Do I have to use my entire ticket?

Q:  I recently was trying to get a good fare from Atlanta to Seattle, around the Xmas holidays,and was not having much luck when I thought I would try Birmingham. I got a great ticket on days that work and then saw it comes back and forth thru Atlanta.  Can I just get on and off here and how do I do that? Thanks so much. Love your website.

A: Unless you use all the segments of your flight, the airline will cancel any remaining segments, so, no, you shouldn't do this. Honestly, Birmingham isn't that far from Atlanta along I-20 (about 150 miles, or two hours if you have a heavy foot on the accelerator, with no traffic), so maybe you can rent a car or have someone pick you up. Amtrak also serves the two cities for as little as $30 one way, although the trip takes 5 hours.