Booking return flight; intentional outbound no-show

Orionaut said:
It is simply supply and demand. They can get away with charging this way so they do!
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Actually it defies supply and demand law which states that as things become more demanded the suppliers charge more for it, so really two-way flights (which I'm guessing are more popular) should be more expensive than one-way flights under supply and demand rules.
 
estebanrey said:
Actually it defies supply and demand law which states that as things become more demanded the suppliers charge more for it, so really two-way flights (which I'm guessing are more popular) should be more expensive than one-way flights under supply and demand rules.
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Not really, there are a small number of people who only want one way flights and, given that the airlines have policies to prevent people from using half of a (More popular and cheaper) return ticket. The higher price is the one that the one way travellers will have to pay. (Like it or lump it)

If there was no demand for one way tickets, the airlines wouldn't be able to get away with charging so much for them.

Its just the same with the railways. (And I imagine coach travel, but I haven't used a coach since the 70's)
 
Orionaut said:
Not really, there are a small number of people who only want one way flights and, given that the airlines have policies to prevent people from using half of a (More popular and cheaper) return ticket. The higher price is the one that the one way travellers will have to pay. (Like it or lump it)

If there was no demand for one way tickets, the airlines wouldn't be able to get away with charging so much for them.

Its just the same with the railways. (And I imagine coach travel, but I haven't used a coach since the 70's)
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What's to stop you booking it the other way though? e.g. for the OP to book a return from SYD to LHR and "missing" the return?
 
Haggisman said:
What's to stop you booking it the other way though? e.g. for the OP to book a return from SYD to LHR and "missing" the return?
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I must say I wondered about that. They definitely wouldn't like it though!

I remember a case some years ago where a similar situation occurred with the railways. on some routes the longer distance journeys were cheaper than the shorter distance ones, people were buying the longer distance tickets and getting off early.

ISTR that they ended up facing legal action for fare dodging!
 
Orionaut said:
I must say I wondered about that. They definitely wouldn't like it though!

I remember a case some years ago where a similar situation occurred with the railways. on some routes the longer distance journeys were cheaper than the shorter distance ones, people were buying the longer distance tickets and getting off early.

ISTR that they ended up facing legal action for fare dodging!
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I can't see how they could penalise you for it, there are a million reasons why you could legitimately miss the "return" flight, and they're hardly going to take you to court for "missing your train" "sleeping through your alarm clock" etc. etc. ;)
 
Orionaut said:
Not really, there are a small number of people who only want one way flights and, given that the airlines have policies to prevent people from using half of a (More popular and cheaper) return ticket. The higher price is the one that the one way travellers will have to pay. (Like it or lump it)

If there was no demand for one way tickets, the airlines wouldn't be able to get away with charging so much for them.

Its just the same with the railways. (And I imagine coach travel, but I haven't used a coach since the 70's)
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I was working on the premise that one way tickets cost 'more' than two way ones. If that is the case then supply and demand law states that two way tickets should be more expensive because they are more popular than one way tickets.

I may have misunderstood though and actually if what people mean is a one way ticket costs more per flight than a two way one (ergo a one way ticket costs more than half the two way one) then what i said is irrelevant.
 
Haggisman said:
What's to stop you booking it the other way though? e.g. for the OP to book a return from SYD to LHR and "missing" the return?
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Nothing to stop you doing that, really. As I mentioned earlier, our company stopped doing what the OP mentioned because of the return flight being cancelled because of an outgoing leg no-show.

Now, we just dummy book a return for only the outgoing if it's cheaper.
 
Thanks for all the advice gents (well, most of you anyway!) ;)

OK, I did a bit of trawling through Qantas' T&C's of carriage and came across this section below; 6.5 (a) and (d) is of particular relevance.

Qantas said:
6.5 Coupon Sequence

(a) The fare paid for your Ticket has been calculated on the basis of the sequence of transportation shown in your Ticket.

(b) Once travel has commenced, if you do not wish to continue the journey in that sequence, you must pay any applicable fees, taxes and fare adjustment. The Ticket will be reissued for the new fare which will be the full unrestricted fare that was applicable for the relevant class of travel on the date of original purchase for the revised itinerary.

(c) Alternatively, you may request a refund for the unused portion of your Ticket within 12 months after the original date of Ticket issue. The amount to be refunded (if any) will be the difference between the fare paid and the full unrestricted fare that would have been payable for the revised itinerary. Any applicable change fee and service fee will be deducted from that amount.

(d) If you wish to change to your sequence of transportation before travel has commenced, and your fare rules allow it, you may request a fare recalculation and ticket reissue, in which case payment of any applicable fees and fare difference will be required.
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So I better contact Qantas, and change to one-way fare and pay the difference. It's all a bit of a mess as I was originally going to be flying both legs and now I have to cancel, and the other two passengers have to split the return leg and fly on different dates so it's going to end up being a real waste of money with change fees, differences etc. I won't get a refund for my cancelled flight either. But that's the way it goes.

Thanks to all for the advice - I'm glad I asked now, I certainly don't want any nasty surprises for them on the day of departure!
 
Haggisman said:
That still doesn't make sense.

E.g.

OP pays for a single ticket: £200 - they make £200 on the outbound and still have a spare seat on the return.

OP pays for a return ticket: £100 - they make £50 each way.
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It's quite simple really.

Eg: Airline needs to sell all tickets there and back to make a profit so they sell returns for £100 to guarantee all seats are sold, empty seats means lost revenue.

OP needs a single ticket and the airline could charge £50 and get someone else in his seat for the return/outgoing trip for another £50 but that means advertising costs and more work so they simply charge £200 to cover the return trip anyway incase they can't sell the seat and to make that little bit more profit. As said earlier they closed the loophole so Mr OP has little choice but to pay the single ticket premium.
 
estebanrey said:
Actually it defies supply and demand law which states that as things become more demanded the suppliers charge more for it, so really two-way flights (which I'm guessing are more popular) should be more expensive than one-way flights under supply and demand rules.
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It allows them to more accurately forecast the future number of seats required and to sell.

If each flight were a free for all then it would be more difficult for them to adequately cover requirements.



its better to sell a ticket for £50 then for no one to buy it for £75 because its all a capacity game. Each company wants to max out capacity where possible to spread the cost of the flight..
 
Jokester said:
Huh? I confirmed that he should be worried about the ticket being void if they were a no show for the first flight, or was it too complex for you to read between the lines?
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He's already worried about that. Telling him he should be worried about something he's already worrying about is kind of pointless? Other posts have gone into detail, suggested alternative ideas or pointed the OP into other directions that could be helpful.
 
Thanks to all again for the helpful comments. Just a brief update on the situation for those interested.

So, to confirm what many here had said, the representative from Qantas informed me that even if I turned up for the outbound flight, and the two other passengers didn't, their return segment would be automatically forfeited.

It had cost £2.4k for the three of us return (~£800 each), and since a new booking was necessary for the other two (change to one-way), I had to pay the fare difference and a flight change fee of £100 per person; amounting to the princely sum of £1.3k.

I don't know how much exactly I lost in total, as the one-way ticket was always going to be more expensive. But factoring in the fact that I booked ~2 months ago, plus the change fees, and the lost prepaid baggage allowance (non-transferable), I'd say it would approach £1k.

A costly, and naive mistake.
 
DiscoDave said:
He's already worried about that. Telling him he should be worried about something he's already worrying about is kind of pointless? Other posts have gone into detail, suggested alternative ideas or pointed the OP into other directions that could be helpful.
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You've completely missed the point. If he knew a no show would void his ticket he wouldn't have asked if it would void it - I told him he was right that it would void it.

What did you contribute to the thread?
 
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