Can I buy a connecting flight ticket and not use part of the route?
There is no definitive answer to this question. There are several important restrictions.
โ If you miss one of the flights in a single ticket, all subsequent flights are automatically canceled.
For example: You bought a ticket Moscow โ Riga โ Tallinn and decided to exit in Riga, i.e., miss the Riga โ Tallinn flight.
In this case, nothing terrible will happen; the only downside is that if you are a member of the airline's bonus program, miles for the entire route will not be credited.
However, if you bought a round-trip ticket with a layover, for example, Moscow โ Riga โ Tallinn โ Riga โ Moscow, then things are not so straightforward.
You exit in Riga, and as we wrote above, all subsequent segments are automatically canceled. These are the Riga โ Tallinn, Tallinn โ Riga, and Riga โ Moscow flights, meaning you will not be able to use the return segments of the ticket. And it doesn't matter where you plan to fly back from, Riga or Tallinn โ your ticket is canceled.
You can only interrupt the route if you bought a one-way ticket.
โ If the ticket is issued at a low fare, the missed segment of the route and all subsequent segments, automatically canceled, will not be eligible for a voluntary refund.
A no-show will be recorded for the ticket, after which, in most cases, a refund is not provided.
โ You can try to notify the airline about a no-show for the first flight and request to keep the second, but there is no guarantee that the desired segment will be preserved.
Contact the airline in person to arrange skipping a segment.
โ The most guaranteed method is to exchange the ticket with a route change.
For example: You bought a ticket Moscow โ Tallinn โ Moscow, but due to a new necessity, you traveled to Tallinn earlier and no longer need the first segment of the flight ticket. The second segment is still needed, and you plan to return to Russia using it.
Before the departure date of the outbound flight, you can check the conditions for exchanging a round-trip ticket for a ticket only in the return direction (excluding the first segment). This operation will require an additional payment, but such an exchange may be more advantageous than buying a new ticket and completely losing the previous one.
Send a request on the order page to our Customer Care Service if you have an issued ticket and want to clarify the exchange conditions.