Question: Can I Not Use Part of A Roundtrip Ticket?
A reader asked about not using one leg of a roundtrip ticket - "I found a ticket originating in Philadephia, with a layover in Denver, terminating in Salt Lake City. Is it possible to not use the last leg of her ticket to SLC (we can arrange for transportation between DEN and SLC). I'd rather not buy one-way tickets both ways, but wondered if this was possible - by giving the airline advance notice of not using the one leg of the ticket."
Can it be done, and if not, how to book a roundtrip ticket with two different destinations...
Can it be done, and if not, how to book a roundtrip ticket with two different destinations...
Answer: If it is a roundtrip ticket, then this could get complicated.
So if it is a roundtrip PHL - SLC - PHL then not using a part of the outbound travel PHL - SLC breaks the contract of the ticket. The airfare is based on the whole portion PHL - SLC not on PHL-DEN-SLC. So if this is the case, then the airline may cancel the return portion completely.
If you buy it as two separate one ways this obviously won't be an issue.
Also, you may want to check the option of what is called an OPEN JAW ticket. An open jaw ticket assumes that you are arriving and departing from different airports, and yet you still may get the benefit of a roundtrip ticket price. The portion that is not done by air is called an ARNK (essentially non air travel portion that gets you between cities)
In this case an OPEN JAW ticket could look like this - PHL-DEN and returning SLC-PHL. This routing usually does apply for open jaw as Denver is often used as a connection point (especially with legacy airlines like United Airlines). So if you are finding roundtrip prices are better, I would try doing an open jaw.
For example, if you are using United Airlines:
under the flight booking options choose multi-city
for flight 1 you would input PHL to DEN
for flight 2 SLC to PHL
and then search for flights
...This may then give you a roundtrip price based on half a roundtrip for PHL-DEN-PHL and half for PHL-SLC-PHL.
So if it is a roundtrip PHL - SLC - PHL then not using a part of the outbound travel PHL - SLC breaks the contract of the ticket. The airfare is based on the whole portion PHL - SLC not on PHL-DEN-SLC. So if this is the case, then the airline may cancel the return portion completely.
If you buy it as two separate one ways this obviously won't be an issue.
Also, you may want to check the option of what is called an OPEN JAW ticket. An open jaw ticket assumes that you are arriving and departing from different airports, and yet you still may get the benefit of a roundtrip ticket price. The portion that is not done by air is called an ARNK (essentially non air travel portion that gets you between cities)
In this case an OPEN JAW ticket could look like this - PHL-DEN and returning SLC-PHL. This routing usually does apply for open jaw as Denver is often used as a connection point (especially with legacy airlines like United Airlines). So if you are finding roundtrip prices are better, I would try doing an open jaw.
For example, if you are using United Airlines:
under the flight booking options choose multi-city
for flight 1 you would input PHL to DEN
for flight 2 SLC to PHL
and then search for flights
...This may then give you a roundtrip price based on half a roundtrip for PHL-DEN-PHL and half for PHL-SLC-PHL.