Calling all Airline Experts About This Page:

[WDW Traveler]

I have what may be a strange question and it might just be me being paranoid! Here is the problem:

We have flights booked from BOS to MCO in April.
My DH found out that he will be in Atlanta the week before our vacation for training.
Instead of flying back to BOS, he was going to go straight from ATL to MCO. We would just meet him at MCO.
Now I know we lose the cost of the flight from BOS to MCO. No big deal.
My question is this: Does he still have a return flight from MCO to BOS even if he does not use the first flight? I am afraid we are going to get to the airport on our way home and they are going to tell him they cancelled his flight home because he did not use the flight there. What are airline policies when it comes to stuff like that? This has never come up before. Just don't want to be surprised at the airport and have to buy him another flight for BIG bucks to get him home!

Thanks!

[tinker_me_happy]

Which airline are you flying? I fly Jet Blue and Southwest and if it is either of these you won't have a problem and you could most likely get a credit for your one way going BOS to MCO for him. If it is SW you might even be able to change his flight for free. (Not sure if they fly out of ATL). JB will charge you $100 to change his flight but still might be less to pay the change fee. If it is one of the other airlines I would call them as soon as you can and just let them know what is going on and tell them he will not be using the BOS to MCO part of the ticket (and why) but that he is still using the MCO to BOS portion. You shouldn't have any problems, but I would contact the airline ahead of time regardless of the carrier.

[Shawnam1868]

I'd call the airline, I noticed more and more airlines instead of booking a straight round trip, they are booking 2 one ways, in which case you could cancel the bos to mco one. I know JetBlue puts the refund (less cancel fee) in a "travel bank".

[Beautiful Mother]

Call the airline. If the flights were booked as a "round trip" and you don't make the first half of the trip, the second half is automatically cancelled--this I know from personal experience. One way tickets are that-so you would be alright. You can get some idea if when you booked the flights they were priced "per way". Good luck! I had to rebook the entire flight.

[Sue M.]

As everyone suggests, your best course of action is to go straight to the airline and get some info.
You could possibly recoup some money for the unused flight. Did you have trip insurance? Sometimes Visa has trip cancellation insurance if you paid with that Visa. I know mine does.

[WDW Traveler]

Thank you all for your answers!

We are flying Airtran (first time). He insists that he will still have a flight on the way home, I of course am nervous he will not. We did buy them using "each way" fares so that's a good sign. I will definately have to call the airline when I know for sure that he is going. I do hope they don't charge us the $75 change fee even though we are just deducting part of the flight, not really changing. Guess we will see. Maybe they will adopt Southwest's policy of no flight change fees the first of the year. LOL One can hope then I don't have to worry.

We are not really concerned with getting a credit. The flight from ATL from MCO will be paid by DH's company. (They pay for two legs, usually home-there, and there-home - they will also do home-there and there to anywhere else, then you are responsible for getting home). So if we don't get a credit, it's ok.

Thanks for all your expertise!

[WDW Traveler]

Ok, I emailed the airline (for proof if I needed it). He will be all set. I was told they base their fares on one-way flights so not using the first flight does nothing to the second. They did say I could call them and get a credit for the fare (-$75). So at least it won't cost me anything either way. Thanks for everyone's thoughts!

[tinker_me_happy]

Call and get the credit! You never know if you might want/need to use it. You have a year to use it, so worst case scenario is you don't use the credit and you are out that money, which you thought you would be out anyway!