certainly be significantly lower than the purchase price. The ticket is revalued after a leg of an itinerary is used an it is no longer priced segment by segment, but as a whole. All this and they'll charge you the change fee on top of it. I just did this when I had to miss the return trip of an itinereay last month. I easily got credit for the unused portion, though it was only about $40 on a $180 ticket. Still, it was nice to know that all my money didn't go to waste on a leg of a trip I could not use.

BTW - I did just like all other replies have said - nothing. I just didn't show up.

indufan

Huh? If you miss the return the only thing that should be able to be used for in the future is on those city pairs. The only time you can get a credit towards other travel is if the one way fare is in fact less than the roundtrip. Then you get a credit - ASC.

techtoy

This happen to me about 10 times a year, My company changes where I am going and I don’t use the return part of the trip. I call into SMS and they give me a credit for the remainder of the ticket after a $50 change fee. Most the time its about 30%-40% of the RT ticket.

SlowTrekker

I agree with you, and the OP led this off by stating his desired one-way fare was higher than the RT.

nicepants

I'm booking a trip for Memorial day, flying to Pensacola.

The flight goes through Atlanta on both the way out and the way back. We want to just stop at Atlanta on the way out...and drive with friends to Pensacola, but fly back from pensacola.

We aren't getting any special pricing by doing this.

I'm just wondering....if we fly from my city, to atlanta, how do they know if we skip out on the atlanta-pensacola leg?

-If the same plane goes to pensacola from atlanta, we wouldn't re-check in.

-If it's a different plane, and we check in at the gate, but then don't get on the plane...


Do they do counts or anything after everyone gets on the plane? I'm just trying to figure out how they would know we missed the flight if the computer shows we checked in, etc.