# Using only 1/2 of Round Trip Ticket?



## hibbeln (Jan 31, 2010)

I know this has been discussed before, but after searching I couldn't find the thread.

Looking for a one-way ticket from Detroit to Washington-Dulles, the one way ticket is $485 and a round trip ticket is only $220.  I only need the first portion of the round trip flight.  

What happens if I purchase a round trip flight, but only use the first flight and don't use the "back home" portion of it?   Do men in dark glasses come pounding on our door in the dead of night and drag us from our beds?  Do we get a red flag on our airline account information?  Or is the airline just happy that a seat went unoccupied and saved them jet fuel?


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## ttt (Jan 31, 2010)

hibbeln said:


> I know this has been discussed before, but after searching I couldn't find the thread.
> 
> Looking for a one-way ticket from Detroit to Washington-Dulles, the one way ticket is $485 and a round trip ticket is only $220.  I only need the first portion of the round trip flight.
> 
> What happens if I purchase a round trip flight, but only use the first flight and don't use the "back home" portion of it?   Do men in dark glasses come pounding on our door in the dead of night and drag us from our beds?  Do we get a red flag on our airline account information?  Or is the airline just happy that a seat went unoccupied and saved them jet fuel?


If you cancel your return flight before it leaves for home, you may be entitled to a credit on future travel booked within a year of original booking, subject to a change fee which may be more then the credit.


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## hibbeln (Jan 31, 2010)

That's an interesting thought!  I've never, ever cancelled a flight before.  Would I need to cancel BEFORE I LEFT HOME ON THE TRIP completely, or just before the day of the return leg???


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## Talent312 (Jan 31, 2010)

Because the one-way was more than the RT-fare, they may say, no credit. But if you're gonna try it, do not cancel before your outbound flight, or you'll have to pay the one-way fare. Cancel a few hours before the scheduled flight departure. The reason for cancelling? A family "emergency" which means you'll re-book later.


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## tschwa2 (Jan 31, 2010)

The airline will probably withhold any FF miles earned from the outbound flight because the round trip was never completed.


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## riverdees05 (Jan 31, 2010)

Keep us posted on what course of action you take and the results.


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## dougp26364 (Jan 31, 2010)

tschwa2 said:


> The airline will probably withhold any FF miles earned from the outbound flight because the round trip was never completed.



If the difference is $485 for a one way and $220 for a RT, they could keep their FF miles, which are becoming more worthless every passing day. I'd take the savings.

We missed a flight a few years ago, making our tickets essentially one way tickets. This was an out of country flight. There were no men in dark glasses coming to get me.


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## CatLovers (Jan 31, 2010)

The short answer is ... nothing.  People do it all the time ... not completely legitimate, but no way to police.  The key is to use the first outbound portion.  If you are a no-show for the first outbound portion, the whole ticket will get cancelled.  But if you take the first outbound portion and just "waste" the return portion, no problem.  

You can try what the others have suggested which is to call and see if you will get a credit for the return unused portion, but I suggest that you call after you have travelled outbound and before your return trip is scheduled.  

With regards to ff miles, they are awarded by segment traveled, so assuming that this is a mainline airline, you will get your ff points for the flown segment ie. DTW-IAD (roughly 380 miles), but not the return.


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## timeos2 (Jan 31, 2010)

*Take the savings. The men in black aren't going to search you down*



CatLovers said:


> The short answer is ... nothing.  People do it all the time ... not completely legitimate, but no way to police.  The key is to use the first outbound portion.  If you are a no-show for the first outbound portion, the whole ticket will get cancelled.  But if you take the first outbound portion and just "waste" the return portion, no problem.
> 
> You can try what the others have suggested which is to call and see if you will get a credit for the return unused portion, but I suggest that you call after you have travelled outbound and before your return trip is scheduled.
> 
> With regards to ff miles, they are awarded by segment traveled, so assuming that this is a mainline airline, you will get your ff points for the flown segment ie. DTW-IAD (roughly 380 miles), but not the return.



Agreed 100%. We've done it (or used only part of a return due to an "emergency" or "missed connection") a number of times for the savings.


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## hibbeln (Jan 31, 2010)

*Thank you, everyone! * I guess I'm just too much off a goody-two-shoes rule-follower to plan something like this and not worry about the TSA or FBI sweeping down on us to throw us in San Quentin!     Silly,  I know!


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## mecllap (Jan 31, 2010)

Chances are, these days, there will be someone waiting standby for your seat, and happy that you didn't show up.  "Overbooking" is standard nowadays, isn't it?


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## Jimster (Jan 31, 2010)

*ff account*

If you do this often enough, they may cancel your frequent flyer account.  If it is just once, depending on the airline, they probably just won't credit your miles.


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## CatLovers (Jan 31, 2010)

Jimster said:


> If you do this often enough, they may cancel your frequent flyer account.



Don't know what you are basing this comment on.  If you visit the Flyertalk boards where thousands of very frequent fliers compare notes, what the OP is suggesting is not uncommon, and I don't recall even one instance of where what you are suggesting has happened.  However, I am very interested in knowing if you have heard of specific instances where this has occurred.



Jimster said:


> If it is just once, depending on the airline, they probably just won't credit your miles.



I repeat, you only get credited for miles you fly and it is done for each flight segment.  If  you are flying a mainline airline, you will get miles for your first (flown) segment, and none for the second (not flown) segment.  This has nothing to do with whether you buy a one-way or two-way ticket, it's simply the way miles are credited in all the major North American airlines.


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## Timeshare Von (Jan 31, 2010)

I've done it before, and  nothing happened.

I was thinking about doing it for my trip at the end of February as my plans changed and rather than returning home on my already purchased R/T ticket, I decided to fly to Anchorage instead.

When I called DL, they said I could just "not take the flight" or I could change it but get nothing back.  But, when she pulled up the flights, she saw that even with the $150 change fee, if I changed to a 1-way, I would get a $74 refund (credit voucher) from the price I originally paid for the R/T.

So I did change the flight to a 1-day, and took the small credit voucher for some later trip.

Sometimes it does pay to be honest about your intentions rather than trying to game the system.


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## Talent312 (Jan 31, 2010)

hibbeln said:


> I guess I'm just too much off a goody-two-shoes rule-follower to plan something like this and not worry about the TSA or FBI sweeping down on us to throw us in San Quentin!



As long as no one reports you for hiding Osama Bin Laden in your attic (an old MIL joke), you'll be okay.

"No shows" are actually fairly common for a variety of reasons (including flat tires) and airlines are quite used to 'em...


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## Jimster (Feb 1, 2010)

*delete post*

delete post


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## Jimster (Feb 1, 2010)

*interesting read*

I have never been a big fan of the "everyone else is doing it argument."  Everyone drives over the speed limit too- but some get caught.  While enforcement of violations of the T&C are rare, UA does have an active anti-fraud group.  I think it is possible to lie your way out of an occasional situation as described here, but if you did it as a matter of course (as I said before) it could cause an audit or cause you problems.  Here is an example of a much more serious case but it has some interesting info:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/23/business/23audits.html?_r=1

Incidently, if you read flyer talk you will find rare cases of people of their accounts being audited and account suspensions.  Personally, I have too many miles to lose to engage in anything like this.  I also am an attorney and under ethic laws would find myself in hot water as well.  There are other examples of suspensions, audits and investigations if you read flyertalk carefully.


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## Carolinian (Feb 1, 2010)

Jimster said:


> If you do this often enough, they may cancel your frequent flyer account.  If it is just once, depending on the airline, they probably just won't credit your miles.



I would agree.  If you do it enough that the airline spots a pattern, it is likely to be a problem, but an occaisional incident, especially if you cancel a time or two a few hours before the return flight for something like a family emergency, it should be no problem.


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## hibbeln (Feb 1, 2010)

OK, good!  That's what we'll do.  I'll cancel a few days before the return flight (once my husband has already taken the outbound flight) and if they credit our account then yippee....but if they don't I'm still happy with the much cheaper flight.

Why we're even looking at doing this......we're going out to Virginia Beach for a family reunion this summer.  We are in charge of the family reunion, so we need to be in Virginia early on Saturday to check in.  I would like to leave very early in the morning on Thursday, get into Washington D.C. by dinnertime on Thursday and visit family.  Hubby needs to work on Friday.  Leaving Friday night after work would mean an all night drive for us.  Ugh.  So we're thinking I will take the kids and a nephew (hitching a ride with us for the reunion) and leave on Thursday a.m.  Hubby will fly out to D.C. on Friday after work.  We'll pick him up at the airport and then just have a "short" drive in to VB on Saturday morning!  Ta daaaa!  I guess I _could_ let hubby take the roundtrip ticket and fly back too.....but then I (with the help of the nephew) would be driving all the way both ways while hubby flies and I am just not THAT nice!


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## CatLovers (Feb 1, 2010)

Jimster said:


> Here is an example of a much more serious case but it has some interesting info:
> 
> http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/23/business/23audits.html?_r=1



Tks, now that you mention it, I remember this one from about five years ago.  It was very interesting -- still not exactly what the OP was asking about ...




Jimster said:


> There are other examples of suspensions, audits and investigations if you read flyertalk carefully.



Actually I'm a regular participator in Flyertalk, that's why I was asking.  If you come across any other interesting stuff, please let me know.  Always curious about what's happening in that world since it affects me so much.


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## Pat H (Feb 1, 2010)

I personally think it is courteous to call and cancel the return flight but I would do it a few hours before the flight. That way the airline knows ahead of time that you are not going to show up and can make the seat available. If you've ever been on standby for an important reason, it's agony having to wait until 10-15 mins before the flight leaves to find out if you will get on.


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## hibbeln (Feb 1, 2010)

You're absolutely right, Pat, we will do that!


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## laurac260 (Feb 2, 2010)

well, everyone has their stories about what their local city's airport is like.  here in Cincinnati, we are the #2 Hub for Delta.  The good news?  You can get just about anywhere from here.  The bad news?  Expensive.  Delta has pushed out every discount airline that has ever tried to make it at CVG.  (except of course, ComAir!)

So oftentimes the locals will look for a flight in and out of surrounding airports.  We are fortunate to have 5 intl airports within a 2 hour radius of us.  Sometimes though it requires a layover...in Cincinnati!  A friend of mine will occasionally take the flight, carryon his bags, then when the plane makes it's stop in Cincinnati before going on to Dayton, he simply gets off the plane and goes home.  

Not saying I would recommend this, but I know that no men in dark glasses have come to get him.  Yet.


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