Using only inbound portion of a return flight?

lanmao

Is it possible to use only the inbound portion of a flight in order get a better price? Has anyone tried this and what has happened?

I'm going to China and returning with a friend who's planning to stay here. A return to China with KLM/China Southern airlines is around £550 but a single from China is about £850 which I find ridiculous. I was thinking of buying a return and using only the inbound portion.

I'd like to know whether this is legal and possible, or whether the airline is likely to void the inbound if the outbound portion is unused. I've tried to look for an authoritative answer but I can't find one anywhere. Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you!

charlie792

Im certainly no expert but in theory I can't see any reason why not, I'd have thought it would be like you had missed your 'original' flight and thus not used the ticket? In theory they wouldn't neccerssarily know anyway.
Don't hold me to that mind.
I know for example on the trains they sometimes charge people extra if they get off a stop early etc....probably best to clarify with the airline...

lfc321

They'll almost certainly void the inbound ticket if you don't check in for the outbound leg.

How much is a return starting in China? That way at least you'd be flying the first leg. (In theory some airlines have in their T&Cs that they can pursue you for the difference if you do this, but not sure how often that happens in practice).

malkie76

If you miss your outbound your inbound will automatically be cancelled and no refund issued. (The only people who don't do this are LCCs who treat each leg as single journeys). As lfc321 suggests price up a return starting in China then don't use the return portion from the UK back to China.

However, your friend may wish to consider buying a return for a date in the future in the event that the UK isn't for them and they want to return to China.

Lastly, my experience with flights in China is that they may get a far better deal by booking the flight in China from a TA there, rather than you booking a flight for them from here.

bazza1603

If you no show with KLM they will cancel your return.

Try asking someone local local to price the ticket. Often tickets from China are cheaper inbound if buying locally

lanmao

From looking online, a return from China is a bit more expensive than the single. It's really annoying why there's such a big price hike if you reverse the flight direction. Thanks for the help though, I'll get my friend to search from their end.

BusinessStudent

What about if you buy the tickets from doing a multi-city flight? ie go on kayak and instead of selecting return use the multi-city option

For Example London to China for one multicity flight and another multicity flight from China to London?
Not sure if this makes sense?

alanrowell

BusinessStudent wrote: »

What about if you buy the tickets from doing a multi-city flight? ie go on kayak and instead of selecting return use the multi-city option

For Example London to China for one multicity flight and another multicity flight from China to London?
Not sure if this makes sense?

You've got to use the flights in the correct order, as soon as you don't show for one flight then the rest of the booking is cancelled. Multicity options won't help.

Voyager2002

Some comments:
1. no uncertainty or doubt about the situation: if the first leg of the ticket is not used, the rest of the ticket will be cancelled. So the people who speculated otherwise were not being helpful;
2. does your friend hold a European nationality? A Chinese person arriving on a one-way ticket would be questioned closely about their intentions, and would probably not be allowed into the country. Without the appropriate visa, they would not even be allowed to begin their journey;
3. Chinese people do not generally shop on-line, so the best deal are offered by travel agents over the telephone or through face-to-face discussion. The on-line fares that you have seen are meant for foreigners who don't know any better, and beating them will not be difficult;
4. You don't say which part of China, and of course China is an extremely large country. Many good deals are available in Hong Kong; fewer from Lijiang.