So as regards to just not flying the last segment of a Oneworld Explorer ticket, I found this in the FAQ sticky:

"If you need to cancel after departure, all tickets other than those originating in SWP (no penalty) or Japan (lower of 10% penalty or JPY50,000) incur a 10% penalty. You may get a refund of the unused portion of your ticket based on the cost of the flights used to date and the penalty due."

But earlier on another thread I was told my have to pay the point to point fare.

Which is correct - or do I have to pay both a penalty and the fare??

One other option - what if I check in for my final flight but don't board??? Would I still have to pay a penalty? I know that is really sneaky but I can't afford to pay the point to point fare.

Simply do not bother yourself with this last leg thing...just make sure you cancel any confirmed reservations and you're fine. Don't worry about it.

There are a number of posts in different threads about the question of not flying the last segment (or more) or a RTW ticket.

I see this as two seperate but fairly simple issues.

One is what the rules say. RTW tickets have complicated sets of rules to try to ensure that they are used by global tourists not cheap business people like me. When you get your ticket issued you will have abided by the rules. If you get a ticket reissued, it will still be within the rules. But if you fail to return to your origin (or certain nearby points layed out in the rules), then you no longer have a valid RTW ticket. The correct solution in these cases is for the airline to reprice what you have already flown as point-to-point fares, then subtract what you paid - less 10% penalty for many originations. Anything left over, in the unlikely event there is anything, would be refunded. Or far more likely, the airline will want to collect the fare difference, which could be many, many thousands on a first class RTW with 18 or so sectors already flown.

OK, the second issue is - will they catch you and will you get penalized. The answer to that is unclear, but it seems pretty unlikely you will get caught if you are just dropping the last sector or two, and you aren't making a habit of it. But for sure if the airlines catch on they will enforce the rules.

It all comes down to how comfortable you are with the small but potentially expensive risk. Like driving way too fast on deserted interstates in the USA...

Thanks for the info.

Sorry, I didn't find anything on the search facility (am in Cambodia too and internet is slow enough without waiting for a search).

Anyway, yes I understand about the 10 per cent penalty, that is in my travel agent's conditions and also in, for example, the online conditions for British Airways.

What I, and I know others too, don't get is that how we can be expected to pay for the point to point fares if there is no notice of those on the conditions I was given when I purchased the ticket (and I certainly can't see anything about point to point fares in that, just the stuff about the 10 per cent penalty which is fair enough). As far as I know, in English law at least, you are bound by terms and conditions which you agree to and have notice of when you buy a ticket!

Sorry if this seems like a basic thing to you guys, but I am a round the world ticket virgin and have no idea about all this! And I certainly wouldn't recommend them to anyone else after all the nitty gritty that you have to know about it.

Please remember that RTW tickets are very suitable and rather straightforward to use for normal leisure travel when you are actually making it around the globe, do not be afraid to recommend them for your friends. If used for point-to-point travel, or many return trips, they require good knowledge about the rules and restrictions so that one can play with multiple tickets etc. accordingly.

When you buy a ticket and fly a flight you are somehow bound by the Conditions of Carriage or whatever the airline calls it. You are supposed to read it, just like you're supposed to read the back of your car rental contract. The fact that no one does is probably no excuse.

As to that 10% penalty that seems like it may be a bargain - if I understand it, what they're saying is if you paid USD10000 for an AOWE3 and didn't finish it, the first thing the airline is going to do is credit you with $ 9000 - 10% less than you paid. Then they're going to add up the point to point fares for the segments you've already flown to see how much you owe them. If all you've done is flown the first segment - say LAX-LHR - the airline will charge you the one way first-class fare, and if it happens to be less than $9000 will give you the difference. If you've flown more segments (or even that one - I don't really know the unrestricted fares) you will end up owing the airline big bucks - minus that $9000 of course.

It's your choice - you "probably" won't get caught (except that the airlines do read flyertalk.)