Not canceling a non-refundable flight

[ksun]

DD decided to stay home from a trip in 2 weeks because it was homecoming week, not mad at all because it's Frontier and I hardly paid anything for the flights anyway. In the past I have canceled a trip on them that I wasn't going to take (to see my dad who ended up passing away 2 weeks before the trip was scheduled) but now it's a tech annoyance that the website says I have to cancel on the app, and the app is making it really hard to find where to cancel. I can easily find where to reschedule but not cancel. And one was booked on points and I don't even have the option to cancel. (I don't need the points back. It was like 5000 points, not a huge loss)

Since I'm out the money regardless, do I even need to cancel? If I cancel, then they can sell that ticket again and make twice as much for that seat anyway and that seems scammy to me. 

[jlt19]

That’s a good question. I guess you don’t? It’s not like they’re going to send an APB out for her. While I think it would be the right/considerate thing to do, I wouldn’t put too much effort into it you’re not getting anything back. If they want to be able to re-sell those seats, they should make canceling easier!

[ksun]

maybe if I figure it out I'll just wait til the day of or something.

[wanderingback]

I don’t know anything about Frontier as I’ve never flown them but I know with Delta you’ll get a credit for the flight. Are you sure there’s no way to cancel and you won’t get a credit?

[ksun]

Absolutely. Frontier is the worst and the cheapest. It clearly states non-refundable and I didn't get a penny back last year despite the fact there was a death which caused me to not take the trip.

[expectantsteelerfan]

Not going to recap a long story, but I once had to book the cheapest flights I could find in order for my flight credit to not expire (I had a LOT of credit), and we just didn't go on the flights that used up a tiny bit of the credit. Nothing happened when we didn't go on the flights.

[MixedBerryJam]

What I can contribute to this conversation is that I learned the hard way that, with a round trip ticket, if you miss the first leg they will automatically cancel all subsequent leg(s).

My son missed a flight once so I paid to dollar for a same day one way last minute flight and he left. Neither of us realized his return flight was canceled until he tried to check in for the return flight, at which point I … paid top dollar for another last minute one way ticket.

[ksun]

She’s not going on either leg so hopefully it will be okay, but I think I will try to call in and cancel the one I booked on points.

[sdlaura]

Even if non-refundable, I think it’s worth calling and trying to negotiate to get something back. I did that this summer for an Alaska flight and they actually fully refunded a non-refundable ticket (in a credit card refund, not even airline credit!) just because there had been a small schedule change a few months before.

[brooke77]

I would try calling. You might get points or some sort of credit.