Do you HAVE to take both legs of a 2-leg flight?

[Barb D]

A friend of mine posted this question on another board, and wasn't getting any responses. I told her I'd post it over here. Can anyone help her?

Thanks!

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My girls and I flying from CA to KY this summer to visit family. My brother lives about 15 min. from the Cincinnati airport (which is actually in KY).
It is cheaper to fly into Lexington, which is about an hour from his home, than Cincinnati. More than $100 per ticket cheaper.

We have a layover in Cincinnati where we have to change planes to go on to Lexington.

We would be happy to just take carry-on luggage and get off in Cincinnati and not go on to Lexington. The problem is that the airline says they would see this as a no-show and cancel our return flight. To get home, we would have to pay a service charge and any difference in price for one way tickets back to CA.

It seems kind of dumb to me. Does anyone know how to get around this? Does anyone know anyone who can pull some strings at Delta Airlines?

I guess it's not that big of a deal. It's just that my brother will have to spend 3 hours picking us up, when it would only take about 1 hour. Plus we have to take that unnecessary flight to LEX.

 

[seashoreCM]

Yes, you have to use all the pieces.

The current rules of most airlines is as you stated, if you no-show on a flight, the rest of your trip may or may not be cancelled at the airline's discretion and also you may or may not be charged the fare that applied as if you flew only the part you did fly so far.

An exception is that, generally, if a flight is delayed or cancelled, or if you are bumped, you may get a refund for that piece and for any other part of the trip that is no longer useful to you.

Making a reservation with the intent of not using all the parts has a term in the travel industry, throwaway ticketing.

Disney tips:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

 

[peg2001]

It is against the rules of the airline to do this. I know it seems stupid to pay MORE to travel LESS, but there it is.

People have gotten away with this in the past but the airlines have gotten much better at detecting this type of travel and in enforcing their rules. Personally, I wouldn't try it. Chances of success are greater with one-way tickets on different airlines. This will likely wipe out any savings.

Options are to pay the extra $$ to fly into Cincin or the other option is to rent a car in Lexington and drive, to save the brother from having to drive the round-trip. If they don't need the car for the duration of their visit, maybe they can find an inexpensive one-way rental without a drop-off charge.

 

[safetymom]

You are out of luck. As someone else mentioned the airlines are getting better at this. So I wouldn't chance it.

You would need to buy 2 sets of tickets on different airlines and throw away one half of the flights.

 

[Lewisc]

Most airlines won't let you do that. It won't help you but SW actually let's you do it:

With respect to all of its fares, Southwest Airlines does not prohibit or penalize what is commonly known as "hidden city" ticketing, nor does it prohibit or penalize what is commonly known as "back to back" ticketing. "Hidden city" and "back to back" reservations and tickets are authorized for travel on Southwest Airlines