EEng. A 'stopover' is different from a connection. The discussion at hand is about a contract to transport the passenger from AAA to CCC, not involving a stopover at an intermediate point.
The airline would have a price for AAA to CCC with a stopover at BBB. It probably would not be the same as the price for AAA to CCC without the stopover, but they would have a price.
In fact the airline would likely have a price for just about every conceivable journey one can take using their services. And their expectation is that one will pay their price for the journey that one intends to undertake, not the price for a journey one has no intention of doing.
If the airline agrees (as in your example) to change your itinerary at the original price that is certainly their decision. You have proposed an amendment to your contract and they have agreed. But we are talking about here of passengers changing key terms of their contract without the knowledge or agreement of the airline. Contract law, even in the US, does not allow one party that freedom.
And, I apologize, before I retired I had access to files containing case law in many, many jurisdictions supporting (in some cases after numerous appeals/reappeals) what I have been saying here. I no longer have access to these files and goo-goo isn't very good when you can't recall details - such as the litigants names.
Last edited by ExXB; 19th Jan 2015 at 16:11.
Reason: typo