Is it worth throwing away a return flight of your airline award ticket? TravelSort reader Jacob writes “I'm thinking of using just the outbound of a SFO-JFK Virgin America First Class award flight booked using 15,000 Alaska miles, since it's cheaper than a one way award. And for that matter, there's a Cathay Pacific First Class award I booked awhile ago with a connecting segment to Bangkok, which I no longer want to use–do I have to pay to change it to terminate in Hong Kong, or can I just not fly the last segment?”
Why It Can Be Attractive to Throw Away the Last Segment of a Ticket
There are several scenarios where it can make sense to throw away the last segment. Jacob's first example is a Virgin America domestic first class award ticket, where he's talking about booking a same day open jaw award for 15,000 Alaska miles, instead of the 25,000 miles it would cost to book a straight one way.
Another example I've previously mentioned is Brussels Business Class booked with Etihad Guest miles, which is just 36,620 miles roundtrip but must be booked as a roundtrip award. Given that great pricing, it can make sense to simply book your outbound this way, even if you can't find award availability for your return. In this case, you'll have a placeholder return that you won't use, unless you later manage to change it to your preferred date.
Another scenario where throwing away the last segment of a ticket makes sense is Hidden City Ticketing. There are times that City A to City B is more expensive than City A to City B to City C; see Hidden City Ticketing Airfare Savings and Risks.
Only Throw Away the Last Segment of a Ticket
Note that you should only throw away the very last segment of a ticket; otherwise the airline will cancel your remaining segments. That means that if you have a roundtrip ticket, you do need to fly all segments of the outbound, otherwise your return flight will be cancelled.
Don't Get Into the Habit of Throwing Away / No Showing for the Last Flight (Especially for the Same Airline)
Since airlines are very familiar with the fact that some passengers and discount travel agents try to take advantage of hidden city ticketing, they are on the alert for passengers that are repeat offenders, using Hidden City Ticketing to get a lower fare and then not flying the last segment.
In particular, if it's a paid ticket that you're hoping to earn frequent flyer miles on, be aware that the airline could not award you miles for even the flown flights of your itinerary.
Also be careful even if you're flying on award tickets but have many miles in a frequent flyer account with the airline, since the airline could close your frequent flyer account, resulting in you losing your miles. In the case of Jacob's second example of Cathay Pacific, if I were him and didn't want to pay to change the award, I would at least let Cathay Pacific know in Hong Kong that he's had a change of plans and is unable to fly the last segment, so that he won't be branded a no show, and won't potentially cause the flight to be delayed with calls paging him as the final missing passenger.
Have you thrown away the last segment of an airline ticket?
Related Posts
Hidden City Ticketing Airfare Savings and Risks
Review: Virgin America First Class
Cathay Pacific First Class Review, Hong Kong to LAX
Review: Cathay Pacific The Pier First Class Lounge, Hong Kong Airport
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