Can I safely throw away an outward portion of an airline ticket?

Victors_Bruvver

I have already booked a ‘return’ ticket to Copenhagen with Sterling.de but have now changed my travel plans slightly. Rather than flying out a friend is going to take us in his car from Harwich. Rather than bother and get the money back for the outward portion of the ticket I am prepared just to throw it away. My brother now tells me that it is possible that the airline will see from their computer system that I did not fly out with them and will consequently cancel the return portion. Is that true ?

Voyager2002

Most no-frills airlines sell only single tickets, and for a return journey you just buy two singles. In this situation, no problem.

However, if you have a traditional return ticket (generally still used by most traditional airlines) then you MUST use the outward half. If you fail to use it, the remainder of the ticket is cancelled, with no refund.

Check with the airline.

meerustar

Interesting!

There are 13 of us going to Mexico in August and a freind has decided she is going to do a 6 week tour of the States first and meet us there. (2 adult, 2 children) We have booked with First Choice and are all booked on the same holiday.

She wasn't going to use the outward tickets either and we were joking that we could lie across the seats and get really comfy

I suppose she better get in touch now then.

Oh, another thought ... do you think they'll let her have just return tickets?

dzug

meerustar wrote: »

Interesting!

There are 13 of us going to Mexico in August and a freind has decided she is going to do a 6 week tour of the States first and meet us there. (2 adult, 2 children) We have booked with First Choice and are all booked on the same holiday.

She wasn't going to use the outward tickets either and we were joking that we could lie across the seats and get really comfy

I suppose she better get in touch now then.

Oh, another thought ... do you think they'll let her have just return tickets?

She will have trouble getting into the US with a one way ticket anyway. She may not have the ticket back from Mexico at the time she flies to the US - they don't always get issued that far in advance.

A visa would be one way out of this.

alanrowell

dzug wrote: »

She will have trouble getting into the US with a one way ticket anyway.

Trouble as in "hauled away, locked up, possibly chained and sent home at her own expense as well as being banned from the US for a long time".

In order use the Visa Waiver Program and not have to humiliate (and bankrupt) yourself by getting a visa at the US embassy in London she MUST have proof of onward travel OUTSIDE of North America NOT just the United States - so a ticket back to the UK is OK, a ticket to Mexico isn't.

moonrakerz

Another thing to watch out for is the one the ferry companies use; if you buy a "cheap return" and only use it one way, somewhere in the small print which everyone reads, it says that you then agree to pay the FULL return fare.

dzug

alanrowell wrote: »

Trouble as in "hauled away, locked up, possibly chained and sent home at her own expense as well as being banned from the US for a long time".

In order use the Visa Waiver Program and not have to humiliate (and bankrupt) yourself by getting a visa at the US embassy in London she MUST have proof of onward travel OUTSIDE of North America NOT just the United States - so a ticket back to the UK is OK, a ticket to Mexico isn't.

Well yes but she will probably be lucky and refused boarding in the UK with only a one way ticket.

judderman62

Victors_Bruvver wrote: »

I have already booked a ‘return’ ticket to Copenhagen with Sterling.de but have now changed my travel plans slightly. Rather than flying out a friend is going to take us in his car from Harwich. Rather than bother and get the money back for the outward portion of the ticket I am prepared just to throw it away. My brother now tells me that it is possible that the airline will see from their computer system that I did not fly out with them and will consequently cancel the return portion. Is that true ?

I'd advise getting in touch with them and just let them know - I strongly suspect they will let you use just the return and put a note in the booking that you are not using the outbound to help prevent someone canceling your return.