Is it allowable to buy a round trip ticket

[indigoskye]

here is a question that I want to find out. My son is in the military in Germany and he is coming home for two weeks before he gets deployed. A roundtrip ticket from Frankfurt to Greenville, SC (where we live) is roughly $900. But we want to spend the weekend in Baltimore and he has a connecting flight that goes through DC so it would be so much easier to just pick him up there and then drive back a few days later. A single flight to DC or Baltimore is like $2000+ so that is out of the question for sure! So, IS it legal to buy the roundtrip airfare and just not make the connecting flight from DC to Greenville?

[thereuare]

Technically it's against the airline's rules, but i don't think they can stop you from leaving the aircraft... however, this would void any future flight segments (for instance, it's not clear from your post, but if he was planning on using the return ticket to fly back to Germany, that part of the ticket would be void since he didn't complete the full segments of the inbound flight). As well, in the "age we live in", there could also be an issue if he has checked baggage... the baggage would be checked to the final destination (Greenville) but if he got off the plane in DC (while leaving baggage onboard the aircraft) it could create a major security issue.

I suppose it's also in the ticket contract that they can charge you for the difference between the flights you booked and the shorter flight you actually flew, although i never heard of an airline pursuing a passenger for this.

[indigoskye]

thanks for the reply. I think we may just try for roundtrip tickets out of Baltimore or DC and save the headache!

[BEAV]

I know it's too late for this to help the OP, but in case anyone reading finds themselves in a similar situation, the answer to this would have been to book a "multiple destination" ticket. For example Frankfurt to Baltimore, with a return from Greenville. This is also commonly known as an "open jaw" itinerary and is not considered to be two, separate one-way tickets.

We often fly into Orlando, but return from Ft Lauderdale. For cruises, we fly to Barcelona (where the ship embarks) and return from Venice (where the sailing ends). Same scenario as the OP's.