Cancelling return leg of a return fare QF - PE

[emilbulls]

Hi,

I would need some advice from some of the experts in this forum.
I'm looking to book a PE flight MEL-VIE end of June, but there is no availability on the preferred days back (booked out from 1/7-4/7).
My plan would be either to take a one way with QF to VIE, but the price for the same flight as one way is 1.200 AUD more.

Is it possible to add an return flight and cancel it afterwards? Does this trigger a recalculation? Or is the Qantas system not this sophisticated?
Would take a CX flight back.
My other plan is a bit of gamble, so booking the return on 5/7 and hope that some availability opens up to rebook the flight.

Or is it not worth the hassle and just take a CX return flight and travel hassle free?

Cheers

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Yes, if it is a revenue fare it will reprice it. And possibly also add fees for the cancellation itself and processing. You may not get much back.

 

[ChrisMars]

Or is it not worth the hassle and just take a CX return flight and travel hassle free?

Not sure traveling with CX via HKG is hassle free at the moment. Check catmrefully whats going on there, CX current cancelation history etc... Zero covid policy is very disruptive for CX.

 

[VPS]

What happens if you're a no show - do they still recalculate?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

What happens if you're a no show - do they still recalculate?

In theory they could if they wanted to. Like hidden city ticketing, if an airline suspected a passenger was buying returns to circumvent high one-way fares, and were serial offenders, they could bill you.

Usually it happens when the customer takes a step like asking for a refund.

 

[VPS]

In theory they could if they wanted to. Like hidden city ticketing, if an airline suspected a passenger was buying returns to circumvent high one-way fares, and were serial offenders, they could bill you.

Usually it happens when the customer takes a step like asking for a refund.

but in practice if it was a one off then would they just ignore it?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

but in practice if it was a one off then would they just ignore it?

Yeah. I guess they assume you missed the flight due to unforeseen circumstances… bad for business to kick you while you’re down!

 

[ChrisMars]

Yea no show on return leg should be fine.

No show on a connection (hidden city cost optimization) could be problematic with some airlines.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Yea no show on return leg should be fine.

No show on a connection (hidden city cost optimization) could be problematic with some airlines.

Like 'hidden city', not using the return is another instance of 'throwaway ticketing'. The airlines don't like it.

As an example when my folks needed to fly one way FRA-AMS the fare was north of €300. The return was €130, same outbound flight. I bought them round-trips!