Shows that the intent wasn't there instead of being a complete no-show. He could have "gotten sick" at the airport. ;)

Yep. I believe that it would be better to show the intend to fly the last segment. It could be a hidden city thing too.

I recently skipped the last segment and heard at the luggage carousel when they were paging me at the gate.,

Why? Arriving in ORD from an international destination requires picking up the bags. Here's an idea: when you pick up the bags, just rip off the tag, walk up to check-in in T1, and proceed the same way you would as if you day had begun in Chicago.

Right, but I'm totally confused with this thread. Based on the OP, it appears the guy is flying LAX-DEN-BZN; then will fly BZN-ORD-LAX. If we're talking about the BZN that's in Montana, U.S.A., that flight will not arrive at the int'l terminal. ;)

I saw the mention of the WAW-ORD flight...so in that case, yes, bags are not an issue.

Right! Rereading this, I'm equally confused. It appears your point about the bags holds very much true, my apologies.

Right.

Assuming that BZN-ORD-LAX is all one day:

Check in at BZN and just print (or have them print) both BPs
Do NOT check bags.
Walk off the BZN-ORD flight and just keep walking.
Don't say anything to anyone, don't ask anybody anything, just walk away.
Don't write later and ask for your miles.

In brief, don't do anything to call attention to yourself and especially to the fact that it is you intent to not use the ORD-LAZ ticket.

If you do this occasionally nothing will happen. Just don't make a habit of it.

Ack! Sorry to have utterly confused everyone!

The full itinerary is:

LAX-DEN-BZN (6/24)
BZN-ORD (6/27)

connecting to

ORD-WAW (6/27, on a separate ticket)

WAW-ORD (7/10, on the same separate ticket)

connecting to

ORD-LAX (7/10 on the originally described ticket)

husband wanted to skip this leg and buy a new (3rd) ticket that goes ORD-BOS (7/10) and BOS-LAX (7/15).

Geez, I hope I haven't made things worse! :)

In hindsight, I probably should have purchased the ORD-LAX leg as a separate one-way, so then if he needed to change/cancel, it would have been easier and he would have gotten a credit for it.

FWIW, this is the most complicated set of bookings I've ever done...live and learn (and read FlyerTalk), I guess.

Anyway, I just didn't want husband getting in trouble for skipping out on that last leg.

It's clear now. :)

Go ahead and check-in for the ORD-LAX on 7/10 but don't show. And of course, buy an ORD-BOS-LAX so he can get home.

Ok, I went ahead and purchased the new ticket ORD-BOS-LAX. "Upgrading" the BOS-LAX portion (UA 163) to a Q-UP was only $230 more than doing the entire trip in Y, so I went for the Q-UP. I think husband will be pleasantly surprised :)

Thanks to all for the advice.

How Will United React To This?
 

I've had premier status for the last two years and
don't want to do anything "wrong".

I live in the east coast and am moving to CA.
I also need a holiday between jobs.

So I thought I redeem a round trip ticket
to Hawaii from the east coast to coincide
with my move to the west coast. So on the
way back I would get off at SFO and
not use the remaining portion of the ticket
(LAX/SFO to east coast).

Can I do this? Will it cause problems in
the future?

Before you dismiss my question as being
trivial, remember, airlines can be funny. I knew someone who
was flying JFK-ORD-LAX. However, at the time
of depature he was near ORD so he just got to
that airport and they denied him boarding.

In the case of your friend, the airline was not "funny" and denied him boarding simply because fares are different JFK-LAX and ORD-LAX. Prices are not always the same because of a variety of reasons (competition being on top). If you throw away the remaining part of the ticket, you won't have any problem. Don't expect to use the LAX/SFO to east coast at a later date. Since you are allowed a stopover, make one in your transit city so in case of delayed/cancellation they don't reroute you to ORD.

(Stopovers are allowed between mainland and HI right?)

Yep, stopovers are allowed and correct in all ways.:)

What you are talking about is "throw-away ticketing." You throw away the last segment of the ticket. As long as you don't make a habit of it, you won't have a problem just not showing up for the last segment.

Your friend got into trouble because the segment he "threw away" was not the last one. The airline will cancel any segments after the "throw-away" or missed segment of a reservation.

If you do this, just be sure you do not check luggage as it may very well continue on to your final ticketed destination without you.

Why don't you just book an open-jaw east coast-Hawaii-SFO to begin with?

Can you do this online? Or does it have to be done with an agent?