Hi guys,
Basically have a Melbourne to LA to San Diego return flight but plans have changed and no longer need to LA to San Diego flight in the trip over but still need it on the way back though.
Spoke to the agent and it's going to cost $200 to cancel that leg of the flight. They said if I "miss" my flight on purpose without cancelling, it will also cancel the rest of my return flights too - is this true?
Flying with Qantas, booked via an agency.
What do you guys know about this?
Hard to believe that it costs so much to cancel a flight, seems like double dipping + $200. They keep the original sale price, get $200 to cancel and then resell the seats at a higher price because its closer to flight date. There has to be a better way.
They're attempting to prevent people from doing this:
http://lifehacker.com/skiplagged-finds-hidden-city-fares-for…
I understand people do this to save money and sure cancel their return flights if they simply don't show up. But if someone is going to the effort of contacting them to cancel the 2nd leg with sufficient notice the Airline should be able to resell the seat. Yes people would exploit it but at least the honest traveller isnt stung and those are the ones they want to keep as customers
Apparently the $200 is the fee the airline charges to "reissue" your ticket with the changes.
Sounds like epicly inefficient ticketing systems if it costs that much …
The fees have no correlation to effort. They're there to make money and the stop people making changes.
@SirFlibbled:
I thought that was implied in my statement, but that's cool you are correct in pointing that out.
I had a flight that went Bangkok - Sinagapore - Melb
I missed the flight to Bangkok because of another airline, demanding they fly me to Singapore to catch the second journey of my flight and everything was fine.
I was flying with Jetstar and didn't even notify them that I'd missed the first leg, just jumped on in Singapore.
You dont explain why you need to cancel this segment. But still need the return.
That might get you some ideas of a work around
If I was in that situation, obviously something in LA that is attractive for you, I'd fly to SD and rent a car and travel back to LA 2-3hrs Much cheaper than cancelling and I have a car to get around for the day, or as long as you need until going back to San Diego
If you aren't into driving there is a shuttle bus
Joffie is right you risk the rest of the flight being cancelled.
You could play a game - although risky, of getting to the LAX/SD flight late missing the flight - but you did "turn up" and then tellling them you will make your own way to SD, that way they may not cancel the return leg. Probably need someone who knows how Qantas would handle this. This would depend on how many balls you have :)
I like this idea of renting the car, little bit of effort, but saves you money and that's the Ozbargain way!
Thanks everyone for their input. Appreciate the responses.
I ended up calling the agency and someone explained the system a bit better to me.
It's not worth cancelling the ticket nor skipping the flight at the risk of cancelling the return ticket.
See if you can have the there and return flights placed on separated tickets for no charge. This will mean if you skip out on the LA to San Diego leg your return flights wont be cancelled.
This! This has worked for me in the past ^^^
What would it cost to change tickets to just LA return, and find an alternate way back from San Diego?
I think it would have still cost me $200 because that's what the "airline charges to reissue the tickets".
Sometimes it's cheaper to fly A-C via B and return than just A-B - good example is I fly into Heathrow and on to Shannon. Heathrow terminated flights are more expensive. Hence it may have actually been a cheaper ticket to SD in the first place. This kind of thing has been around since before eticketing and as far back as I can remember. It's quirky, but you need to know about it before booking and take this into account if changes are contemplated.
The airlines have you over a barrel! To me, this is a bigger issue than the credit card surchages. I failed to take an outwards leg but I assumed that I could still take the return leg, but I was wrong. lost the whole lot!
If you only have carry on, I would go through the motion of getting scanned on to board the flight then claim you left something in the bathroom. Turn around and walk out and they wouldn't know.
actually, if you managed to do that, I think you'd delay that flight by hours and you'd probably be arrested.
You could contact them after u "accidentally" miss the leg saying "oops" and u'll make ur own way to the next leg now
tl;dr - call them and make sure they dont cancel final leg on you
Doesn't work if its the usual transit period. Hard to accidentally miss a leg when you're supposed to be at the airport. Especially since the baggage drop for the next leg is just outside customs.
They will most likely cancel the return booking. I have heard of it happening before when passengers book a cheap fare which involves a one stop rather than the more expensive non stop if they buy a return ticket.
Its better to pay the $200 rather than fork out $1000 + to book a new trip.