Can I get a cheaper one-way flight by booking and cancelling a flexible return leg for a refund?

Question

I’m looking to book a one-way flight from the UK to a European city. The airline [I don’t think it matters which one specifically; this question is really about the principle] wants to charge around £400 for a one-way ticket, but only around £100 each way if I book a return. I can select different tariffs for the two legs, so it looks like it would be possible to book the (low-cost) “advance/saver” tariff for the outbound leg and a (refundable) “flexible” tariff for the return leg.

So can I book a return like this, fly the outbound leg, then cancel the return leg for a refund? Or am I likely to hit some restriction in the small print that will prevent me?

(I don’t know whether this kind of thing is frowned upon as “gaming the system”, or if it’s simply “using the system to my own best advantage”…)

Answer 1

No, this will not work.

Buying a return ticket and only using the first leg of it will certainly work - just make sure that you don't skip any of the legs before the one(s) you intend to use to avoid the ticket being canceled.

However what will not work is trying to book a refundable fare class for the return, and then obtaining a refund for that leg. The reason is, as you've guessed it may be, in the "fine print" - or specifically in the fare rules.

All airlines will have something like this in their fare rules and/or Contract or Carriage (CoC) :

OPEN JAWS/ROUND TRIPS/CIRCLE TRIPS NOTE -
  WHEN COMBINED WITH HALF ROUND TRIP FARES TO FORM
  ROUND/CIRCLE/OPEN JAW TRIPS **THE MOST RESTRICTIVE
  CONDITIONS APPLY.**  THESE INCLUDE MINIMUM/MAXIMUM
  STAY /RESERVATION/TICKETING REQUIREMENTS/STOPOVER/
  COMBINATION PROVISIONS AND **CANCELLATION CHARGES.**

Specifically that example is from American Airlines, but the others will be similar.

This means that if only one of the flights on a ticket isn't refundable, then neither are any of the other flights booked on the same ticket - even if they are different fare codes that would normally allow for refunds.

If you were to ask the airline to cancel the return leg then they will normally "reprice" the entire ticket, which basically means that they will calculate the price again for the whole ticket - including legs you've already flow! This will put you back into the original situation of being after a one-way, and as the price of that will be higher than you've already paid, there won't be a refund due.

It's worth keeping in mind that whilst one-way flights will sometimes be more expensive, they often come with better conditions (eg, allowing changes and/or refunds) that the cheaper return flights do not. Booking a return and simply not using the return portion may make sense if you saves you money - but make sure that you're not taking a higher risk to save a small amount of money. In this case it looks like you're saving around £200 so it probably is worth doing, but if you were only saving £20 then you'd almost certainly be better off paying a little more for the one-way and the additional flexibility it probably gives you.

Answer 2

So the way I see it, there are two parts to this question then:

1 - Can you just drop the second leg - and 2) can you get a refund on this second leg

Can you drop the second leg of a flight

I've done this once, and I assure you, it's possible. However, there are several factors to consider:

• say you have a flight with several legs - five for example. If you miss the second leg, depending on the conditions of carriage, the airline will often cancel the other legs - after all, you in theory won't be there to catch the third, fourth and fifth legs.

• if your flight has only two legs - from A to B (maybe with stops), and from B to A, and you miss that second half - B to A, you can do it, but again it depends on the conditions of carriage. I did this once with a flight where A and B were London and Buenos Aires. I'd worked my way up to Colombia and decided to hop across to the US and fly back to London that way, so just dropped that second leg. And that was fine. HOWEVER, and this is important - some have an extra clause where you can be PENALISED for missing that second return flight. So it's VERY important to read those terms and conditions carefully.

• a friend had to get a flight from La Paz, Bolivia to Santiago, Chile. He found that it was in fact CHEAPER to buy a return than a one-way (this happens occasionally). Fortunately, once more he was able to do this without penalty.

• in addition to possible financial penalties, there are some other possible penalties. If you're a frequent flyer member with the airline, it's possible they may cancel this. It's also possible they may refuse to fly you again. It's rare, but remember, they're usually pricing flights like this for a reason, and you messing with their plans doesn't go down well :)

Can you get a refund on the second leg

Again this will depend on the airline, and reasons.

• You almost certainly won't get a refund, unless their conditions of carriage include refunds for emergency situations, which you'd have to prove. A friend did this on an emergency trip - he cancelled the second leg of a different flight he'd have to take.

• if for some reason the flight time gets changed to one you can't take (even though you never intended to take it) you may be able to argue for a refund.

• If the flight was somehow not as described, you may have a right through your travel agent for a refund. The airline, however, probably not.

• in general, flights are priced as such because they don't want people taking one way flights. They want them taking two. Otherwise there's unnecessary airport taxes, staff costs and all that, for potentially empty planes coming back to pick up the people on a popular route. Sometimes it's also to encourage you to come to their hub. For example, it could be worth Qantas's while to give you a discount on a leg into Australia, because all other flights you take internally are likely to be on Qantas then, and they can make their money back. For comparison, a return flight from SYD to LON is generally more expensive than a return flight from LON to SYD.

Bottom line - read those conditions of carriage. Again. And again. Make sure you won't accidentally shoot yourself in the foot by dropping that leg. Make sure you CAN get a refund, if that's the only way it's worth doing for you. Check with your travel agent, if you're using one. Then book it and enjoy!