Air Canada - Unintentional "Hidden City Ticketing"

Question

Unintentionally, I found myself in a Hidden City Ticketing phenomena.

I bought 4 one-way tickets (family of four) from Vancouver to Quebec City, connecting thru Montreal to travel in Early Feb 2015 from Air Canada website.

Now we have a change in plans, and we would like to skip going to Quebec City and stay in Montreal.

Instictively, I logged in to Air Canada and tried to change the itinerary. My natural thinking as I am not really changing anything, just dropping from one leg of the trip, and the airline would be better off. U was not expecting any compensation. However, the airline tried to charge me an additional $480 (I already paid $1200 for the original tickets).

So I am trying to understand my options, and while I was googling around, I came across this Hidden City Ticketing thing.

My question is, Can I simply check-in my luggages to Montreal (not to final destination) and walk away in Montreal with a no show to the connecting flight. I understand you can do this if you have only carry ons, but how about if you need to check-in luggages. Can I simply politely and nicely ask to the counter in Vancouver to tag my luggage to Montreal only? Also, I have a Star Alliance Gold card, so I will use Business Class check-in counter (even though I'm travelling economy). Will this make a difference?

UPDATE: I manage to cancel the whole trip without any charge, and rebooked the relevant portion with a marginally increased price, which I was ready to bear. Thnks for all the answers.

Answer 1

I don't think so. The airline charges you because sometimes they cannot sell the empty seats that you "reserved". You could try to see the costs of canceling and buying new tickets, but you're really in an ethical grey area here. Other options would be calling the airline and asking them if you can just change your flight.

The ticketing technique “interferes with United’s ability to sell unused seats on the final leg(s) of connecting flights, resulting in the loss of revenue that United would have earned by selling the unused seats,” the company said in its lawsuit last month in U.S. District Court in Chicago. The companies also are seeking at least $75,000 in damages and attorney fees.

“This practice violates our fare rules, and we are taking action to stop it to help protect the vast majority of customers who buy legitimate tickets,” said Christen David, a spokeswoman for United.

From: Washington Post

Also, as @Relaxed said in the comments, another reason airlines dislike Hidden City Ticketing is that most trips must go through a hub, and nobody is going to pay extra because they transit through London, etc.