Airfare Booking Question

[chellt]

Have you ever booked your airfare one way on two different airlines rather than roundtrip? Is this a hassle? We can go to MCO on AA for $94 p/p and back to DFW on Airtran for $72 p/p. What a deal!!! Just never done this before!

 

[ct_mickey]

I do that all the time! Especially when flying Jet Blue.

You can also go to a site like Kayak ( www.kayak.com ) and it MAY give you the two airlines on the same itinerary as an option.

The main downside is if you have trouble on your outgoing flight, it becomes difficult to negotiate a different return, etc. since you are dealing with different airlines.

If you buy travel insurance, you will also be better off insuring the package as a whole, rather than insurance for each leg of your travel and then the hotel.

 

[aubriee]

I've done it back when Delta flew nonstop/direct from DFW to MCO. We flew Air Tran down and Delta back to Dallas. It wasn't a hassle at all. Not sure when you're going, but we got Air Tran for $67.00 (before fees) for each leg of our May trip. We also fly out of DFW.

 

[gibsontrio]

I just did this over Christmas and I will second what the second person to post said. I booked a flight to Philadelphia with Delta and a return flight to Louisville with United because it was WAY cheaper to do so....well you can guess what happened. My flight to Philadelphia was cancelled TWICE due to the snow storm. My return flight was not. Thankfully I was able to contact a nice man at United who, even though he did not have to , let me bump my return flight a few days (still had to pay 200 extra) . So, just be aware that if your first flight gets cancelled or delayed, your return flight may very well stay the same, cutting your vacation a bit

 

[ancestry]

We are doing this on our upcoming trip which starts this Saturday. The downside of it is if something happens with your departing flight then the returning airline will most likely not be willing to work with you without fees/penalties.

For example -- they are calling for a snow storm and high winds in Portland on Saturday. If our flight is cancelled and we can't get out until Sunday or Monday on Airtran, our return carrier (Jet Blue) isn't going to be willing to change our return day without a fee.

If the entire trip was on the same airline they would be much more willing to change the returning flight if the departing flight was cancelled or delayed. Make sense?

 

[Copper Queen]

No hassle at all. Just book your air with the airlines separately and you're on your way. On our last trip, we did Delta to MCO and returned on Airtran. The only crappy part was that we had to pay extra for our luggage on Airtran because their luggage dimensions were different than Delta's. Blech.... So just make sure you check all the luggage allowances for each carrier.

 

[Br'erBriere]

I've done this before, but remember that Air Carriers like Airtran with low fares also tack on baggage fees thus making that "low fare" pretty much double.

 

[chellt]

Thanks so much for the replies...I am tempted to do it, but now I am leary of the Airtran/SW buyout affecting my flight... Is that likely? If SW takes over before our June flights, could they cancel Airtrans flights? How would this affect us?

 

[ct_mickey]

Thanks so much for the replies...I am tempted to do it, but now I am leary of the Airtran/SW buyout affecting my flight... Is that likely? If SW takes over before our June flights, could they cancel Airtrans flights? How would this affect us?

How far out is your flight? I doubt they will just cancel all the flights with at least the option of re-booking you on a flight with a similar itinerary.

 

[dudspizza]

Thanks so much for the replies...I am tempted to do it, but now I am leary of the Airtran/SW buyout affecting my flight... Is that likely? If SW takes over before our June flights, could they cancel Airtrans flights? How would this affect us?

Mergers take 18-24 months to take effect. This merger won't finalize until early 2012.

I have booked two different one ways a few different times to take advantage of great prices and great flight times. No issues at all. Both were on low cost carriers and worked out great.

I have been booked on different carriers when booking with miles as well. I booked with miles on NWA and my flight to my destination was on Delta and my flight home was on Continental..... no issues

Duds

 

[toywaltz]

Thanks so much for the replies...I am tempted to do it, but now I am leary of the Airtran/SW buyout affecting my flight... Is that likely? If SW takes over before our June flights, could they cancel Airtrans flights? How would this affect us?

Another vote that the merger won't matter. As mentioned, it's going to be a solid year before anything is integrated. There's really no difference booking two sep trips one-way. A few years ago all the airlines stopped the "round-trip" pricing for the most part so you're always just buying one-way tix anyway.

 

[squirrel]

We did this in 2009. Flew Air Tran to Orlando and Southwest back to Seattle. Worked great as we could bring lots home with the 2 free bags on Southwest.

 

[dennise]

We do this all the time. We are flying YHZ to MCO with Continental and the MCO to YHZ with Westjet. We had the return flight booked months before the one going. In April there shouldn't be such a problem with weather. though.

 

[luvdisney00]

I was just coming on here to ask this, and here it is. This is (one of he reasons) why I love the DIS, everything is covered here.

I found great flights TO Orlando on continental , just the right time and just the right price, but coming home they are so much more money and mostly early times. I don't want to sacrifice my last day of my 6 night trip, I need that time, so I'm going to grab the 1 flight and keep watching for something better for home.