emma4

Hi All,

Anyone left to move back to the UK for good and booked a return flight (knowing you won't use the return flight)?
I am curious if airlines can send a bill for the flight you did not show for or if immigration cares that you have a return flight.
I am moving back home and my b/f is moving with me on a visa, one way flights are notorious for being an insane amount of money and so all we can afford is a return flight but we don't want to run into any possible issues by booking a return knowing we won't use that flight.

Thanks, any tips or people that have moved back home welcome to comment

cdfergus

I'd like an answer to that also! Moving back ourselves and the one way flights are extortionate!

Jerseygirl

Many of our members do this. Some have also claimed the taxes and fees back on the unused ticket.

Editha

I've not used the return part of an air ticket without any repercussions.

emma4

CDFERGUS,
Good luck with your move, when you off?

Thanks Jerseygirl and Editha, I just heard recently that some airlines will now send a bill for the return you do not use because they are trying to clamp down on people doing this. I was planning on booking a return and then calling a week prior to say i won't be using it.

Jerseygirl

That's exactly what others have done. After the first leg of the flight is completed...call the airline and cancel the return flight...ask for a refund of the taxes and fees.

Davita

I'd suggest reading the cancellation policy on the contract when applying.
Just because airlines have been generous in the past is no guarantee it may be repeated.
Major airlines hardly make money...they're a bad financial investment due to competitive budget airlines driving prices to the bottom...or some states subsidizing their flagships.
These days an airline will try to recoup anyway it can...or go bankrupt.

Celticprince_86

I've recently started saving to return (I have $380 right now and will have $400+ tomorrow.) I plan on buying the cheapest 1 way ticket I can. I was surprised to see that if I had $957 I could have bought it for Nov 30th this year.

Editha

When I decided not to use the second half of an Air Canada Edmonton/Heathrow return, I rang Air Canada and asked to cancel. I was told there was a cancellation fee. 'OK then' I said 'What happens if I don't cancel but just don't turn up?' Nothing.

That was in 2007, so ancient history.

MILNGAVIE

Exactly...there are numerous ways to get cheaper fares and only using the outbound of a return ticket is the most common one. It's rarely worthwhile cancelling the return portion of a discounted ticket due to the cancellation fee as Editha explained above.

There are airlines who do offer discounted one way fares so do a search.

chawkins99

Do a search on Kayak.com

When I went back to Blighty last year, I flew out on Norwegian airlines and back on WestJet so both legs were classed as one-way. That was the cheapest option.

Also consider alternate airports. I drove 7 hours to Orlando which saved me over $1,000 compared to flying from my local airport.

cdfergus

Hi, not for a while. Going to Scotland in September (Isle of Bute) to check everything out then will apply for spouse visa as soon as I get home. So will leave Jan or Feb. So wish I had started this whole process sooner, but we have some financial issues to sort out before we go BTW, we are in Spokane! When are you going?
Chris

cdfergus

Our problem is that we will be transporting our cat in cargo on our flights. Because of this they have so many rules about which flights you can take So I think a RT ticket is our only option

MILNGAVIE

In that case fly BA from Seattle. They have an excellent reputation for pet cargo so it'll be worth paying the extra. The Isle of Bute eh? We're thinking of going to Argyll and Bute when the time comes to go back to my mother land.
A relation of mine stays on Whidbey Island near where you are now.

Pulaski

We did, coming the other way. No repercussions, except that when we later booked a return US-UK-US, it caused some confusion at check-in because the outward leg from the US was the same flight as the return leg on our last UK-US-UK ticket, but still no repercussions.

The last time we went to the UK we flew IAD-CLT-LHR-CLT-IAD, (because flying from IAD was substantially cheaper (better than "buy two, get one free" for the three of us) than flying from CLT, even after adding a night in a hotel, an extra meal in a restaurant, gas, and one-way car rental to IAD, and the Uber home from CLT was less than parking at CLT would have been) but we bu99ëred of at CLT on the return journey. .... If there are any negative repercussions to what we did, we haven't heard about them.