I booked a flight but mistakenly did not notice that the return dated was March 27, not February 27. I did not discover this until after my 24 hr cancellation period had expired. Now the airline wants to charge me $150 to change my flight to February 28 (nothing available on February 27) plus the difference in ticket price (approximately $500).

I know they can do this according to the fare rules for the flight I selected. What would stop me from booking a separate roundtrip ticket on another airline leaving February 27 and returning to my original destination on the aforementioned ticket on say March 25? Or buying a one-way ticket home for February 27? It appears either option would be cheaper than changing my current itinerary. What are the ramifications? Is this legal?

Thank you.

A lady in my office did that exact same thing. Her ticket was to Ireland, and she accidentally booked the return for a month after the intended date. She looked at buying a one-way ticket on the date she actually wanted to return, but found it would be cheaper to buy another RT. So she had 2 RT tix for which she only used one portion each. Yes it's legal, no ramifications.

I believe that this is called "back-to-back" ticketing and know that it is against the policy of every airline. I don't know whether or not it is illegal, or what might happen to you if you do it. Maybe do a google search for that phrase and see if you can find more info.

Sometimes mistakes are costly, but those tend to be the ones we don't make again.

Here's one link I found with a quick search:

http://www.travelterminal.com/resfaq.shtml#backtoback

P_M - be careful when advising people that something is totally legal with no ramifications. It worked for your friend, and it may well work in most cases. But that doesn't make it legal or safe. It's a risk that only supergig can decide is worth taking, and s/he should be aware of the risks/ramifications before deciding.

This works only if you fly on both outbound flights. If you book a RT ticket and don;t take the outbund flight the ariline will consider you a no show - and cancel the return portion of your ticket.

Anything you want to do with a one-way ticket - and then throw away a return you don;t use - will usually not cause any problems - although technically the airline can change your price on the original outbound ticket to the more expensive one-way fare.

Where are you going? If possible, book the other trip on another airline, and you won't have any of the back-to-back trouble.

Or don't give your FF number on the other leg. Or use an alliance FF number. For example, if you're flying CO, earn the other trip on NW or DL's FF program. Or US/UA. They won't track you down.

jlm mi, you are right that I shouldn't have said it's legal because I am not a legal expert. But aside from the lady I mentioned, I know at least a few other people who have done this and there were no ramifications. Of course, that doesn't mean it can't happen. It seems like they can't punish someone for not taking a flight they booked and paid for. But you never know....

OK, you can add me to the list of people who say this isn't a problem. Yes, I understand if you are a frequent traveler and do this as a matter of habit, that sooner or later your activity may trigger something. But can anyone explain how even before you are to make your return flight (the one on March 27) that you take another flight, some red light is going to go off because your name has been recorded to check? There is NO earthly way that is going to happen. And as far as not taking either of the return flights (both to have been later than the two flights you do take) do you honestly think they are checking every no show? Has anyone ever heard of someone missing a flight due to traffic, illness, change of plans or whatever, and having someone from the airline come to their house to check to see if they were up to "no good", or even make a phone call asking why they didn't show up? Get real!

Book another flight, and use the two outward bound portions only.

Actually, a red light can definitely go off if you're flying on a 2nd ticket back to your original location, if both of your itineraries are in your FF account. It's not hard for the airline to program something to catch this, and I'm sure they do. Just that mostly likely they won't do anything if you're only doing this for the first time.

That's exactly what back-to-back ticketing is about. For a long time, the airlines and the customers have been playing this cat-and-mouse game. Main reason is for the customer to get around the Saturday night layover for the cheapest discount fares.

For example, a business person needs to do IAH-LGA run every 2 weeks, but he only wants to stay for two days, during the week. He buys a roundtrip IAH-LGA for Monday 2/14 (for example), and returns Thursday 3/3. Then he buys another roundtrip LGA-IAH Thursday 2/17, and returns Feb 2/28. Both will qualify for the lowest fares, and that's the type of ticketing that the airline most particularly want to prohibit, and that's the same thing the OP will be doing, even though his intention is different.

I am flying inter Europe and want to arrange a discounted return flight and only use the return leg.
Have been told by my agent that the airline can cancel a ticket if the outward leg is a no show.
To book with the homeward bound trip as the outbound leg is significantly more expensive (albeit discounted).
Anyone tried to tell an airline that alternative arrangements were made to get out so please don't cancel the return?

That's totally against the rules of your airline ticket. Even if someone else had been able to get the airline to waive this rule, which would be a very rare occurrence, it's extremely doubtful they'd do the same for you.

Silverfox, I'm confused. If I understand right, I'll use the following for an example. You have a round trip flight from Denver to Paris.
You want to also fly once in Europe from Vienna to Paris on your way home. But you're concerned if you book a round trip Paris to Vienna that when you don't show up for the Paris-Vienna flight, they'll cancel the return. Is that basically it? If so, the answer is really easy. Don't book a round trip Paris to Vienna. Book a round trip Vienna to Paris. They you ARE using the first or outward bound flight, and just not using the return -- which is after you get home anyway. Or am I totally misunderstanding the question?