Return Trip - No Show Inbound Leg
 

Looking to book a oneway flight from Europe to TLV (must be on LY). Since the cost of such tickets is so expensive I consider buying a return ticket and simply do not show up for the inbound leg. Would there be any problem with that given LY practices and rules?

What could you lose? Booking the return for more than a few dayts later would also allow you to definitely get the points from the outbound.


What do you mean by this?

What I did once when I needed only a one way to MXP, I did a "return from other destination" and I chose to come back from Moscow or Athens or something like that and it lowered the ticket price from the regular round trip. And then I just never showed up for the return flight.

Thanks; I am not sure ;) I guess I am under the impression of the BA ex-EU discussions about missing the last leg but this is definitely not the case here. That said here too the customer is doing something which is not straightforward. What I don't understand is why would someone ever buy a one way ticket if s/he can bu a return trip for half the price :confused:

^

I wonder if it could be done when the outbound is from Europe to TLV. I also hope there won't be a problem if I use an Israeli CC to purchase this ex-EU ticket...

Because they're not as clever as us dudes on FT. :)

All I could think of was that someone told me that if someone misses too many flights, his name gets flagged up as a security alert.

:D

As a one off there is certainly no problem. Even BA couldn't/wouldn't penalize you for skipping the final of an ex-EU.
The reason for this pricing is that the OW fare is flexible. Your cheap return is not.

Correct; thanks.

One other idea I had if wanting to buy a cheap one way ticket rather than an expensive one way or round trip is, to book an award ticket, and buy the points from elal for a dollar each. This works even when having zero points balance in your account.

For example:

TLV-LHR 17th FEB -

One Way = $880 ,

Round trip (returning 22nd Feb) = $463


One Way Award ticket = 215 points + $88 taxes, so you would pay $215 for the points, and $88 = $302.


Another example:


London - TLV 17th Feb:

One Way = 435 Pounds.

Round Trip (returning 22nd Feb) =196+128=324 Pounds.

One Way award ticket = 215 points+150 Pounds taxes, so $215 (around 145 Pounds) + 150 = 295 Pounds.

215 to LHR is a cheap award ticket

It's the winter sale. I am paying 165 each way as a Flycard holder.

If you are going to miss the outbound , i would still call a few hours after the flight and say that you missed the flight and just booked on another airline. Call and make sure they didnt drop the whole reservation and notify that you are still planning to fly the return.

Thanks; it is the opposite. i.e., dropping the inbound. Of course that if one does not show for the outbound the inbound would be cancelled.

BTW I still do not understand why airlines do not offer one way tickets that are not fully flexible.