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I booked and paid for a round trip non-stop ticket from Brussels to NY and back for my daughter's wedding. Since then, I found out that I actually have to get there earlier than originally planned.

I figured that's not such a big problem, I'll get a one way to the states and come back on my original ticket. Only I was just informed that if I don't take the first flight, they'll cancel my return.

So I looked into a way around this. They can cancel my first flight for me, for an additional charge, and leave my return flight as is.
The cost of the round trip ticket was $513 USD. To make the change of cancelling the first leg, they will charge me an additional $2,406.60 USD.
This is absolutely absurd, abusive and dishonest. They already have my money. If I don't occupy that seat, there is no additional cost to them. Anyone know of a good way around this?

user30373
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1 Answers1

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There is (generally speaking) no way around this. In your situation you have four options:

  1. Cancel the original ticket and book a new one. This may be useless if the original fare doesn't allow refunds. However it would free up a seat for some other traveler who might need a last-minute ticket.

  2. Book a new one-way ticket and alter the original reservation. You've already found out this is prohibitively expensive, since one-way fares can often be more expensive than round-trip fares. The reasons for this are discussed here.

  3. Alter the date of the original Brussels->NY flight so that you can get there earlier.

  4. Ignore the original reservation and get a brand new return ticket.

The airlines are following a certain contract to which you've agreed when booking the ticket. It may or may not be absurd, but that's just how modern airlines operate.

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JonathanReez
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