Purchased RT, now only need one way

[san diego sue]

I hastily purchased a ticket RT, getting off cruise in Europe and flying home to US. Then flying back to Europe to use the round trip. Well, I picked a date that may not get me on a ship later. Ticket was really reasonable buying the round trip instead of one way. Has anyone just used the one way and how did you handle the second half of ticket. Did the airline penalize you later for that?

I will call the airline later on and see if I can change the date of return. I really don't care if I lose that as the round trip is less cost than one way.

I am more concerned with being put on a no fly list or some kind of security issue if the ticket is not used.

Any one use only one way ticket home from Europe and not use the ticket back. We are US citizens.

Thanks for any feedback.

[Toto2Kansas]

I would post this on the cruise/air board, lots of answers will be given to you here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=128

[yyzatcqq]

People do it all the time. My only personal recommendation, is don't use your Frequent Flyer number if you plan on doing it often. Once in a blue moon, they'll never do anything about it if you toss the return portion in the garbage.

[Steelers36]

I do not see you ending up on a No Fly list. You can contact the airline in question the day before your return flight to Europe and advise them that you are unable to travel. No doubt they will advise you that you have some remaining dollar value in the ticket and there will be a change fee charged on top to re-book a new date. And the ticket will expire - probably 12 mths after the original purchase date. If you never use that ticket, the airline is not going to care. They got revenue without using a seat - a seat they potentially re-sold to someone else.

[Loonbeam]

Actually, that's incorrect. Based on almost all airlines contract of carriage, if you do not use the return leg of the itinerary (or rebook it) they have the right to charge you the difference between the RT fare and OW fare AND a change fee.

 

Now, that doesn't mean they will, but the agency I work with has seen it happen many times and now advises people against it. (I'm not a TA btw, I just use them and sometimes fix their PCs. - Just in case there is rule against TAs posting here, should have mentioned it earlier).

 

The no-fly list is not an issue, just financial.

[san diego sue]

Thanks for the responses. I was planning on calling them before the flight and canceling it or seeing if I could use it the following year. I did give them my frequent flyer number. In fact I had just opened the account, my first time using the numbers.

[chasinraynbowz]

Just an FYI -

 

For us in Memphis, sometimes its cheaper to fly out of (and return to) Little Rock.

 

Not too long ago, one of the women in my office flew to the West Coast out of Little Rock. On her return trip, the plane stopped in Memphis and then headed back to Little Rock. Since she was needing to be here, she got off the plane. A few weeks later, there was a charge on her CC statement for the price difference.

 

So you never know.......

[san diego sue]

I just posted this on Princess board but thought I should here as well.

We are taking a transatlantic in May and getting off in Great Britain. I bought

a round trip ticket home to California and later back to London for the round trip. cost was far less than one way home. I thought I could take advantage of the second leg with another transatlantic home later. Dates don't work out

now. Can I use the one way home? has anyone done this and what is the penalty? I am planning on calling the airline and see if I can change the return ticket for a later date.Right now the dates only go to August so I can't change it yet. Or should I just dump the return ticket as the RT was much cheaper than the one way ticket would have been.

I thought maybe I would be put on a no fly list for Homeland security. Don't want that issue, if we don't use the other half of ticket.

I am getting nervous and may just call the airlines and change it to one way and pay the difference.

[Waimea'sMom]

I have done it in the past, but to be honest, I was a nervous wreck when I did. As others posted, they have the right to charge you the difference in the fee from the roundtrip to the one way ticket price.

 

I waffled back and forth over whether to notify the airline in advance or to try to fly under the radar (no pun intended). In the end, it was highly stressful and I probably wouldn't do it again. But nothing was ever charged to me after the fact. I think they probably just assumed I missed the second half of my flight.

 

I think it would probably have been more suspicious to miss the first leg then show up for the second...

[san diego sue]

To Waimea's Mom,

I am nervous already. Not worth the stress. if I don't use the ticket and get charged the difference, at this point , Okay. I was more concerned about security issues.

[6rugrats]

As long as you use the FIRST leg of the ticket, you are fine. If you try and skip the first leg and use the second, you will find your ticket has been cancelled, because you were a no show for the first flight.

 

Do not notify the airlines if you plan to do this; there will be no penalty for missing the next flight.

 

It's not clear to me what the date of your ticket was, but you can't extend the return (the one you think you probably won't use) more than a year from the original purchase date of your ticket. To change it, you'll have to pay whatever your airline's change fee is (usually $250) plus any difference in fare for the new flight.

[6rugrats]

I think it would probably have been more suspicious to miss the first leg then show up for the second...

Not suspicious; if you miss the first leg of your itinerary, your entire ticket will be cancelled.

[6rugrats]

To Waimea's Mom,

I am nervous already. Not worth the stress. if I don't use the ticket and get charged the difference, at this point , Okay. I was more concerned about security issues.

 

I know people who do this on a frequent basis, and no one I know has ever been charged any difference in fare, YMMV. Airlines process thousands and thousands of tickets daily, and if you haven't made a habit of it, I have no idea how they would even find this. Anyone could get sick and miss a flight. I would not worry about it, but we each have to decide what's best for us. There is no security issue.

[Sandy R]

A few years ago, I did what you're proposing to do... I booking a round-trip from Japan to the U.S.(using miles), knowing we would not be using the 2nd half of the ticket. I posted on flyertalk.com, whether to call the airline or not. The majority of flyers said don't notify the airline, so I didn't. Although, nothing happened and I never heard from the airline, I felt guilty not calling and giving an excuse as to why we couldn't do the return flight. If I had it to do over again, I think I would call and let them know the seats would be vacant. Now many airlines are allowing one-way fares using miles, which is convenient when taking a cruise and only flying one-way.

[san diego sue]

Just purchased it, so one year from purchase date is September. Right now I have an August date for return. There is a chance we can use this ticket if I can get it changed to end of August. So none of this may be an issue.

I found a cruise leaving later in the month of August to get us back to US. Prices on cruise still too high but if they are reduced and I can change my fly date, doable.

Thank you for your response both here and on the Princess board.

:D

[san diego sue]

Thanks for all your replies.:D

[6rugrats]

You're welcome. Hope you can find a way to use the other half of your ticket, but if not, you're still ahead!

[robgvic]

Just an FYI -

 

For us in Memphis, sometimes its cheaper to fly out of (and return to) Little Rock.

 

Not too long ago, one of the women in my office flew to the West Coast out of Little Rock. On her return trip, the plane stopped in Memphis and then headed back to Little Rock. Since she was needing to be here, she got off the plane. A few weeks later, there was a charge on her CC statement for the price difference.

 

So you never know.......

 

Im curious what airline that was. I'm not sure it is legal for them to keep your credit card number. If you book through an agent they can go back on them but not on you I think. That is true for canada

[san diego sue]

When I booked on line, question was asked did I want credit card number on file, I responded no.

Don't want to post airline but it is one of the major ones.:D

oop's I thought you were asking me that question, I see it was for another poster.

[srlafleur]

Just an FYI -

 

For us in Memphis, sometimes its cheaper to fly out of (and return to) Little Rock.

 

Not too long ago, one of the women in my office flew to the West Coast out of Little Rock. On her return trip, the plane stopped in Memphis and then headed back to Little Rock. Since she was needing to be here, she got off the plane. A few weeks later, there was a charge on her CC statement for the price difference.

 

So you never know.......

 

I'm curious how they would even know that she got off in Memphis, unless she told them and had checked baggage that they had to dig out. Other than that, she could have gotten off and just "missed" the plane.

[mytime53]

I tried doing this once, because the 1 way was 2x the price of a RT. We ended up having such a great time that we used the 2nd half, and then had to find our way home again:D

[ColoCruze]

DH once did something similar...He was stuck in Denver in a snowstorm trying to get to us in Houston (hometown) for Christmas. There was no room at all on flights to Houston, but he did get on one to Dallas that went through Houston. He got off after the first leg and told the gate agents that he wasn't continuing to Dallas. They were actually relieved, as they needed the seat from overbooking. Nothing ever happened beyond that. So it may not be a big deal after all. I think calling them the day before to say you can't make the flight is the best plan.

[vacation fool]

I had asked the same question a while back on this forum but regarding Air France. I know most of the US based airlines might not come after you for the price difference but what about European airlines? The roundtrip would cost approx 100.00 US and a one way is 700.00 US! (Paris to Venice)I did not book it for fear they would come after us. Have any of you done this with this airline? Thanks

[Globaliser]

You can contact the airline in question the day before your return flight to Europe and advise them that you are unable to travel.

I think calling them the day before to say you can't make the flight is the best plan.

Whatever you (the OP) do, DO NOT DO THIS.

 

People's plans change all the time. Unexpected things can happen, and people can miss their flights. So if your ticket is changeable, and you want to change it, then it's fine to call the airline.

 

But if you buy a round-trip ticket and you simply don't intend to use the second half, the airline does have the right to charge you the full fare for the travel you are actually intending to undertake. So if you're going to no-show for your flight and you're going to throw away the ticket because you have no intention of using the second half of the ticket, it could be like a red rag to a bull to tell the airline that you should have paid the higher fare for the one-way ticket - and the airline can in theory come after you for the balance.

 

Keep quiet, and the airline is most unlikely to do anything to a one-off offender when they are unsure about why you failed to show up for your flight home.

He was stuck in Denver in a snowstorm trying to get to us in Houston (hometown) for Christmas. There was no room at all on flights to Houston, but he did get on one to Dallas that went through Houston. He got off after the first leg and told the gate agents that he wasn't continuing to Dallas. They were actually relieved, as they needed the seat from overbooking. Nothing ever happened beyond that.

If there are irregular operations, and people are struggling to get where they're going, the rule book usually gets thrown out of the window. So this is a different situation, and everyone is glad of everyone else's help.

 

But unless it's this sort of situation, there really is no advantage to alerting the airline to the fact that they have now got the right to charge you the extra money, whether they then choose to do so or not.

[Globaliser]

I'm curious how they would even know that she got off in Memphis, unless she told them and had checked baggage that they had to dig out. Other than that, she could have gotten off and just "missed" the plane.

The airline might have a Memphis address for the passenger or associated with the passenger's frequent flyer number, or the flight might have been bought with a credit card with a Memphis address.

 

Then, if flights to/from Memphis are known to be expensive (which is frequently the case for a hub city), the passenger flies AAA-MEM-BBB-MMM, and then they inexplicably fail to show up for the last sector MMM-AAA, it really doesn't take a genius to work out what's very likely to have happened. So the credit card charge goes on. For practical as well as legal reasons, the ball is then in the passenger's court to show why it was legitimate for them to miss the flight.

 

I'd be surprised if this was a once off thing. But if it's the only time this particular passenger did it, then the airline may have been running a general revenue protection campaign against everyone who was missing the last flight from MEM. It's not difficult for an airline to mine their databases and list every passenger who has flown AAA-MEM-BBB-MEM and then failed to show up for the MMM-AAA flight. And if the airline runs this sort of campaign, word soon gets around that it's not worth trying this stunt.