Throwaway ticketing
 

Do airlines actually do anything if you buy a [significantly less-expensive] round-trip ticket but only travel one way? Would the miles still post for the portion that you did fly?

Last April, I had to fly one-way from Boston to Allentown, PA. The cost of a round trip ticket was significantly less than a one-way. Used the southbound portion of the ticket, tossed away the return since there is it was a non-refundable ticket. US would not give me credit towards a future flight purchase without charging the $75 changing fee. Mileage was only credited for the one segment that was flown. Mileage is not credited when a ticket is purchased but only when you actually surrender your boarding pass.

However, you could have the return portion scheduled for a date in the distant future in hopes you might end up flying one way back to your origination city again.

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[This message has been edited by MileageAddict (edited 02-12-2000).]

You will get the mileage for the portion you fly. Mileage Addict is right that with the change fee, it is generally uneconomic to use the return at a later date. The airlines will tell you that if you do this they will somehow punish you. It's hard to enforce, but remember, thanks to Y2K, a lot of these folks have taken the opportunity to rewrite their software. They now know a great deal more about us than they did. If this were a recurring thing, they might pick up on it, and decide to do something. In addition to possibly trying to collect a one way fare (hard to do), they also have the right to limit participation in their frequent flyer program (a remedy they frequently remind us of in small print in their collateral material). Bottom line, you can do it and get your miles, but don't abuse it 'cause big brother is watching.

Here's another question for the pros out there. I just bought a ticket SFO-EWR-LGW-EWR-SFO on CO and just realized that I may not be able to fly the SFO-EWR segment in 10 days (mainly since I am still in EWR). I will call the airline to try to change the originating flight to EWR-LGW but I am sure that they will want to change me some change fee. I was wondering...what happens if I call CO up and say that I won't be using the SFO-EWR segment. Will they keep the rest of my record in place? Thanks...

I have been successful in canceling one segment of a trip that way. It was a long time ago and I don't rememer which airline. Good luck!

the best chances of getting an airline to cancel a segment is to be elite and have a good story. i have used the excuse of being stuck in traffic and already being at an intermediate point with varying levels of success. i think as long as there isnt a big difference in fares you can usually find a sympathetic agent/. also try at a CTO or airport for best results.

good luck

you have a potential problem. If you no-show the first segment, all the other legs on this booking automatically cancel. You also don't qualify as an "open jaw". because your origination and return cities are too far apart. Basically, you now will have a point to point ticket. It's probably a good idea to go right to Customer Care and explain what happened. This is a ticket that could become very expensive. You might be better off buying a new one, and reusing this with a change fee on some other trip.

Re: cancelling one segment in an iterinary

I was scheduled A-B-C-B-A. B-A was rescheduled to be before C-B arrives and the only aternative was five hours earlier or ten hours later.

Hence I called and asked to have A-B and B-A cancelled since I could get to B easily. I called the elite line but after a few minutes got cascaded down to what I believe was regular reservations.

She put me on hold and said the best she could do was refund my whole reservation or re-price the reservation as B-C R/T (twice as much). I told her that it is unacceptable for them to hold my money for months and then because of their schedule change cancel my trip. I asked to be transferred to the elite desk.

She transferred me there and I told a new agent the exact same story. He said he had no problem cancelling out those segments. I still could not convince him to credit me those cancelled segments as flown. I'll take it up with Customer Relations if it ends up I need them for re-qual. I just got my confirmation in the mail and I'm only scheduled B-C and back.

I've also done this in the past due to airline schedule changes. No problems WHEN I get through to the elite desk. However, I've never done it due to my fault, so YMMV. However, it's obvious it pays to be elite!

I think the rule that dg1 got to flex is "involuntary rerouting." I had this happen to me when I was coming back from LHR in January. They ended up sending me on a direct flight instead of point-to-point without a penalty.

You might try REALLY confusing them and walk up to the EWR counter and check in with the second coupon. I would guess that this is going to require a lot of smiles at an agent for a positive outcome, however.

First of all, do not simply ignore the first coupon and walk up to the counter in EWR expecting to check in for your flight to Gatwick. Your reservation will already have been cancelled. The airlines are not required to accept ticket coupons out of order, and ordinarily will not do so.

The good news, is that, contrary to one of the posts above, your remaining itinerary is a perfectly good open jaw. In fact, buying a ticket EWR-LGW-SFO as an open jaw (or award ticket), with or without a connection in EWR on the return, would not be a problem. The catch is that, since you are changing your routing, they might insist on re-pricing the ticket at today's price. A better result would be if they just re-issued the ticket showing the new routing, based on availability in the originally ticketed fare class, plus, probably, a change fee. If the agent's attitude suggests you're going to have a problem, I recommend you take that important call that just came in on call waiting or your cell phone and start again later with a different agent.

Reason open jaw is ok:
Distance SFO-EWR is shorter than either EWR-LGW or LGW-SFO.

I stand corrected on the open jaw theory (was using my experience on domestic transcon trips). Out of curiousity, I called the airline and was told such a trip would qualify, but not necessarily under every fare. Presumably, the lower the fare basis, potentially the more problematic. Bottom line: if they want to be helpful, they can be, although it may cost a few bucks.

About a year ago, I needed to travel BWI to ATL rt. The 21 day advance fare with a Sat stay was about $180. I wasn't staying over a Sat, so the fare would have been $1,000. I asked my travel agent about purchasing two rt's and they booked me that way. First was BWI-ATL-BWI. Second was ATL-BWI-ATL. I used the first leg on each of the two rt's and paid $360.

6 months later, I got a charge from DL for $1,380. The travel agency said it was because of a "tarriff violation". After 6 months of arguing with the agency (they booked the tickets, they should know the rules) they ate the charge from DL.

Got to keep the miles, though http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

It's easy to get caught this way, especially if you are getting ff mileage on both ticktes or using the same credit card for both bookings.

If you really want to aviod this use different airlines for each leg. In your case, it would have been easy to use both US and DL, nonstop each way.

TW

Wow 100 posts.

I was expecting something for becoming 1C

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

TW

MarshB,

If you choose to do back-to-back, which is not recommended, do not involve a travel agency.

I have not heard of a story of a consumer who got charged back, however, the number of debit memos like the one you describe gets sent to travel agencies all the time. And travel agencies are stuck because the airlines threaten to pull their plates for non-payment. Whereas, a consumer has a choice not to do business with that airline, the travel agency does not have the same choice.

The travel agency acts as an intermediary between you and the airline and as such, they do not have the deep pockets like the airline. A travel agency would have to sell approx. $26,000 worth of tickets to make up for the $1300 loss you describe. That's a lot of tickets.

Food for thought.

Good points, sggolf, but I still believe that the travel agency is responsible for knowing the different tarriff rules. They acted as my agent and should have advised me not to book that way. I simply asked the question. They booked the ticket. The obviously agreed with me as the issued a credit in full. As far as the amount of tickets they must sell, since they're hitting me with a $20 fee with every flight booking, it eases their burden for THEIR mistake.

In the future, if I found the need to take the risk, I would certainly use different airlines. . . and probably book them myself (don't thing the travel agent would eat another fee.)

A good travel agent would never do a back to back on the same airline. Airlines look for the following 6 things to see if back to back might be going on:
1)Same passenger name.
2)Same ARC number from issuing orgin.
3)Same FF number of passenger.
4)Same form of payment(ie same credit card).
5)same or similar dates and itin involved.
6)same date of ticket issue.

If 3 or more of the above click, the airlines will check into this.

If you are unable to fly on two different airlines then one should book one ticket with the travel agent and have the agent or yourself book the other ticket directly with the airline, or on the airlines web site or with a different travel agent.

If you do not have access to a travel agent and need to do a back to back try to do the following so the airlines don't try to confiscate your ticket at the gate(they have done this in the past).

1)Buy you tickets from different people/companies.
2)Change your first name slightly or use an inital.
3)Buy your tickets on different dates.
4)Use two different credit cards.
Change the return dates.

If you configure the tickets so you end up using all 4 segments, it is not a back to back. Some of the airlines might disagree but if you read the rules it is legal.

Continental and AeroMexico have threatned Travel agents that if passengers do not use the return portion of their tickets, they will treat the ticket as a one way fare and charge the issuing agency with the difference. Can you imagine buying a value meal from Mcdonald's and after eating the hamburger deciding not to eat the Fries. If Mcdonald operated like the airlines they would say since you did not eat the full meal you are not entitiled to the value discount so you would owe them the differnce between what you paid and what the ala cart items add up to.

My mom and I have booked a domestic ticket in France on Air Liberte. As I am entitled to get the teenager discount, so I just purchase a one way ticket. However, as my mom doesn´t qualify, so she has to buy a return (of coz she won´t use the return portion) We are planning to credit the points to the AA account, do u think we will get a bill later on.

We will also have another trip in Europe doing the same thing with a really small regional airline, but the ticket was ticketed in Canada. Now, I start to scare that I will get a huge bill after the trip, as the difference between a one way and return is huge.

Anyone can give me any ideas, I would be really appreciate.

Arlines have never billed anyone for unused portions of tickets. They have threatend to send debit memo's to travel agencies but as of yet they are just threats. Airlines have confiscated back to back tickets at the gate and denied boarding unless the full fare has been paid---this has happend to premium FF members!!!!!

Outrageous! Another reason not to fly Delta. Don't they know which side of the butter their bread is on?

That reminds me of an article I read on biztravel.com about how Coke has no problem if you buy a 2 liter bottle for $.99 cents from a gas station when they are selling the 20 oz size for $1.19, only drink about 20 oz, and throw away the rest. Only the airline industry. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

When I am stuck in coach I have fun explaining the ridiculous rules to other passengers. What awe I see http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Is the airline industry the only one where an oversupplied perishable commodity (seats on a flight) becomes MORE expensive as the expiration deadline approaches?
Maybe there should be a little auction in front of the gate for unsold seats ten minute before each flight. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

The sailboat I race on is participating in the Pacific Cup race from San Francisco to Hawaii this year. Race crew sails over, then flies back. Meanwhile, the delivery crew flies over and sails the boat back to San Francisco. Used to be, in the days before they checked IDs, you could buy a roundtrip ticket and the delivery crew used the first part and the race crew used the second part.
Now I'm expecting everyone will need round-trip tix and throw away one part - unless the $75 change fee can be applied to change a name on a ticket and two people could use the one round-trip ticket. Anyone ever been successful at doing that?

If you want a different perosn to use a return portion of your restricted ticket, the only way to do this is to have the original passenger check in and give the boarding pass to the person who will be boarding the plane. This would not work on international flights becuase airlines sometimes recheck passenger ID when you board. Be advised that if something happens to the plane (it crashes, gets rerouted to a different city . . . . ) you may not get the same compensation as the other passengers.

More useful information from the past. Anyone know the status of various court cases related to this?

Will the new Congress get around to changing the legislation this term?

[This message has been edited by BlondeBomber (edited 11-22-2000).]

Congress will likely say nothing on the matter; it is a contractual issue between
airliners and their pax.

[This message has been edited by essxjay (edited 11-23-2000).]

anyway, the will only regulate/effect inner USA-flights.

You can count on the Dutchman for a good FF program thread.