Has anyone ever attempted this before?
 

I would like to book a flight to atlanta for mid may. From my home city to Atlanta the cheapest tickets are about 300 bucks each. If I change my destination city to West palm beach but still ahve a layover in atlanta....my tickets go down to like 150 bucks each! My question is if I just pretend to miss my flight and stay in atlanta will they allow me to use my return tickets if the layover is through atlanta as well????

Welcome to FT, rustyjones!

This is frequently asked here. Quick summary of the answers you're likely to get: Very probably not. If you miss any flight, the airline is likely to cancel all of your remaining trip.

Can you have a stopover in Atlanta on this ticket? If so, why not just fly the extra sectors to save the money you want to save, and have your stopover in Atlanta either on the way out or on the way back?

Plus you get extra miles. Extra flight can't be that long...

If you do not return from West Palm Beach you will be considered a "no show" and the entire flight with connection will be cancelled. You will not be allowed to board in Atlanta on that ticket without paying a penalty that would pretty much equal or exceed your original $300 fare. The airlines were on to this scenario ages ago.

Welcome to FT. You can't do it reliably, so I wouldn't attempt it. Based on what you've posted, it looks like you may be on a traditional legacy carrier. Have you looked at Airtran.com for ticket costs? You may find a less expensive ticket there between your departure city and ATL. There are other LCC's as well, depending on where you're coming from. And keep in mind, that sales do occur from time to time, if you don't want to pay the going rate.

Incidentally, the "throwaway city" trick used to be very common. Years ago, it was $300 cheaper to fly from ORD - DUB - SNN than to go ORD - DUB. I did exactly as you described (just de-planed at DUB and then boarded at DUB on the return), and it was fine. Nowadays, the airlines have pretty much wised up and will cancel the remainder of the itinerary if one skips any segments.

If I book a one way flight from home to beyond ATL, because it's cheaper,
and deplane in Atlanta, what can happen? I'll check-in and only get a
boarding pass to ATL. As I see it, I'm just a 'no show'.

I know if you 'no show' your return reservations will be cancelled.

thanks
Liz

On a one-way ticket you're fine, as long as you didn't check bags. But one-way tickets aren't the norm. Heck, I've been booking $197 round-trips and throwing away the return to avoid $350 one-way tickets.

In theory, the airline could bill the fare difference between the cost of a one-way ticket to FLL and a one-way ticket to ATL to the credit card used to pay for your ticket. In practice, that doesn't happen.

If you've managed to find cheap one-way fares, that's pretty sweet. Your biggest problem would be the fact that your checked luggage will continue on to FLL, so you also need to have only carry-on.

I take that back....your bigger problem might actually be getting home. If you book a one-way from FLL to whereever, via ATL, you will not be able to board your flight home if you don't board your flight in FLL.

that is a perfectly reasonable approach, though in the OP's situation, I am not sure 2 one-way tix (xxx-atl-pbi and atl-xxx) will be cheaper than the ~$300 xxx-ATL r/t tix. I could be mistaken though.

I'm going to another city after ATL and we be leaving from there on
a different carrier. I wouldn't have any checked luggage. I'm not
flying from Florida.

When I checked in, at home, how to I just print the boarding pass for
the first flight?

I agree this was done long before 911, all the time. You're just a no show.

You don't. Print the boarding pass for both flights, and then simply dispose of the unneeded boarding pass for your connection. Yes, they will page you....just ignore it if you're in the area.

I guess I'm a little confused. When you check in, at home, they expect
you on the flight, right? I don't want the flight to be delayed, because
I didn't show up, that's why I only wanted to check in for the first flight.

that is very kind of you, but based on recent experience, I would be very surprised if they actually delayed the flight for you. DL will usually page you up until 5 minutes before boarding and then consider you a no-show.

So I just deplane in ATL and forget it right? I guess I thought with
the new security measures they'd want to account for everyone. There
again your incoming flight could be late.