Qantas Cancellation fees/Missing flights on purpose

[Kellyc1066]

Hi All

I recently booked a economy flight from Melbourne to Las Vegas.
We decided we actually didn't want the LAX to Vegas portion of the flight as thought it would be nicer to drive.

I spoke to Qantas about cancelling that portion of the flight and they said it would cost $200 each person plus a service fee of $80
I thought that was pretty pricey considering we are freeing up 4 seats (return leg). They still have a month in which they can sell these seats.

I mentioned to the rep that it would be cheaper for us to just not turn up for those flights. He then replied if we done this Qantas would cancel all our legs, therefore we wouldn't be able to return and would have to pay in full for new flights.

Is this correct? Is there anyway around this?

Thank you for your help
K

 

[love_the_life]

It is indeed correct. If you miss one leg of a booking, the rest of the itinerary is automatically cancelled. If you are desperate to drive, you would need to either pay the change fee or cancel the whole booking and start again (which will probably work out more expensive anyway). If it were me, I would just take flights if I didn't want to pay.

 

[Kellyc1066]

Thank you love the life.
I think we will just take the flights

 

[love_the_life]

I remember being in Cusco and deciding that our booked flights from Quito to Santiago were just too inconvenient in terms of timing, not able to change original booking so paid for totally new flights (think it was about $2500 in Y for the 2 of us :shock.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

The last thing I would want to be doing after a long flight MEL/LAX when your body clock feels like it's 2300 back home is getting in a car and driving. Save the car trip for somewhere else.

 

[Kellyc1066]

We actually ended up cancelling.
We want a day in LA so we won't be driving straight away

 

[MEL_Traveller]

We actually ended up cancelling.
We want a day in LA so we won't be driving straight away

Worth noting that getting a seat on the left hand side of the plane LAX-LAS will generally give you stunning views of the strip just before landing. You'd pay $$$ for a helicopter ride around Vegas for much the same thing you get for 'free' flying.