Question about checking in.
 

Dear all,
I have a question. I have booking ****** and booking XXXXX. They are both to the same destination, just the timing is bad for both. Booking ***** has the bad timing on the outbound journey and booking XXXX has the bad inbound/ return journey.
I was wondering if I fly with the XXXX for the outbound journey, and still check in my with ***** booking, but dont show up, can I still use my ***** booking on my return leg, and just ditch the XXXX return leg?

Thank you and hope you guys understand!

SB

If I understand you right, it is not possible as the inbound flight will be cancelled should you not turn up for the initial outbound flight. Of course could be some special ticket condition you have but otherwise I'd say no...

My brother tried this (albeit with a different airline) last year. He ended up having to buy a new ticket to get home... (And he got home half a day later than planned as his original flight was full)

The rules say, this is not possible.

As soon as you skip/do not fly one segment, all other segments will be forfeited/cancelled.

In practice however I have been in the situation where I missed my outgoing flight and took a car to my destination instead. Checking in for the return flight was possible nevertheless.
I didn't try at the airport to actually fly that flight though but took the car back.

And I have heard of people actually succeeding to fly on the later segments.

I would consider that a positive accident however and would never rely on such a thing working for you.

It probably will not work out as pointed out above.

My guess is that your option is to pay the fee and changing your return so it does fit your needs.

The change fee + costs for higher fare bucket may be cheaper than buying a new ticket.

Depends on the airline. On Aer Lingus this would work no problem. On KLM, it wouldn't.

On KLM, if you miss a segment, all remaning segments will be cancelled, unless you have the airline intervene and "protect" the remainder of your reservation. This could occur, for instance, if you made contact with the airline before the missed segment, or immediately after check in has closed/departure, provided you can provide a satisfactory explanation for having missed the flight and the agent you speak to being sympathetic.

Say I check-in and on my return day, I am able to check in online (hypertheratically), do you think there is a chance I will be denied boarding? Or if I get checked in, I will be allowed on?

Sincerely,

SB

I guess so, as you will be classified as a no show and this in turn cancels the rest of your booking...

I don't think there is any hypothetical about it - unless it's a very short trip, ie the return is within ~24 hours of the outbound which means that in theory you can check in for the return before the outbound has departed, I don't see how you would be able to check in for the return leg of any trip for which you did not actually take the outbound. (Just checking-in for the outbound, but not showing up for it, won't be enough to keep the reservation alive. At some stage after the departure of the flight for which you did not show up, your reservation will be cancelled).