Booking a One-Way ticket

[crazyfordisney2000]

I realize this is probably a stupid question, so I just need confirmation. I am a newbie to flying. I have only booked round-trip fights. You can book one-way tickets instead of a round trip ticket to take advantage of prices , can't you? The flight to MCO is $89 but return isn't posted yet (we're going in May). I wanted to take advantage of the $89 since this is a great price for us. TIA

 

[clkelley]

Booking one-way flights nowadays incurs no penalty or extra trouble.

 

[goofy4tink]

Do it all the time...in fact, I'll book one airline down, and a different one coming home.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

The downside of booking two one-ways on legacy carriers is that each ticket incurs a $150 change fee if you need to change your flight date or time.

If you book a roundtrip ticket for $300, and your have to change the dates both ways, you retain $150 in value toward new tickets.

If you book two separate one-way tickets at $150 each, and your have to change the dates both ways, the entire $300 is down the drain.

If you buy tickets with fare rules that don't involve a change fee (such as on Southwest), then this is not an issue.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Booking one-way flights nowadays incurs no penalty or extra trouble.

That's often true on leisure routes, especially those served by low-cost carriers (and legacy carriers competing with those low-cost carriers). For example, that's the case between Chicago and Orlando.

However, there are still many routes on which the only way to get cheaper fares is to book an advance roundtrip that includes a Saturday night stay. On such routes, the legacy carriers want business travelers (who typically want to home on the weekend) to pay more than price-sensitive leisure travelers.