Can I cancel an outbound flight and keep the return?
Re: Can I cancel my outgoing flight still take my return flight? The short answer is yes you can cancel the first leg without changing the return leg, because I have done exactly this, but only on a single person reservation.
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Canceling one leg of a flight can result in consequences, such as a forfeiture of the remaining portion of your ticket, a fee for the cancellation, or a change in the fare for the remaining leg of the flight.
Airlines typically require that both legs of the journey be cancelled together in order to receive a refund or credit for future travel. However, if your plans have changed and you no longer need to take the return portion of your flight, some airlines may allow you to change it for a fee.
Generally speaking, whenever you book a flight on any airline, it treats the trip as one, complete itinerary. If you then don't show up for any portion of it, the rest of the unflown flights will be cancelled and then subject to a change fee and possible fare difference if you then try to rebook.
Some airlines also charge a no-show fee. To reduce no-shows, air carriers encourage passengers to arrive at the departure airport in advance and immediately inform the airline in case of any delays or changes. In a broad sense, a no-show is someone who was expected to be somewhere but didn't arrive.
It all depends upon the fare type. If it's refundable, you can cancel and re-book. If it's non-refundable then you lose the return fare. Please note, on a round trip ticket, if you want to use one way, you can only use the outbound trip and not the inbound.
“Hidden city ticketing,” or booking a flight with the intention of getting off at the layover city rather than the final destination, is perfectly legal, but there are some factors to consider before making it a habit.
Throwaway ticketing is purchasing a ticket with the intent to use only a portion of the included travel. This situation may arise when a passenger wants to travel only one way, but where the discounted round-trip excursion fare is cheaper than a one-way ticket.
While not illegal, intentionally skipping segments on an itinerary does almost always violates airlines' contracts of carriage. For example, American's contract of carriage says this: Reservations made to exploit or circumvent fare and ticket rules are prohibited.
Even if you booked a round-trip itinerary, you can cancel just one direction if needed. Within your account, Southwest displays all your upcoming reservations. To cancel your flight, click the Cancel flight link for the respective flight. Note that canceling the flight will cancel all passengers on the itinerary.
If you know you can't make a scheduled flight, it's better to cancel your flight rather than be a no-show. If you cancel, you might receive a partial or whole credit for the fare purchased, to be applied to a future flight.