Return Business Flight then cancelling Return Leg

[lindyb]

Hi Again,

After getting some great info re booking cheap return flights in Europe when I only want a one way, I have another question.
I am looking at booking a business flight from Frankfurt to Singapore which one way would cost me around 3400 euro, but if i book a return flight I can get FRK to SIN for 1689 Eu on a qantas business saver fare which is non refundable. The return leg would be normal business @ 2533 eu but allows for cancellation.
Has anybody had any experience with this type of booking?
Would I be able to book the return ticket, fly the FRK to SIN & then cancel the return leg & get full refund?

Thanks

 

[JohnK]

You can certainly cancel.

You could also try to get a refund but do not be too surprised if you are asked to pay additional money. Does not happen often but has happened.

When you cancel the ticket the airline is not going to split a return airfare in half and give you a refund of the remainder. It will more than likely calculate the most expensive one-way for your route and then see if there are any funds left over from your return airfare.

 

[extracta]

They have probably been down this path many times and I reckon they will hit you for the full one way fare and then refund you any difference.

This is what the cancellation conditions say.

The refund will be the difference (if any) between the original fare paid and the applicable fare for the journey travelled.

If you look at expedia.co.uk there are one way J flights available for less than 1400 pounds, including on Air Berlin which is a oneworld airline... FLight operated by Etihad Airways.

MAS have one way flights in J on Hotels, flights, car rental & cheap holidays on Expedia.ie for about 1900 Euro

Not all dates of course, just have to look around

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Hi Again,

After getting some great info re booking cheap return flights in Europe when I only want a one way, I have another question. I am looking at booking a business flight from Frankfurt to Singapore which one way would cost me around 3400 euro, but if i book a return flight I can get FRK to SIN for 1689 Eu on a qantas business saver fare which is non refundable.

The return leg would be normal business @ 2533 eu but allows for cancellation. Has anybody had any experience with this type of booking? Would I be able to book the return ticket, fly the FRK to SIN & then cancel the return leg & get full refund?

Thanks

When you cancel the ticket the airline is not going to split a return airfare in half and give you a refund of the remainder. It will more than likely calculate the most expensive one-way for your route and then see if there are any funds left over from your return airfare.

They have probably been down this path many times and I reckon they will hit you for the full one way fare and then refund you any difference.

This is what the cancellation conditions say.

I agree with the above comments so if you've paid EUR4,222.00 (EUR1,689.00 + EUR2,533.00) it's likely that they would reassess your fare to the one way fare that you travelled of EUR3,400.00 being the applicable one way fare at the time leaving a refund of only EUR822.00 subject to any cancellation fees and/or service fees.

You need to read the fare conditions very carefully as sometimes the rules might say the fare is refundable (eg the EUR2,533.00 fare) however it may also say in the case where the fare is combined with a more restrictive fare then the whole ticket will take on the most restrictive fare conditions ie the entire ticket will become non-refundable.

You might get more bang for your buck if you were able to change the date of the return sector SIN/FRA then later on in the year position back to SIN to utilised the return SIN/FRA leg on a different trip.

 

[ftm]

Normally, the most restrictive conditions will apply to both legs. If ticketed together, regardless of the fact that the return leg is a refundable fare class, the whole ticket is non refundable.