Good strategy. We bought a RT ticket for just under $1000. We knew the return part would be a throwaway pretty much from the start. Lufthansa/United did not blacklist kiddo when she failed to show up for her return flight. A change fee would have been $300, and a new return ticket would have been quoted at a one way rate… so buying a new ticket for $800 was a better deal.
We’ve cancelled the return on an international flight twice in the last year. Even though one was non-refundable, we did get a return of the taxes applied to that portion of the booking. Pretty small potatoes compared to the unused fare, but something. Also, no concern with a no show record. Actually, @BunsenBurner, I had forgotten airlines sometimes blacklist no shows. Thanks for the reminder to be aware of this.
“She will have a choice of student visa which requires going to NYC in person”
I can see that skipping classes to go to NYC in person is a non-starter (I wouldn’t do it either). However, you might want to check whether there is a visa service agent that you can hire to do this. I have had a few business trips to China where my company hired a visa service agent to do the running back and forth to NYC, and it helped a lot. I don’t know what it would cost but it would not surprise me if it could be done cheaper than the airline change fees.
@DadTwoGirls, I will look into that.