Change return destination without fee possible?
 

My college student daughter has a RT using points from Fargo to Johannesburg for school in May. She flies through MSP both ways. She has now been notified that she has been selected for a summer intern position in Minneapolis that begins the morning after her late evening return flight. She will be passing through Mpls. on her way to Fargo and we would like her to be able to end the flight in Mpls without paying the $100 change fee if possible. Is there a way? (For instance, what would happen if she simply did not get on the plane from MSP to FAR? Would this delay the flight for the rest of the passengers? Would her luggage be taken off the flight as it is on the first leg of a flight or would it continue on to Fargo without her?) Thanks for your help.

that should be no problem, just tell them at check-in to only check the luggage to MSP, they shouldn't have a problem with that, in fact, if you want to be nice, after you've gotten to MSP, and have your luggage, give NWA a call and tell them you're not going on the last leg, and free up a seat for other passengers.

Welcome to flyertalk.

This is against the rules and I would not risk letting them know. When you arrive internationally you'll have to take your luggage through customs and it is your choice to check it back in for the last segment of your trip. You can simply skip that and walk out with your luggage in MSP. They'll miss her for the last segment but that won't be the only reason why people miss their flight, it's taken into account with overbooking and such. Just don't make a habit of this.

I agree.

This is true only if her flight includes AMS-MSP. If she is flying AMS-DTW-MSP or some other route, this will not work well and her luggage will be checked to FAR.

I have heard of people being required to check their luggage at the point of international entry if they have the luggage tags on them to another destination. I think I only read it once here on FT. So if it were me, I would probably pull the luggage tags off as soon as the luggage comes off the baggage carousel if MSP is your first point of entry into the US.

originally posted by fti:
This is true only if her flight includes AMS-MSP. If she is flying AMS-DTW-MSP or some other route, this will not work well and her luggage will be checked to FAR.

Yes, she will go through DTW, so will go through customs there.

Guess we will be paying the fee.....the good news is that she got a summer intern job, and with the economy the way it is, that is really something! So paying the fee because of that is a good reason to pay.

Thank you all for your help with this.