So....

On Friday I learn that a colleague and I must travel to the west coast on this coming Tuesday for a meeting on Wednesday 3 October.

I book us two tickets MHT-SMF and returning SNA-MHT on Friday. In the interim we have a meeting, lots of driving and an Aloha flight from RNO to SNA, but that is another story.

On Saturday, my colleague calls me and says he has a family obligation on Tuesday and will fly United to RNO and meet me, but will be able to travel home with me on NW on Friday from SNA.

We have a V fare MHT to SMF and P SNA-MHT (all that was available ).

He is willing to pay for his own ticket to RNO and allow me to be reimbursed the full amount by our employer, so that is not a huge issue. But, should I call NW ahead of time and tell them he will not be taking the MHT-SMF flight, but will be returning with me SNA-MHT? If he is a no show, will his homebound segment be cancelled? Should I move him to the seat next to me on the way out, in hopes that it remains empty?

Any ideas on the best way to play this out?

Thanks

If he isn't on the outbound segment, his entire itinerary is cancelled. I don't believe he can return with you. You need to call Northwest and see what you can hash out. But I wouldn't expect him to be able to catch any legs of any flights after the one he misses.

The family obligation needs to be rescheduled unless it's like, a funeral, or something.

The only way to change it would be to actually change the ticket, pay change fee..etc..

Otherwise NW will cancel all segments after the one missed.

You could keep the ticket as is, check him in on line and print off his boarding pass. Then on the outbound flights, get the GA to scan the boarding passes saying you booked two seats to hold the one next to you open...

It could work....(and then the guy would get the miles!)

I figured this wouldn't be easy.

Does the fact that it is a multi-city itinerary have any bearing? Might help...

Mulit city does not effect this. Airlines put this policy in place to prevent people from booking a round trip or multi city ticket at a lower price than a higher priced direct flight and then only use certain segments.

There are many times when a flight originating in a non hub city is much cheaper than a the hub to destination flight. So to prevent people from booking the non hub city flight when they only really wanted the flight from the hub does not work, as the connection will be cancelled if the first flight is missed.

OK, here's the scoop.

I called the Silver Elite line, ended up w/ nwa.com customer service. She told me to modify it through the web site (duh). I tried it, selecting Y for the new flight - $406 due. She recommended i book it and discuss it with someone at the airport. Sounds like a good plan to me - not.

I said thanks and hung up and canceled the transaction. Went through the web exercise again, selecting F instead of Y (original flight was P). Lo and behold, total cost to change ticket $0.01. So I put in all my CC info for a one penny charge, and all is good, as long as I can figure out how to pad my expense report for the extra cost .