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.