6 ms·

The nickel-and-diming of airlines has been clear to me for ages, but I found what I considered a surprising new low last year. I bought round-trip tickets but m

The nickel-and-diming of airlines has been clear to me for ages, but I found what I considered a surprising new low last year. I bought round-trip tickets but missed my outgoing flight. I booked a one-way trip for later the same day, reasoning that I would use my original return flight to come home. Surprise! I found out (at the airport, trying to fly home a few days later) that because I hadn’t boarded the first flight, the airline had resold my seat on the return flight. I was not credited for the seat on the return flight (which was now unavailable to me). I wasn’t even notified that it was forfeited when my trip was cancelled. Pressed for time, I had to purchase an additional one-way ticket home. I understand the motivation to resell an unused seat at flight time in the event of a no-show. This, however, struck me as a deliberate predatory theft of my reservation, a sort of loophole to deprive me of my reservation without recompense. I don’t think a scenario such as this is unforeseen by the airline (an honest misunderstanding); rather, I think it is exploited. The airline may have a clause somewhere on their website explaining that the above is to be expected. That doesn’t make it square for me. The behavior of the airline was, IMO, unethical. If I ever face a similar scenario in the future, I will know to communicate explicitly with the airline about my intention to use my return ticket. However, I shouldn’t have to do so or risk finding myself stranded away from home.

pxeboot 9y ago
Unfortunately that has been happening for years, long before checked bag fees were a thing. It is likely a way to make hidden city ticketing harder.
- dzhiurgis 9y ago
  But how is that making them any money? Wouldn't it make more sense to sell something and not do the service? Or the actual service cost is so little that it makes 0 difference? Does airline get to keep airport tax? Fuel savings are negligible compared with all the taxes.
  - greenleafjacob 9y ago
    Because they can sell the same seat twice.
    - johnbellone 9y ago
      Actually, three times, since you still need to go to your destination. They have you over a barrel.
  - ubernostrum 9y ago
    "Hidden city" ticketing is when you want to go from City A to City B, and notice that the airline charges less money for a ticket A -> B -> C than for a ticket A -> B. So you buy the A -> B -> C ticket and get off the plane at B and never fly onward to C. Airlines really and truly do not like it when you do this. If you have a frequent-flyer account with them, it's usually grounds to have the account terminated and all points/miles in the account confiscated, for example. The reason why the A -> B ticket is more expensive in some cases has to do with how the airline assigns differently-priced tickets to different routes. For example, if B is a business destination and C is a popular tourist destination, the airline can use the more expensive A -> B ticket (which business travelers buy regardless, since they're using company money) to subsidize cheap tourist fares A -> B -> C. When people try to work around this by buying the cheap A -> B -> C ticket and then only flying A -> B, that hits revenue multiple times: they've flown someone A -> B for less than what they wanted to charge on that route, and now they have an empty seat going B -> C. So airlines come down on this pretty hard whenever they think it's what you're doing (they're within their rights to say that if you want to fly A -> B, they have a published fare for that, and to say that they'll cancel all your frequent-flyer perks if you won't abide by that). Now, suppose you book a multi-segment ticket for a round trip: A -> B -> C, return C -> B -> A. And then you never show up for the initial A -> B flight. The airline has no way of knowing what you plan to do unless you actually contact them and tell them what's going on. They just know you bought a ticket and then didn't use it, so if you don't get in touch with them they're going to cancel the whole thing. They'll also cancel if you have two separate tickets booked for the same day and overlapping times, since they know it's physically impossible for you to be on both of them. The solution here is to actually call the airline, or go to their ticket desk at the airport, and explain what happened before you go buying a separate last-minute ticket to try to replace your original one. Usually they'll rebook your original ticket to a different flight, for a change fee that's cheaper than the cost of a brand-new ticket.
jtokoph 9y ago
Which airline? Did a staff member assist you in rescheduling your missed flight? I’ve never been told to ignore my missed flight and rebook a new one-way separately. Any flights I’ve been late for, the airline rebooked me for a later flight on the same reservation without any additional fees.
- dawnerd 9y ago
  I’ve only had to do this once and if I recall it was just a change fee or go on standby and wait overnight. Key is talking to them.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
CoolGuySteve 9y ago
Same thing happened to me only I got stranded at the airport Fuzhou, hours from my relatives and with no means to buy a ticket. If they had at least notified me of the cancellation I could have scheduled a flight in advance. Don't fly China Southern.
- rahimnathwani 9y ago
  Given that most (all?) airlines do the same thing, how is "Don't fly China Southern" going to help? (BTW I've flown China Southern many times, both domestically and internationally. I've not found them to be any worse than other airlines.)
jpalomaki 9y ago
I believe the main reason for this is to prevent people from getting cheaper tickets for short trips by making two separate reservations. Some airlines charge higher prices if you spend only night or two in destination (probably because these are usually business trips and business people have money). So back in the days you actually booked separate return trips to the destination and only used one part of each trip. The trouble is that airlines want to sell the same product with many prices. Get maximum price from business traveler, while still competing also for the price conscious holiday traveler.
- ryanlol 9y ago
  >I believe the main reason for this is to prevent people from getting cheaper tickets for short trips by making two separate reservations. That's a thing but it's probably not the reason for this. The main reason for this is that you have to do something weird to end up in this situation, if you miss your first flight you'd normally contact your airline. If you miss your first flight and say nothing to the airline, then they might rather reasonably assume that you aren't gonna show up for the return leg.
chaosbutters314 9y ago
Same thing happened to me. I luckily checked the night before. I was as furious as I'm sure you were.
refurb 9y ago
This has been standard across airlines for more than a decade. It's to prevent people from taking advantage of cheaper legs that comprise a multi-leg trip.
decasteve 9y ago
A similar thing happen to me but on a multi-leg flight and they allowed me to board. I was told that if I was going to miss an outgoing flight, and wanted to use the return, then contact them in advance and the forfeit wouldn’t happen.
Justin_K 9y ago
Based upon my experiences as a business traveller, it has been like this over 15 years.
saryant 9y ago
There’s an informal flat-tire rule to help travelers if they miss their flight but still show up at the airport within a reasonable time, but passengers who skip a flight entirely will find their entire ticket cancelled. The specific rule is that flight coupons must be used in order.
idunno246 9y ago
This has been going on for years, I had a worse experience. I book my christmas flights super early and had to change the outgoing flight. Found a reasonable flight on a different airline, so all i wanted to do is cancel the outgoing portion of the flight. Having been burned by a similar experience to yours in the past, so knew I had to call the airline. Website says its not possible so I call them up. Apparently they cant cancel half the flight, they have to cancel and rebook, minus change fee, plus the difference in fare - insane due to it now being close to christmas. I ended up paying money to cancel half of my flight.
gpderetta 9y ago
Happened to me once as well. Apparently this is illegal in EU, but you'll have to fight to get your money back.
robteix 9y ago
I have a relative who moved to the US a couple of years ago. A one-way ticket costed _more_ than a round-trip, so he and his family bought roundtrip tickets. They flew normally but obviously never caught the flight back. The airline later cancelled his platinum frequent flying status and charged him with the difference threatening to sue for fraud. EDIT: typo
- nsnick 9y ago
  There is a website for that https://skiplagged.com https://skiplagged.com
- test1235 9y ago
  why would an airline care if the passengers caught their flight or not? The tickets are already paid for.
  - ghaff 9y ago
    Because (in their eyes), you're gaming their fare rules. That said, I don't know how common this sort of action is. At various times, I've had to change flight plans and it was cheaper just to burn a booked return leg than pay the cancelation fee. And I've never had an issue doing so.
- danmaz74 9y ago
  Did you relative notify the company that they wanted to cancel their return flight? I don't think the airline could have complained in that case.
cmurf 9y ago
The flight reservation has changed if you're a no show for the first flight. They want a change fee. So if you don't give them a change fee, they basically apply a punitive "ok fine the whole ticket is cancelled and we keep your money". I think it's theft also.
Brockenstein 9y ago
>The airline may have a clause somewhere on their website explaining that the above is to be expected. That doesn’t make it square for me. The behavior of the airline was, IMO, unethical. Says everyone in every scenario where they run up against terms of services they agreed to but didn't read. I understand the sentiment, human beings don't like their assumptions being completed destroyed by reality. And fyi, your situation would have occurred ages ago, as airlines have been canceling unused itineraries for years to prevent fare hacking, among other things. >However, I shouldn’t have to do so or risk finding myself stranded away from home. Because the airline should be omnipotent as to why you missed your flight and accommodate you correctly as to your uncommunicated intentions?

pxeboot 9y ago

Unfortunately that has been happening for years, long before checked bag fees were a thing. It is likely a way to make hidden city ticketing harder.

dzhiurgis 9y ago
But how is that making them any money? Wouldn't it make more sense to sell something and not do the service? Or the actual service cost is so little that it makes 0 difference? Does airline get to keep airport tax? Fuel savings are negligible compared with all the taxes.
- greenleafjacob 9y ago
  Because they can sell the same seat twice.
  - johnbellone 9y ago
    Actually, three times, since you still need to go to your destination. They have you over a barrel.
- ubernostrum 9y ago
  "Hidden city" ticketing is when you want to go from City A to City B, and notice that the airline charges less money for a ticket A -> B -> C than for a ticket A -> B. So you buy the A -> B -> C ticket and get off the plane at B and never fly onward to C. Airlines really and truly do not like it when you do this. If you have a frequent-flyer account with them, it's usually grounds to have the account terminated and all points/miles in the account confiscated, for example. The reason why the A -> B ticket is more expensive in some cases has to do with how the airline assigns differently-priced tickets to different routes. For example, if B is a business destination and C is a popular tourist destination, the airline can use the more expensive A -> B ticket (which business travelers buy regardless, since they're using company money) to subsidize cheap tourist fares A -> B -> C. When people try to work around this by buying the cheap A -> B -> C ticket and then only flying A -> B, that hits revenue multiple times: they've flown someone A -> B for less than what they wanted to charge on that route, and now they have an empty seat going B -> C. So airlines come down on this pretty hard whenever they think it's what you're doing (they're within their rights to say that if you want to fly A -> B, they have a published fare for that, and to say that they'll cancel all your frequent-flyer perks if you won't abide by that). Now, suppose you book a multi-segment ticket for a round trip: A -> B -> C, return C -> B -> A. And then you never show up for the initial A -> B flight. The airline has no way of knowing what you plan to do unless you actually contact them and tell them what's going on. They just know you bought a ticket and then didn't use it, so if you don't get in touch with them they're going to cancel the whole thing. They'll also cancel if you have two separate tickets booked for the same day and overlapping times, since they know it's physically impossible for you to be on both of them. The solution here is to actually call the airline, or go to their ticket desk at the airport, and explain what happened before you go buying a separate last-minute ticket to try to replace your original one. Usually they'll rebook your original ticket to a different flight, for a change fee that's cheaper than the cost of a brand-new ticket.

jtokoph 9y ago

Which airline? Did a staff member assist you in rescheduling your missed flight? I’ve never been told to ignore my missed flight and rebook a new one-way separately. Any flights I’ve been late for, the airline rebooked me for a later flight on the same reservation without any additional fees.

dawnerd 9y ago
I’ve only had to do this once and if I recall it was just a change fee or go on standby and wait overnight. Key is talking to them.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]

CoolGuySteve 9y ago

Same thing happened to me only I got stranded at the airport Fuzhou, hours from my relatives and with no means to buy a ticket. If they had at least notified me of the cancellation I could have scheduled a flight in advance. Don't fly China Southern.

rahimnathwani 9y ago
Given that most (all?) airlines do the same thing, how is "Don't fly China Southern" going to help? (BTW I've flown China Southern many times, both domestically and internationally. I've not found them to be any worse than other airlines.)

jpalomaki 9y ago

I believe the main reason for this is to prevent people from getting cheaper tickets for short trips by making two separate reservations. Some airlines charge higher prices if you spend only night or two in destination (probably because these are usually business trips and business people have money). So back in the days you actually booked separate return trips to the destination and only used one part of each trip. The trouble is that airlines want to sell the same product with many prices. Get maximum price from business traveler, while still competing also for the price conscious holiday traveler.

ryanlol 9y ago
>I believe the main reason for this is to prevent people from getting cheaper tickets for short trips by making two separate reservations. That's a thing but it's probably not the reason for this. The main reason for this is that you have to do something weird to end up in this situation, if you miss your first flight you'd normally contact your airline. If you miss your first flight and say nothing to the airline, then they might rather reasonably assume that you aren't gonna show up for the return leg.

chaosbutters314 9y ago

Same thing happened to me. I luckily checked the night before. I was as furious as I'm sure you were.

refurb 9y ago

This has been standard across airlines for more than a decade. It's to prevent people from taking advantage of cheaper legs that comprise a multi-leg trip.

decasteve 9y ago

A similar thing happen to me but on a multi-leg flight and they allowed me to board. I was told that if I was going to miss an outgoing flight, and wanted to use the return, then contact them in advance and the forfeit wouldn’t happen.

Justin_K 9y ago

Based upon my experiences as a business traveller, it has been like this over 15 years.

saryant 9y ago

There’s an informal flat-tire rule to help travelers if they miss their flight but still show up at the airport within a reasonable time, but passengers who skip a flight entirely will find their entire ticket cancelled. The specific rule is that flight coupons must be used in order.

idunno246 9y ago

This has been going on for years, I had a worse experience. I book my christmas flights super early and had to change the outgoing flight. Found a reasonable flight on a different airline, so all i wanted to do is cancel the outgoing portion of the flight. Having been burned by a similar experience to yours in the past, so knew I had to call the airline. Website says its not possible so I call them up. Apparently they cant cancel half the flight, they have to cancel and rebook, minus change fee, plus the difference in fare - insane due to it now being close to christmas. I ended up paying money to cancel half of my flight.

gpderetta 9y ago

Happened to me once as well. Apparently this is illegal in EU, but you'll have to fight to get your money back.

robteix 9y ago

I have a relative who moved to the US a couple of years ago. A one-way ticket costed _more_ than a round-trip, so he and his family bought roundtrip tickets. They flew normally but obviously never caught the flight back. The airline later cancelled his platinum frequent flying status and charged him with the difference threatening to sue for fraud. EDIT: typo

nsnick 9y ago
There is a website for that https://skiplagged.com https://skiplagged.com
test1235 9y ago
why would an airline care if the passengers caught their flight or not? The tickets are already paid for.
- ghaff 9y ago
  Because (in their eyes), you're gaming their fare rules. That said, I don't know how common this sort of action is. At various times, I've had to change flight plans and it was cheaper just to burn a booked return leg than pay the cancelation fee. And I've never had an issue doing so.
danmaz74 9y ago
Did you relative notify the company that they wanted to cancel their return flight? I don't think the airline could have complained in that case.

cmurf 9y ago

The flight reservation has changed if you're a no show for the first flight. They want a change fee. So if you don't give them a change fee, they basically apply a punitive "ok fine the whole ticket is cancelled and we keep your money". I think it's theft also.

Brockenstein 9y ago

>The airline may have a clause somewhere on their website explaining that the above is to be expected. That doesn’t make it square for me. The behavior of the airline was, IMO, unethical. Says everyone in every scenario where they run up against terms of services they agreed to but didn't read. I understand the sentiment, human beings don't like their assumptions being completed destroyed by reality. And fyi, your situation would have occurred ages ago, as airlines have been canceling unused itineraries for years to prevent fare hacking, among other things. >However, I shouldn’t have to do so or risk finding myself stranded away from home. Because the airline should be omnipotent as to why you missed your flight and accommodate you correctly as to your uncommunicated intentions?