Intentionally missing a connecting flight

[DaveM2148]

I have a one-way ticket on Southwest Airlines to Kauai (LIH) that stops in Honolulu. My plans have changed and I want to not take the HNL to LIH portion of the one-way reservation. I am using my Reward points for this trip. If I rebook now, I will have to use more points to only travel to HNL than what I used to travel to LIH. 

  What will happen if I  just keep my original itinerary and not take the HNL to LIH flight?

Will Southwest penalize me in any way?

  I know that if I had booked a round-trip ticket, they would most likely cancel the return flights. My return trip is on a different reservation. But since I am doing this as a one-way ticket, would there be any problem with not taking the second leg of the itinerary?

[TheMiddleSeat · Accepted solution]

You are correct, any remaining portions of the reservation would be cancelled, but that does not apply to you in this situation.  You also will not be able to check bags as they would continue on to the final stop without you.  Beyond that, there is no penalty.  You should let the gate agent know you are not going to continue on so they don't spend 30 minutes trying to figure out why the count is not correct.

--TheMiddleSeat

[dfwskier]

themiddleseat is correct in everything he said. I've done it several times myself.

That being said, some other airlines do take it seriously, and if repeated enough, will try to extract additional money from the traveler.  Not Southwest though.

One other thing, if this is done via a paid ticket, then no RR points or flight credits would be issued.

[TheMiddleSeat]

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@dfwskier wrote:

One other thing, if this is done via a paid ticket, then no RR points or flight credits would be issued.

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Perhaps that's the "penalty".  Good point to mention that part.

--TheMiddleSeat

[gsking]

Here's a wrinkle.  I'm flying home on Sunday with my wife as CP and have a layover in my mom's city.  As life would have it, it may now make sense for me to stay with my mom and drive her car back to my house.

So I'd be not getting on a flight where my wife would still be flying as my CP.

Would this work?  Or would they cancel her out as well?

[TheMiddleSeat]

@gsking I'm not totally following, but I think this general statement applies... the free companion can only fly if the companion pass holder is on the plane. That applies to all legs of the flight.

If you're saying the companion would need to fly a leg without you then they need to purchase a ticket for that leg. 

--TheMiddleSeat

[DaveM2148]

If indeed you are referring to a free companion pass, and your wife is using the companion pass, then I have some experience with this situation.

  Last year my wife had a companion pass for me to travel with her, and each time we traveled, if I tried to board before her, they would stop me and ask to have my wife Check-In first. So if your wife is holding the companion pass then I doubt if she could board without you, based on my experiences.

[gsking]

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@DaveM2148 wrote:

If indeed you are referring to a free companion pass, and your wife is using the companion pass, then I have some experience with this situation.

  Last year my wife had a companion pass for me to travel with her, and each time we traveled, if I tried to board before her, they would stop me and ask to have my wife Check-In first. So if your wife is holding the companion pass then I doubt if she could board without you, based on my experiences.

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Yeah, that would definitely fix it.  I don't think I've ever worried about which one of us boarded first... Never gotten that warning

I guess given the late date, I can wait until the last minute and cancel my ticket and pay for hers with points.  It's more expensive than booking a one way later on, but might save money in other ways... And obviously time.

[DancingDavidE]

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@gsking wrote:

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@DaveM2148 wrote:

If indeed you are referring to a free companion pass, and your wife is using the companion pass, then I have some experience with this situation.

  Last year my wife had a companion pass for me to travel with her, and each time we traveled, if I tried to board before her, they would stop me and ask to have my wife Check-In first. So if your wife is holding the companion pass then I doubt if she could board without you, based on my experiences.

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Yeah, that would definitely fix it.  I don't think I've ever worried about which one of us boarded first... Never gotten that warning

I guess given the late date, I can wait until the last minute and cancel my ticket and pay for hers with points.  It's more expensive than booking a one way later on, but might save money in other ways... And obviously time.

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Hopefully you booked this all as one-ways or this will be a mess to change on the fly.

[gsking]

Yeah, it's one way on Sunday.  So I get full credit for today's flight.

 So I can book my wife's last leg on Sunday morning and cancel the CP ticket once the first leg is completed.

Customer service confirmed this would be the way to do it.

They get $180 for me NOT completing a flight, since I have to pay for her to fly solo last minute.  But I save almost as much or more skipping a flight tomorrow and possibly another flight in the future.

And time and gas money.