Buying one way airline tickets instead of round trip...Need advice

[2Pirates2Princesses]

Has anyone used two separate airlines to get to/from Orlando instead of purchasing round trip plane tickets through one airline? I am looking at different airline rates and it may be cheaper for us to fly into Orlando with Air Tran and fly out of Orlando on our departure day with Delta. We would save about $365 this way. Does anyone think this is a good idea or is it better just to fly round trip with the same airline? Thanks.

 

[Disney st8 of mind]

We've done it and didn't have any issue. We didn't do it to save money (and it didn't cost us more to do it), but we were able to pick the best flight times for us. If it's going to save that much money, I'd say go for it.

 

[nmanning19]

I did it on my last trip, no problem booking 2 different airlines, whatever is the best rate for you is the deal to take!

 

[Copper Queen]

Just be sure to check the luggage sizes for each airline. We flew Delta down and Airtran back on one of our trips. One of our luggage exceeded Airtran's dimensions (not by much), though it had met Delta's. As a result, we had to pay an oversize fee of $35 when we checked our luggage through -

 

[2Pirates2Princesses]

thank you all for your replies. I have another question: :does flying this way cause any confusion or complex issues with Magical Express? Thanks

 

[DonnaL]

We do it all the time......not only different airlines, but, different airports too.......many times we will fly from PHL on SWA and return to ABE (Lehigh Valley) on Airtran....we've saved quite a bit over the years doing this. Now, we do need to do one way car rentals to get to and from airports when we do this,but, it's usually only about $50 more to rent cars than it would be to just park our car flying out of and back to one of the airports and our airline savings tend to be more than that. Also, going out of PHL is not too bad......but it seems flying into PHL there are always delays, so flying back to ABE is a pleasure.....smaller, regional airport....off the plane, thru baggage claim and on the way home usually within 20 minutes.

 

[backyardponder]

thank you all for your replies. I have another question: :does flying this way cause any confusion or complex issues with Magical Express? Thanks

Not a problem with DME. Just tell them what you are doing.

 

[Lewisc]

One issue. You want to change your trip. R/T ticket. One change fee to change both flights. O/W tickets you'll have to pay two change fees.

Your outgoing flight is canceled. Weather. Mechanical issues with the plane. You either want to cancel your trip or change your return flight so your vacation isn't cut short. Book a R/T flight and the airline will probably let you change your return flight. Book O/W and your return airline has absolutely no reason to waive any change fees.

 

[thelees]

We did this last March-April with no problems at all. US Airways on the way in and Airtran on the way out. We were thinking of doing the same this year but the flights I tried to get on US Airways for 1 way were as much as the total round trip airfare. If you can get a good price and the schedule you want, then you shouldn't have any problems at all.

Have a great trip!

 

[emmabelle]

I just booked Jetblue to Ft Myers in March going and Delta coming back. The round trip flight on Jetblue would have been over $500 because I decided at the last minute to go. I ended up using skymiles to get back home on Delta, could have used skymiles for a round trip ticket on Delta but didn't want connections in both directions. The sky miles were my husbands because his company sends him to Japan alot, so it felt like free money? Sort of...

 

[It'sWDW4me]

Has anyone used two separate airlines to get to/from Orlando instead of purchasing round trip plane tickets through one airline? I am looking at different airline rates and it may be cheaper for us to fly into Orlando with Air Tran and fly out of Orlando on our departure day with Delta. We would save about $365 this way. Does anyone think this is a good idea or is it better just to fly round trip with the same airline? Thanks.

I do it all the time. One year it was actually cheaper for us to fly into MCO and out of Sanford - even with the cost of the towncar service!

 

[crashbb]

One issue. You want to change your trip. R/T ticket. One change fee to change both flights. O/W tickets you'll have to pay two change fees.

Not true with all airlines. At least, it is not true with Canadian airlines (all three Canadian airlines that I fly have change fees per direction). It is, perhaps, true for all US based airlines.

Your outgoing flight is canceled. Weather. Mechanical issues with the plane. You either want to cancel your trip or change your return flight so your vacation isn't cut short. Book a R/T flight and the airline will probably let you change your return flight. Book O/W and your return airline has absolutely no reason to waive any change fees.

Okay, this is true with all airlines - and a serious concern if you are traveling during the winter (I'm thinking of all the flights being canceled due to the impending storm).

 

[pixeydust]

We usually end up doing this as we use parameters of round trip, one way there and one way back when checking each of the airlines going to/from MCO on the days we want. We choose the cheapest and that usually means one airline there and a different back.

We have even just bought the departure tickets only because the tickets back are too high on every airline and just watch until we find a fare coming back that is acceptable (may be several months later that we find that magic fare!!). We have never had any issues with magical express or flight time change problems.

Only issue, as Copper Queen pointed out, is checking luggage size. Some have dimensions for your check-in and carry-on that fit the parameters of older luggage and others have streamlined those sizes. They brought a tape-measure out to check an old rather large piece of luggage one time on Airtran and we ended up payng extra for it as it was considered over-size (since then replaced it, so no problems!).

Good luck and much pixiedust!