Is there anything an airline can do? I'm seriously considering renting a car and driving back for several reasons (mainly to see family in betweeen), but already have a round-trip ticket purchased.

If a one-way ticket is more expensive than RT (sometimes it is), in theory they could charge you difference. Have never heard of them actually doing this, though. I am sure people miss their flight or become ill all the time and don't use the second half of a ticket.

I've done it a couple of times in Europe on KLM and never had any negative repercussions.

When travel agents were caught encouraging this, the airlines threatened to bill the travel agents for the higher one-way fare, but I'm not sure they ever did.

The most recent threat I have heard is that frequent flyers who did this would lose their mileage. Again, I don't know if they carried through.

In reality, there are all kinds of legitimate reasons why people miss flights, and I doubt there is any airline that would want to reap the negative publicity attendant to pursuing such people. In fact, I think some airlines are moving to eliminate the "penalty" for buying one-way tickets.

airlines will and do charge travel agents for this. if you need to change, there is probobly a small penalty, or travelers insurance. good luck.

my hubby did it once with US Air several years ago and nothing happened.

just excercize caution because the industry isn't like years ago. much more strict. good luck.

Actually, I made a round-trip reservation once and only intended to use the first portion of it. I was so niave then, I told the reservation agent (the was before internet when people actually used the phone to call airlines) and she said..."shhhhh...you dont want to tell me that." End of story.

If you buy round-trip ticket and only use part of it, the airline will report you to FBI. You will be arrested and brought to justice. Usually , courts impose 3-year mandatory jail time in Federal prison for this type of crime. But if you can prove that you couldn't fly due to a valid reason (your death, etc.) you can get away with as little as 1 year + 250K fine.

OLEG-You made me laugh-thanks

I have know that airlines can charge your credit card for the difference in airfare for not using the return portion of the ticket. Pay cash for the ticket.

My sister did it last October and nothing happened but she really got very sick during her trip. We called AA one day before her returned flight and informed them she won't be flying back. We had to drive her home three days later. 9 hours drive one way.

I've not known anyone who was penalized for not using the return leg ticket, and I think if you review the flyertalk forums you will find that the airlines make threats, but rarely, if ever, follow up.

I don't see where paying cash would help. If you violate the terms of the contract, they can sue you if they want. But I believe if you pay cash, you dramatically increase the chances that TSA will take a very very thorough look at you.

My daughter has done this a couple of times, as she is working and living in two cities, and so far, no problem. She has flown the leg out, and then driven back with her fiance for the return leg.

Im not sure she will get away with it forever, but so far...

The only cases I know of where the airline has pursued this was when the travelers had done it repeatedly and used a frequent flyer number. The frequent flyer numbers make it easy for the airline to see what is going on.

We had one Platinum American flier who was pulled off of a flight at his connection point in Dallas, questioned for about an hour, forced to pay full fare for the ticket he was on, lost his frequent flyer miles, and was banned from ever accruing them on American again.

So, basically, do this once or twice, you'll probably be okay. Do it over and over again, you may get caught.

Price out the one way fare online and compare it to your round trip. If it is less by more than any applicable change fee, you might be able to cancel the return and get a credit for a future flight.

Except that usually you can cancel a ticket, pay the fee, and rebook a whole new ticket on a different itinerary only if you haven't taken the outbound portion. Once you've taken the outbound, you can normally change only the date of the return, not the routing (or at least, not the destinations). So that just gets you another unwanted second half of a RT ticket. Unless you know of a way around that.