One way ticket help

[DizMare]

My kids and I need one way tickets to MCO in August (dh will be driving down later and then we will all drive home together via Hilton Head). Well, the prices are just outrageous! Why is that? What's to keep someone from just purchasing roundtrip tickets and not using the second half? I bet there's a good reason - fill me in, please.

And please chime in with suggestions for lower fares! Thanks!

 

[cigar95]

Your idea is technically not allowed by most (all?) the major carriers, but unless you buy your tickets through a travel agent, it's very unlikely the airline would take any action.

Given the silliness of this airline policy, I don't even have any sort of ethical problem with doing this, and I'm usually the "straight arrow" in that regard.

 

[DizMare]

Thanks, cigar95. Anyone else?

 

[sc2001]

Southwest sometimes has great deals on one-way travel. Check out their website. They run weekly specials on the site that are valid (I believe) Monday night thru Thursday, and then they disappear til the new ones appear the following week. I have found that they are just about the only airline that makes one-way travel affordable.

 

[travelcoupons]

Air Tran and Southwest are about the only airlines that will sell you one way tickets at a decent everyday price. It's just another way the major airlines like US Airways , United, American , Delta etc. gouge people.

Air Tran flies out of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia to Orlando. Fares are about $69 total for one way ticket. http://www.airtran.com
Southwest does not serve Pennsylvania. http://www.iflyswa.com

Neither Airtran, nor Southwest sell tickets more than about 6 months in advance....you will have to wait until late spring, maybe early summer to get the best deal on those travel dates one way.

 

[DizMare]

Thanks for the tips! I'll be sure to check as August gets closer.

But, seriously, if I book on USAir, for instance, and just take the outbound flight and skip the return, can they do anything to me? (i.e. charge me the full "one way" fare? take my first born?) I know the airlines forbid booking a flight from point A to point C, and getting off at mid-stop B. But how about not coming home on the return flight?

You traveling pros must know!

 

[travelcoupons]

US Airways specifically prohibits the practices commonly known as:
-- "Throw Away Ticketing"- - the use of round-trip excursion fares for one-way travel.

Where a ticket is invalidated as a result of the customer’s non-compliance with any term or condition of sale, US Airways has the right in its sole discretion to:

-- cancel any remaining portion of the customer’s itinerary,

-- confiscate unused flight coupons,

-- refuse to board the customer or check the customer’s baggage,

-- assess the customer for the reasonable remaining value of the ticket, which shall be no less than the difference between the fare actually paid and the lowest fare applicable to the customer’s actual itinerary, or

-- cancel any Dividend Miles credits accrued as a result of non-compliant ticketing.


from: http://www.usairways.com/customers/terms_transportation.htm#TicketValidity

Really there isn't much they can do to you unless you have a frequent flyer account - (they can take away miles or cancel acct.). I would not do this on an airline in which I have a frequent flyer account.

 

[DizMare]

Thanks, travelcoupons. I am a ff with US Air, so I guess I shouldn't pull this stunt on them. Funny, I did fly on US Air in Aug of 2000 and got a nice one way fare out of Lehigh Valley airport. Either one will pop up or I'll look as Southwest or AirTran.

Thanks for all your help!