I have LHR-VCE-LHR as part of a DONE4 which I am considering not flying (mainly due to having to transfer LHR-LGW and vice versa).

I know there have been discussion about not flying segments and making sure to cancel them with the airline (to avoid a no show) - but I think these have been in the context of dated tickets.

So if one has an open dated xONEx, and the segments in question have yet to be booked onto flights, am I correct in assuming that since there is no PNR for these segments, I can just not book them, tear out the coupons from the booklet, and just turn up for the next segment (LHR-NRT) as if nothing happened? I am not sure what the alternative would be as I calling an airline to cancel a segment which is open dated is just likely to confuse the CSA.

I understand the general terms of carriage that coupons are used in the order they appear. But in the case of an open dated ticket, untill each segment is booked onto a flight/date, there is no PNR. When one books each segment one provides the airline with the ticket number and then presents that ticket at check-in. I understand if I presented a ticket with unused coupons in the book before the one I was attempting to use. But if in the above scenario there are no previous coupons (and the check in agent has no way of knowing whether they were flown or just torn out and thrown out) - so how could it possible be an issue?

It will be fine - no problem - I have done this a few times.

Are you planning to reissue your ticket at some point in the future and use those segments for other flights?

This is a question to which I do not know the answer. Does the ticket reissue need to be done before you use a coupon for a subsequent flight?

Are these the last two segments of your RTW ticket? If so, you may well get away with it. But if there are more segments that follow that you intend to use, I think you might run into a problem. All sectors must be flown in sequence, so you can't skip some. That requries a re-issue of the ticket. I would not be risking the remaining flight for the sake of paying the re-issue fee.

Always better to play it "safe" (and reissue) but I certainly have ripped 'em out and thrown 'em away w/o any problem whatsoever.

No I am planning to not use them - a combination of time availability and the hassle of doing LAX-LHR//LGW-VCE-LGW//LHR-NRT.......(will be doing it with an infant, and ultimately trying to get back to BKK to start another DONE4 and then onto Australia to visit the relatives with the new mini-alect.

NM, I understand the rule of flying coupons in order. But in reality the LHR-VCE-LHR segments would most likely be booked on a separate PNR. And if I then turned up to check in for the next segment, how would the check in agent know if I had flown the segments other than the fact that the coupons were missing? It would be different if all segments were on the same PNR (ie dated coupons).

Have to say i have had experience of getting away with flying coupons out of order (inadvertently) with success (or check in agent error) but wouldn't rely on it.

Lots of ifs. Is it worth the risk that it does get noticed for the sake of $75?

Dave

How can it possibly be noticed? There is no linkage required between reservations and Open-dated tickets. My AONEs use, on average about 6 different reservations during their life, and some of those never even have a ticket number associated with them in advance. There is simply no way that the airline could possibly show that you have thrown away an open-dated coupon, and certainly no way for a check-in agent to perform any lookups on the system to investigate.

Of course all this only applies if you use open-dated tickets.