Saw an interesting report on T.V. several days ago. A couple from my area of the world (Ottawa) decided to take a vacation in Florida but decided to drive down there and return by plane. Travel agent told them that the cost of a one-way ticket would be more expensive than a round-trip one and suggested that they buy the return ticket and use only the Florida-Ottawa portion of it.
So far so good.
Day of return arrives and the happy family shows up at the airport. Where a representative from US Air tells them that their return ticket ISN’T valid because they hadn’t use their first portion (Ottawa-Florida leg). It would seem that US Air is the only carrier – at least on that route --which imposes such a restriction, and nowhere is this indicated on the ticket (only place mentioned is on their Website!)
Bottom line? They had to purchase a one-way ticket @ $600 (US) a piece.
Upon their return, someone (?) else suggested that, in future, to avoid such an inconvenience they ought to purchase their return ticket in Florida and throw away the second portion once they’re back in Canada. But a consumer lawyer interviewed during the T.V. piece said that the airline could then try to recuperate the difference from the travel agency, which would then turn to the customer for reimbursement.
Not sure how common this practice is in Canada (and I even have less of a clue with regard to the U.S. with the different legislations in place), but I thought I’d share this bit of knowledge with fellow Dopers and suggest that they beware if they find themselves in a similar situation.
Actually, I’ve heard of this for a while. The travel agent should have known better. When connecting flights started getting cheaper than flights from the hub, people at the hubs bought the connecting flight and just picked up the trip at the hub.
Advance discount tickets quite close to being the ultimate supply and demand item.
I agree with zyada. Airlines have been doing this for years - USAir most certainly not being the only one - and the travel agent’s unawareness is absolutely shocking.
I’ve heard that you could be held liable for the difference in price if you use only the first leg then throw away the second, but I’ve not heard of airlines actually attempting to enforce that rule - and I’m not sure it would legally be enforceable anyway. I’ve thrown away return tickets several times and nobody’s ever come to me looking for the money, so I’d say it isn’t much of a risk, but you never know …
IIRC, in the report, this same consumer lawyer added that, given that there is no mention of this restriction on the ticket and that said ticket is the contract between the airline and its customer, a court could possibly find in favour of the customer should he or she decide to request re-imbursement from the airline for the additional $600.
Being the “travel-guru” for my company, I think I have an answer(?) for you.
The round trip ticket should have been purchased as Florida-Ottawa-Florida, with the Florida-Ottawa leg being the date you actually travel. The balance of the ticket is then tossed upon arrival home.
I say, stick it to your travel agent for now knowing the proper way to route the ticket for your benefit.
But, in their defense, if USAirways (or any other carrier, for that matter) suspects that an agency is circumventing the airline’s rules, that agency can be suspended from issuing tickets on that airline.
Oh, the tangled web we weave…
But the airlines are just begging to be duped in such a fashion. When they put so many restrictions on lower-fared tickets, people just HAVE to find a way to make it work to their advantage! Right?
Basically, follow four rules of thumb, and you’ll get the best value for your travel-dollar.
1-Stay a saturday night at your destination
2-Fly both ways on the same airline
3-Purchase your ticket well in advance
4-Seats need to be available in the “limited inventory” offered by the airline for the fare to be valid. (unfortunately, you have no control over the last one!)
Not all of these rule apply all the time… sales are held, fares are artificially lower in markets where low-fared carriers are in direct competition (thanks, SouthWest Airlines!), etc.
Sorry it turned out badly for you. I’m just glad you didn’t go “air-rage” while on the plane.
Thanks for the info Grizz. BTW, I’m not involved at all in this. As I said in the OP, I saw a report on this subject on T.V. a few days ago.
And, after seeing a written summary of the report, I’ll add that, contrary to what I posted above, USAirways is by no means the only airline to impose such restrictions. It seems to be pretty much standard practice.
When you buy a ticket, it’s a contract that youll be on the plane. If you don’t show up, you breach the contract & the airline can sue for the cost. Doesn’t anyone ever read the contract you get when you buy a ticket?
Talk show host Bruce Williams is addressing this issue in part, both on his radio show and on his website. He has helped put a bill before congress on this that will hopefully take care of this. You can see how you can help at this page.
I am not affiliated with Bruce Williams in any way, or with any airline. I’m only a fan of the show.
If a passenger no-shows the first leg of space, the airline cancels the remaining itinerary. It makes sense: if you didn’t show up for your originating flight, how could you be at your destination to return?
The ticket should have been sold Florida/Ottawa/Florida. Show up for the flight to Ottawa and toss the return.
Didn’t know the guy but agree with his position 150%. This requirement by the airlines that your ticket not be given, sold or otherwise transfered to another individual is total BS and legislation banning such a requirement should be adopted.
Even if the airlines are forced by congress to modify their “ticket is a contract” regulation, it probably won’t do much to help the traveling public.
With the technology being used today (i.e. internet), travelers are not using travel agents as much as in the past. Also, airlines have been trimming travel agent’s commissions bit by bit over the past few years. Commissions are less than half of what they were only a few years ago. Obviously, airlines are trying to force out of business those who look out for the travelers.
Hence, travelers may soon have no one to whom they can turn to work on their benefit for purchase of airline tickets. Airlines have made it unbelievably complicated to understand their myriad of rules. Travel agents constantly monitor rules changes, fare updates, etc. All in the effort to provide the best value for the travel dollar.
Well, off the top of my head, I can think of a few other means of transportation you could use in the interval to get you there. Take L.A./Frisco, for example. For some reason, you can’t make it on the date of departure and you’re scheduled to return to L.A. a couple of weeks later. If worse comes to worse, you would even have plenty of time to hitch hike your way up there.
if you buy a ticket and don’t use it - whats the diff. the airline will keep the money, will serve less food, will have more room for the other customers and use less fuel.
Now I know this is not how it really works, but lets say you reserve a hotel room and no-show- they charge you for the night - it doesn’t matter if you are there or not.
“if you buy a ticket and don’t use it - whats the diff. the airline will keep the money, will serve less
food, will have more room for the other customers and use less fuel.”
When you buy a ticket, you are buying a contract. Whether or not it saves them money when you don’t show isn’t the point.
Omni-nut: only repeating airline reasoning. If you did have a ticket with more than one leg of space and had to cancel the first leg or any other, you would simply call the airline and cancel that leg; the remainder would remain reserved for you. If it were a round trip ticket with restrictions they would advise you that your ticket is now worthless, if indeed it is.
Airplanes are extensively overbooked to take care of no-shows. People (business people in particular) make more than one reservation to the same destination on the same day and take the flight more convenient to their schedules. Canceling the downline reservations became a matter of necessity.
Some years ago student fares (flying standby at half price) were offered and phased out shortly thereafter. Students were savvy enough to reserve as many seats as possible assuring that there would be space available for them when they showed up and 50% of the airplne would be no-shows.
Believe me - I don’t agree with these policies. I was a flight attendant, ticket counter agent at Denver Stapleton, station agent in Sacramento and reservationist in Kansas City. I had enough of airlines and their passengers, got a second BS (this time in IT Management) and have never looked back!
I’ve seen passengers pick up discarded bag tags and go to Lost and Found and fill out bag claims (this was before computerized bag tags that have your name imprinted on them). The passenger who discarded the tag was out of the airport and the bag would never be ‘found.’ People with K-Mart luggage stating that valuable jewelry was stolen; people who stated that their lost luggage contained items that, when the bags were found, no longer contained any of those items and never did; a couple who placed their dead infant into a Campbell’s Soup box so that they wouldn’t have to pay a mortuary (yup, we lost that box for two days); grossly obese people trying to cram themselves into coach seats; parents who allow their children to roam the aisles while the seat belt sign is on; people with oversize luggage trying to cram it into overhead bins…It goes on and on. And I haven’t even started on how lousy the airlines themselves are. Sometimes I think we all deserve one another.
US Airways specifically prohibits the practices commonly known as: [ul][li]“Back-to-Back Ticketing” – the combination of two or more round-trip excursion fares end to end for the purpose of circumventing minimum stay requirements.[/li][li]“Throw Away Ticketing”- - the use of round-trip excursion fares for one-way travel.[/li][li]“Hidden City/Point Beyond Ticketing” – the purchase of a fare from a point before the customer’s actual origin or to a point beyond the customer’s actual destination.[/ul][/li][/quote]
Ya break their rules, among the remedies they reserve the right to provide for themselves is to:
I guess the point of contention is whether the purchase of a ticket represents the purchase of the privilege of being on flight X, or the obligation to have thine butt in a seat on flight X.
First, how DARE you call me omni-nut!! (The fact that it might be closer to my true persona is totally immaterial…:D)
Second, really good points you’re making. Some members of the travelling public are bona fide jackasses (air rage, overloading head bins which stuff that should have been checked in before boarding (but then, it would have cost you more or you would have had to wait for it at the carrousel, like the rest of us commoners, wouldn’t it?), and some have no qualms whatsoever about defrauding the airlines (false claims, etc.).
brad: That was one of the points argued during this report. In Quebec at least, it would seem that this info should appear on the ticket itself (and not simply on the website).
omni: Sorry, it seems that I gave the wrong impression with my post. Actually, last night I was going to editorialize a bit, but accidentally hit “submit” instead of “preview.” After banging my head against the monitor a few times, I opted to just let it go…
I agree that the info should be on the ticket somewhere, in some form. The “info” I’m referring to, specifically, is that you may end up owing the airline if you choose not to be on a flight that you have a ticket for.
I think I remember looking at the fine print on my tickets before, and seeing something about having the rest of your itinerary cancelled if you mysteriously weren’t on an earlier leg. To me, though, this is an entirely different animal from ditching the last leg of a flight.
Part of me says, “OK, they run the flight, they can set whatever dumb rules they want.” OTOH, I’m reluctant to take the view that a ticket is an obligation, rather than a privilege. If I decide to buy seats on two flights, and only use one, that’s my own damn business. If I miss the first leg without letting the airline know what’s up, I’d say it’s fine if they shrug and scratch off the remaining flights. That’s OK - for all they know, I’m dead, or just not making the journey. No sense holding my place.
After flying a leg or more, though, I would like to reserve the right to bail on the remainder of my itinerary. I don’t want them coming at me demanding money because I didn’t take up space and weight on one of their planes. If the airline’s pricing policy is so bass-ackwards that I can save money that way, it deserves whatever happens to it.
