Myer

Some friends have to fly one way from London to Barcelona.

BA had one way fares of over $700 (app) but return fares of about $100 (app).

What can the airline do if you just scrap the return ticket?

m_kingdom2

My dear, you aren't obligated to fly just because you have a ticket.

Airline booking systems are based on a complex poisson distribution that automatically assumes that a certain proportion of travellers will not turn up.

ira

Hi Myer,

Just call the airline the day before and tell them that you will not be on the return flight.

m_kingdom2

I've not flown on many occasions, I'd never go to the trouble of calling them. I've paid for the ticket, and I'll do exactly what I want with it - if I decide not to fly, it's their problem, not mine.

SiobhanP

It's not a problem I would call to let them know though. It helps security when they know a flier has confirmed they will not be flying. In this day and age everythig is scruitinised. It is pretty ignorant to just leave it so I would call.

Myer

The opinions seem to be pretty unanimous that the airline can't do anything if you just don't use the return portion.

Since their one-way price is so much higher, can they charge your credit card with the difference?

And on another point. Why do they charge so much for a one-way. If so many people buy return and then scrap the ticket, aren't the airlines better off charging about half the price of a return ticket for a one-way and then keeping the return up for normal sale?

kat

I agree with Ira and Siobhan; it would help with security if they know that you won't be flying.

SiobhanP

They can't charge you the difference. Does Macys charge you after you purchase something? It's illegal and the ticket was bought already.

They make one way more expensive as its harder to sell the other ticket back one way I believe (I could be wrong here).

xyz123

There are several dodges around the airlines illogical fare structures that knowledgeable people used....

1. The back to back ticketing requiring a Saturday night stay over. Say you want to go from London to Barcelona on Monday and come back on Friday. But the cheap return fare requires a Saturday night stay over. So you buy a return Monday to Monday (weekend travel might be more expensive)and a return Friday to Monday and use the first for the Monday trip out and the second for the Friday trip back. If you're enterprising, you sell the other half but most likely you would eat the second half.

Airlines used to penalize travel agents for selling fares like this but in this era of the internet and people buying e tickets on the internet there are no travel agents to penalize.

2. Then there is the hidden city. Fares from London to Madrid are much cheaper than tickets from London to Barcelona (just uing the city pair as an example). So instead of booking directly from London to Barcelona, you book London to Madrid with a stop over in Barcelona. You get off the plane in Barcelona and don't show for the trip from Barcelona to Madrid.

Airlines have argued these tactics are illegal; especially in the US.

Now it is conceivable that if you buy tickets with a cc they can charge your cc with the fare you have tried to evade.

Don't know if it has ever happened; do know that they used to send out debit notices to travel agencies using creative bookings to save their clients money.

P_M

I considered doing this once and called the airline to ask what would happen. They told me they could charge me the difference in fare. They did use the word "could," and not "would," which left me wondering if they actually do this in practice, or if they just want us to think they will. In my case we had a change of plans so I never did this. However, last year a friend of mine did this twice last year in coming and going to Ireland (long story) and there were no consequences.

ira

>They told me they could charge me the difference in fare.<

In which case you dispute the charge and tell the CC company that you were unavoidably detained.

I suggest that calling the airline will avoid any hassle.

There is no need to explain why you were unavoidably detained for "personal reasons".

TopMan

I do not see how any airline, or anyone else, can charge you for a fare you never paid for. They are simply trying to frighten people..and that does NOT work for the most part.

You could easily have had a change in plans which forced you to abandon the return segment.

The airline isn't out a single dime on this "no-show"...since they can, and very well may re-sell that return portion to someone else or be able to accommodate one of the 10% of the people they all routinely OVERBOOK on flights.

What does calling ahead and saying you aren't going to use the ticket have to do with security? ."Security" isn't going to know who is traveling until you check in..their main concern is matching baggage with people who actually get on the flight. If they were worried about all the no-shows that happen due to missed connections, changes in plans, illnesses, and just plain no-shows..well, you get the idea.

Selling the unused portion to someone else....not without an official name change since the person who bought it won;t be able to match the identity on the ticket.

Dave_

Have your friends considered using Easyjet (they go from Gatwick and Luton to Barcelona I think)? You are not penalised for just buying a one-way fare and it will probably be much cheaper than a return BA flight.

Ryanair go from Stansted but they fly to Girona airport near Barcelona which I think is a bit inconvenient from hearing what other people have said.

Gardyloo

Like many things, it's a risk v. reward calculation. If the unused ticket is the last leg of a trip, chances are they won't make much of a fuss. If they know your intent, of course, they can and will try to up the cost to that of a one-way or refundable ticket. The greatest risk in this scenario (haven't heard of it but the possibility is there) that they can audit your FF statement and possibly impound or negate it. On LON-BCN-LON I doubt if BA would make a stink, since on the cheapest fares you don't get miles anyway.

OTOH, if the ticket is not the last segment, say you're traveling LGW-BCN-MAD-LGW and it's the BCN-MAD segment that you skip, then they absolutely can and will cancel the whole shebang and you'll need to hitch across the channel.

The reason for the high one-way v. return fares is that the airlines want your tush in <i>their</i> seats both ways, so that you don't use BA on the outbound flight and IB on the return (which would also make you stupid as well as poor.)

If you make a habit of this practice, be advised that your record in their system will be flagged and at some point your credit card might be in some jeopardy. The airlines are really clamping down on leaking revenues, and if you're only flying one way they could sell that seat to someone else.

Two words for your friends, though. Easy. Jet.

m_kingdom2

The higher price is calculated using a modified poisson distribution. If they've sold a seat one-way, this leaves a &quot;spare&quot; seat on a return journey. They have effectively lost a person's return fare, and modelling with the distribution leaves the probability of that seat being filled reduced. Hence, airlines will charge a higher price for one-way tickets which disturbs the model used for their pricing system.

Gardyloo

Meant to add, don't go around trying to out-lawyer the airlines. Read the terms and conditions (&quot;T&amp;Cs&quot; - the really teeny print) and carriage conditions on your ticket(or the loonngg link on the e-ticket) and you'll see that you're basically signing a contract by buying the ticket. Giving or selling a portion of an unused ticket to someone else these days is a really poor idea.