So, I bought a one way ticket on Continental from San Diego to Hartford for my mom on travelocity for $184. She is travelling to San Diego on Southwest (a separate one way ticket)

My mom decided (on the night before she was going to leave for California, naturally) that, instead of flying back to Hartford straight away, she would like to fly from San Diego to San Jose to visit family, stay there one week, and then fly from San Diego to Hartford.

So, I called travelocity to see if I could change the ticket from San Diego to Hartford to San Diego to the Bay Area. They said, understandably, that there would be a $180 change fee and I would have to book on Continental. The lowest price for the requested itinerary on Continental (SAN - SJC, SJC-BDL) was around $500), with two stops on the longer flight, and inconvenient times. Because of the change fee, she would save a whopping $4 by doing this.

Southwest, on the other hand, could get her from SAN - SJC, SJC-BDL, with convenient flights and only one stop on the longer leg. The total cost of these tickets were $400. Because she had been planning to go to the Bay Area from Hartford in November anyway, and was probably looking to shell out at least $400 to do so then, and because it was 6 AM on the morning that she was about to fly to San Diego (at 10 AM!), I advised her to just eat the Continental fare and just pay $400 to go to the Bay Area and return to Hartford from there. Plus, she would have to pay two separate baggage fees on Contientnal and nothing on Soutthwest. I also noted that, if she were to fly back to Hartford on Continental, she would have to pay a bag fee, so the Continental flight was really 210, not $184 but she would only get "credit" for the $184. I then bought her the two Southwest tickets.

So that is what she did. My plan was to just cancel her return tocket on Continental since she will save, at most, $4. Before I do so, I wanted to ask you folks: Do I have any better options?

I'm a little confused by the details, but it sounds like she already "missed" her flight on CO, right? <i>(it was 6 AM on the morning that she was about to fly to San Diego (at 10 AM!)</i> If that is the case, I don't think you have any options with the CO ticket. She has already forfeited it. If I have misunderstood your post details, I apologize.

By canceling before the flight she will have $184 credit with CO - that's a good move. But as you found out the $180 change fee eats up all but $4 of that.

I think you did the right thing.

TC - I wasn't talking about the Hartford to San Diego leg, which she is flying on SW. The return was on Continental - her ticket is for Tues.

Oh I see, sorry. If you cancel and get a credit of $184, will she be able to use that toward a future ticket? You would have to pay the $180 penalty if you change THIS ticket, but if you cancel completely there is no change fee - is that correct? It seems you would then have a $184 credit toward her next CO flight. I think you did the right -- and really the only -- option.

Technically, you can't do anything to someone else's ticket, and it is your mother's ticket, even though you bought it for her.

To get an accurate answer, you would have to know the class of the ticket. and the fare rules that apply to that class of ticket. While there are many informed posters on this forum, I doubt there are any that have the necessary information to give you an accurate answer. Continental does have people with that knowledge (at least some of them do). They work in customer service. Their phone number is on the website.

So my advice is to have your mother contact continental customer service, well in advance of the day of the flight, explain that her plans have changed and she will not be able to take that flight, and ask what kind of relief they can offer. If the costs of cancelling the ticket are too high, she can just thank them and not show up for the flight. On the other hand, there is a possibility she may get something back in the form of a voucher, good on any Continental flight for a year. Good luck.

Thanks everyone for the advice and to clevelandbrown in particular. I called continental and ended up getting a $60 voucher for cancelling the ticket (basically they are giving me the $210 credit, $150 of which will be eaten up by the change fee).