Booking flights '2 x one way' vs 'round trip'

[goofyintoronto]

Does anyone else book two one way flights instead of the usual round trip together? I've been doing this for the past couple of trips...I noticed that I save a considerable amount of money this way.

Anyone else?

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

On legacy airlines, it's cheaper to book round trips. On "discount" airlines, such as Southwest, trips are priced each way, so buying two one ways is the same as a round trip.

This has been discussed a number of times on this board; you could try searching on this topic to find more information.

 

[goofyintoronto]

On legacy airlines, it's cheaper to book round trips. On "discount" airlines, such as Southwest, trips are priced each way, so buying two one ways is the same as a round trip.

This has been discussed a number of times on this board; you could try searching on this topic to find more information.

I dont fly southwest, I just dont find them cheap. Every time i've looked the prices have been nuts. I've always found better deals with other airlines. Often i'd save a ton by looking for flights thru orbitz, booking buddy, kayak etc.

Thanks, I just looked and only found one thread. It didnt have much. Is there another one that would be helpful? I cant seem to find it.

 

[Alesia]

The search on the disboards is useless. I always use google - just type disboards: before your search parameters. In this case it would be "disboards: one way flight." That will give you quite a few threads.

In any case it basically comes down to: sometimes it's cheaper and sometimes it isn't, it really depends on the airline.

 

[dis_guy]

We did the two one-way ticket shuffle for our last minute trip (booked Fri flew Sat) last March.

From YEG I could not get a decent fare looking for round trips. We weren't looking to get a low price with such short notice just something we could actually pay.

We fly from YEG and United was just too expensive while Westjet had no available flight there but a reasonable nonstop fare back. So by booking the UA flight there (turns out the return segment was the expensive one) and the Westjet nonstop return, we saved several hundred dollars.

 

[bluenosemickey]

I believe one advantage of the round trip is if you need to cancel or change a flight, a round trip is less expensive if the airline charges for such things.

With two, one way fares, if the price of one trip drops, you can use the credits to repurchase the second trip. This only works with SWA that I'm aware of, since they don't charge for flight changes.

Sometimes the flight booking windows only allow you to book one way at a time to get the best prices, you shouldn't wait to book your return flight.

Sometimes it's cheaper to book two different airlines for each trip.

That's all I can think of.

 

[richmo]

It seems like there's fewer and fewer "round trips", especially to popular destinations, such as Orlando. My recent experience, even with legacy airlines, trips to Orlando are priced as one way. (That could differ with the originating airport, which in my case is PHL).

One advantage I can think of with a round trip reservation is that if there's a major time change (by the airline) that would force you to pick different dates, you wouldn't be able to do that with one way tickets since they'd be on a different itinerary.

 

[jillianml]

we use SW and this is how we book every time!Saves me a ton of money.

 

[goofyintoronto]

we use SW and this is how we book every time!Saves me a ton of money.

See I dont get it, everytime i look at SW prices its absolutely nuts! I never get lucky with that flight. I have yet to fly on southwest.

 

[mickeynut1]

Does anyone else book two one way flights instead of the usual round trip together? I've been doing this for the past couple of trips...I noticed that I save a considerable amount of money this way.

Anyone else?

We fly SWA and book 2 one ways because, IMO, it's easier to get a credit when/if the flight goes down in price.

See I dont get it, everytime i look at SW prices its absolutely nuts! I never get lucky with that flight. I have yet to fly on southwest.

IMO, it all depends on where you are flying from. We fly out of Chicago MDW and just a couple of weeks ago, I was able to get our flight down for $99/pp (down from $166/pp when the fares were first released). Depending on the airport, some flights start out high and don't ever come down, while others start out high and gradually come down over time and then keep fluctuating.

 

[goofyintoronto]

We fly SWA and book 2 one ways because, IMO, it's easier to get a credit when/if the flight goes down in price.



IMO, it all depends on where you are flying from. We fly out of Chicago MDW and just a couple of weeks ago, I was able to get our flight down for $99/pp (down from $166/pp when the fares were first released). Depending on the airport, some flights start out high and don't ever come down, while others start out high and gradually come down over time and then keep fluctuating.

OMG $99??????? I have never seen flights that cheap out of buffalo! Thats where I fly from.

 

[JAM113]

We fly SWA and book 2 one ways because, IMO, it's easier to get a credit when/if the flight goes down in price.



IMO, it all depends on where you are flying from. We fly out of Chicago MDW and just a couple of weeks ago, I was able to get our flight down for $99/pp (down from $166/pp when the fares were first released). Depending on the airport, some flights start out high and don't ever come down, while others start out high and gradually come down over time and then keep fluctuating.

OMG $99??????? I have never seen flights that cheap out of buffalo! Thats where I fly from.

Is the $99 from Chicago round trip? We fly out of Buffalo as well, and I was able to get $99pp one way for our August trip and I was thrilled with that.

 

[dougsmom98]

We never fly Southwest either because their prices are nuts from New England to Florida in the middle of winter over school break. We booked one way tickets for the first time for our next trip. We are flying United down to Florida and American Airlines back. We were able to get our flights for $228 total (round trip with two one way tickets) including taxes and fees for President's week. The only problem with booking one ways is that it is easier to make a mistake with your dates when you are booking the tickets. I was so paranoid! It is a little more of a hassle to check in and check the status of your flights, but we always go with the cheapest option we can find because we have 6 in our family and don't have the luxury of paying $20-$30 more for the convenience of using one airline or going with better timed flights etc...

 

[mickeynut1]

OMG $99??????? I have never seen flights that cheap out of buffalo! Thats where I fly from.

I was surprised to see it that low too as there aren't too many deals like that anymore . When fares first came out for our dates, they were $166/pp each way . I checked the special the first day thinking the flights I wanted wouldn't be available, but to my surprise, I had my choice of 4 or 5 different flights from early morning into the evening.

Is the $99 from Chicago round trip? We fly out of Buffalo as well, and I was able to get $99pp one way for our August trip and I was thrilled with that.

No, it's pp one way, but how great it would be if they were r/t .....but they did come down from $166/pp one way when the fares were originally released, so now I'm hoping our return (which is currently $166 each), comes down. I'm not really counting on getting $99 again, but anything would be better than $166, especially since I need to buy for 4 of us.

We never fly Southwest either because their prices are nuts from New England to Florida in the middle of winter over school break. We booked one way tickets for the first time for our next trip. We are flying United down to Florida and American Airlines back. We were able to get our flights for $228 total (round trip with two one way tickets) including taxes and fees for President's week.

I'm not really familiar with flying out of NE, but that seems like a pretty good r/t fare, IMO (it would be good for flying out of Chicago ). I was able to get our flight going down (SWA) for $99/pp, so if I can get that coming home, our r/t would be $222/pp (which includes EBCI) and I would be really happy with that .