NO WAY BACK!

How airlines cancel your return ticket if you miss the flight out (and won’t even tell you)

PASSENGERS who missed their outbound flight could be stranded at the airport on their return home due to a tiny clause buried in many airline terms and conditions.

The little-known ‘ no- show’ rule means your return ticket can be void and sold on without warning if you do not board your outbound flight.

So, by getting stuck in traffic and missing your original flight out, or by changing your travel plans for the first leg of your outward journey so you only need to use the return ticket, could cause you to unwittingly lose the whole booking.

Consumer campaigners have called on airlines to at least warn travellers their return ticket could be cancelled. Just last year, the Spanish Supreme Court forced Iberia airlines to abandon its no-show policy, as ‘the clause was deemed to contravene the good faith requirement’.

Money Mail has contacted more than a dozen major airlines and found that many still employ the no-show cancellation policy.

British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Flybe, Emirates, Singapore Airlines and American Airlines will all cancel your ticket home if you fail to turn up to your outbound first flight.

Meanwhile, Dutch airline KLM and Air France will impose fines of up to £2,568 on customers who miss any flights which are part of their booking. Thomas Cook and Guernsey airline Aurigny previously employed a no-show cancellation policy, but axed it after consumer magazine Which? raised the issue last year.

Some airlines use the clause to stop ‘tariff abuse’, when passengers buy return tickets as they are cheaper than a single flight. Others say if they axed the policy it would be more difficult to predict how many customers would turn up to the flight, leading to overbooking.

Jay Stepien, 58, only found out about BA’s policy when he arrived at Warsaw Airport in Poland for his flight home — and was forced to pay for an expensive last-minute ticket.

Jay, who works in engineering, had booked BA return flights for himself and his wife, Carol, 64, so they could attend his daughter’s wedding.

The couple, who live in Brighton, paid £515.60 for the tickets, flying out from Heathrow on August 30. But a week before they were due to fly, Jay’s 85-year-old mother, who lives in Poland, broke her wrist. Jay bought a single ticket with Wizz Air, so he could be with her, and then travelled to Warsaw to meet Carol and attend the family wedding.

But when Jay tried to check-in online for their flight home, there was no trace of his booking. At the airport, they were told it had been cancelled and the flight was fully booked.

Fortunately, Jay managed to book a ticket with Polish airline LOT that day, but the fare set him back around £750.

Rory Boland, travel expert at consumer group Which?, says: ‘It’s simply not acceptable for an airline to cancel a passenger’s return flight without a refund because they’ve missed the first leg of their journey.

‘Airlines should start treating passengers fairly by scrapping no-show clauses immediately, as these rip- off terms could be breaking consumer law.’

Travel expert Frank Brehany says: ‘It’s perfectly possible for passengers who miss a flight to be sent a text informing them that further bookings have been cancelled,’ he says.

It is understood the industry watchdog, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), does not have any regulation relating to noshows and flight cancellations.

When family law barrister James Dove missed his flight to Spain, and Iberia cancelled his return booking, he took the airline to court and won. The 35-year- old had booked £300 return flights from London to Madrid for a wedding in June 2016, but he missed check-in by a few minutes when he was kept late in court. He duly bought a one-way ticket to Spain on another airline carrier.

Aware that many airlines cancel a passenger’s entire itinerary if they fail to check in on time for the first flight, James, who lives in London, called Iberia from Gatwick Airport to discuss whether he could have his return ticket kept open.

But he was told it had been cancelled, and the only way he Fare penalty: Jay Stepien and his wife, Carol could ensure a seat on the flight he had booked home was to make another return booking.

But, determined to recoup his fare, James took Iberia to the small claims court in 2017, representing himself at the hearing.

He used the Consumer Rights Act 2015, a European Directive, to argue that the airline was wrong to keep the money he had paid for his return fare.

The deputy district judge ruled in his favour, and Iberia was asked to pay him £178.53 — the cost of the Madrid to London flight — along with court costs and loss of earnings.

Iberia wouldn’t comment on Mr Dove’s case, but says return flights are not currently cancelled if a passenger doesn’t show for their first leg.

Emirates and Flybe say they will protect return flights if passengers contact them after missing a flight. As will BA, ‘if a customer has a genuine reason’.

Virgin says it will honour return journeys for reasons beyond a passenger’s control, if they contact them, and Singapore Airlines says it will try and rebook passengers on the next available flights if they do the same.

American Airlines says nonrefundable ticket holders who contact them to say they’ve missed a flight would still need to pay a change fee. Air France and KLM say customers will still be charged a fee, even if they call up, in line with their conditions.