Woyzeck

Nowadays, I cannot book a round trip ticket with an open-ended return. If I give a fixed return, I can get a spectacular deal. However, I may decide to return at another time.

Hypothetically, do I get in trouble if I buy a round trip ticket and do not use the return ticket...?

gail

There was an article in NY Time Sunday travel section some weeks ago which said airlines COULD charge the difference between RT and one-way for people who do this. However, most of article was about "hidden city" charges, etc. and ways that airlines have penalized people for doing this. Article could not/did not actually find any actual charges for people who do what you propose. (People miss flights all the time.

BeachBoi

Woyzeck......No......If you are getting a "deal" you are undoubtedly buying a non refundable ticket.Generally speaking,most non refundable fares allow the return to be changed, as long as you have met all the conditions of the fareaturday night stay,stick to any flight/date specific rules attached to the fare.This change normally incurs a fee,again usually $100 unless it is a discount/low fare carrier then the fee may be $50 or even just $25.However, again,generally speaking,most discounted,non refundable fares require that the return part of the ticket be used within a 30 day period of the commencement of travel.Then the return fare would expire.So if you have booked the original ticket for travel beginning on say May 1,you get to where you are going and you decide to return to where you were going in the first place on June 15, then in all likelihood the return portion of the ticket would have expired.And you would have to purchase a new ticket.Purchasing a round trip ticket for one way travel is extremely common and unfortunately for the airlines,a practice that is most likely here to stay.I hope this helps......S

rkkwan

You would not get in trouble unless you do it very often, and especially if you use back-to-back ticketing. Still, there's little the airline can do. The most is to take away all your FF miles in your account.

RachelG

Probably nothing would happen--people have to change plans and don't show up for flights all the time for one reason or another. That's why airlines overbook so much. Now if you have bought a non refundable ticket, you won't get your money back. But other than that, nothing.

cfc

Best plan is to call before your official return flight and say you won't make it for whatever reason. They may tell you you'll lose the value of the return ticket or they may offer you a penalty fee if you want to rebook within a year or some such. If you bought the ticket knowing you'd only be going one-way, they really can't do much too you if you don't come back, but this is an easy way to CYA if you're worried about it.

ajaynejr

It is always good to officially cancel a reservation you will not be using.

But I doubt if the airline can charge you more for a one way fare if you later report to the ticket counter and ask for a later flight home but refuse to pay a change fee. You would be out the return trip you have to arrange elsewhere on your own, but that is all. The airline dishonored the ticket, you did not throw it away the latter being against the airline's rules.

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