Anyone ever bought 2 1-way tickets vs. roundtrip?

[bubbles1209]

Has anyone ever bought 2 one-way tickets vs. rountrip to save money? For instance, a 1-way ticket from your hometown to a port on say delta, then a 1-way ticket from the port back to your hometown say on U.S. Air for instance? Was looking at that today, and it seems cheaper than booking round-trip on 1 airline. Has anyone ever done this, and if not, would you?

[ab0si]

Sure, why not? There is nothing magical about a return versus two one-way tickets.

[CruiserBruce]

Yes. It has been discussed extensively here.

[Fattony]

Before we all jump in and say "Of course, it's no problem," maybe you could say what your concerns were. What problem were you thinking might occur?

[wcook]

In fairness, years ago 1-way tickets were more expensvie than round trip... so 1-way tickets were a bit unusual. Many people believed - though nobody knows if it was true - that flying on 1-way tickets make it likely for you to be singled out for special security.

 

Thankfully, the airlines have moved to sensible pricing for 1-way tickets. As least within the US. Major carriers still typically charge ridiculous fares for 1-way internatinal tickets.

[bqkali]

Has anyone ever bought 2 one-way tickets vs. rountrip to save money? For instance, a 1-way ticket from your hometown to a port on say delta, then a 1-way ticket from the port back to your hometown say on U.S. Air for instance? Was looking at that today, and it seems cheaper than booking round-trip on 1 airline. Has anyone ever done this, and if not, would you?

 

I do this on almost every flight I book (at least for domestic flights). Sometimes it's cheaper, sometimes more expensive by about 10%, but the real advantage for me is picking the flight schedules I prefer. After doing this dozens of times, there is really nothing to be concerned about. You'll have to spend about an extra 3 minutes making a second reservation :p but it's really no different than a round-trip on one airline as far as checking in for your flight, baggage fees, and in-flight experience. Two disadvantages I can think of:

1. If you have to cancel your trip, you'll have to pay TWO change fees (one for each flight) rather than one fee for a round-trip flight. So that would cost you about an extra $150 if you end up cancelling. (My plans are always locked in stone, so not a consideration for me, except in the case of a true emergency when that $150 is the last thing I'd be thinking about)

2. Depending on the flight carriers you choose for each one-way flight, you might be earning frequent flyer miles on two different alliances, causing it to take much longer to earn any status/free flights. For the infrequent flyer, perhaps the money you save on airfare by booking two different one-ways, or the flexibility this offers you, is worth more than the chance to get an award flight.

[CruiserBruce]

Many people believed - though nobody knows if it was true - that flying on 1-way tickets make it likely for you to be singled out for special security.

 

Actually, on a one way ticket, for a couple of years after 9/11, you were singled out for special security. You would have a XXXXX printed in a critical location on your boarding pass, and you could expect a closer look at security. I was subject to this many times in this era, as work required a lot of one way tickets at the last minute flights. I believe we (the people commonly subjected to the extra security) helped test the "shoes off" search, before the Shoe Bomber made it widely done. It got to the point where, when possible, I traveled in sandals, where possible, to help with taking off shoes.

[jagoffee]

bubbles1209,

 

Yes, I have and I would. As mentioned the possibility of two change fees would be the only potential disadvantage from my perspective. I do not worry about the change fees because I have never had to change my revenue flights. I have even booked two one ways on the same airline for a multi city flight. I did this because I knew the one way was competitive and I was very confident that the return flight would go down in price which it did.

 

One way award tickets, discount carriers, and pricing based on two one ways even for a round trip ticket has lead to me thinking about flights in terms of each way instead of round trip.

 

If you are confident that you will not need to change your reservations you should not have any problem.

 

Good luck.

[silentbob007]

I think one-way tickets are pretty much standard now. I know when searching, I always price roundtrips and then look at one-ways individually, just in case.

[beans79]

I have done this in the past and am looking at doing it for my upcoming trip. So far the price adds up to be the same round trip or just one way back and forth. I like doing it because I can pick better times. Now I am just waiting for a deal to pop up as flight prices change daily.

[Cuizer2]

Has anyone ever bought 2 one-way tickets vs. rountrip to save money? For instance, a 1-way ticket from your hometown to a port on say delta, then a 1-way ticket from the port back to your hometown say on U.S. Air for instance? Was looking at that today, and it seems cheaper than booking round-trip on 1 airline. Has anyone ever done this, and if not, would you?

 

I've done this on a number of occasions. The last was in February of this year. I flew to Miami on American and flew home from Ft. Lauderdale on Delta.

 

Prior to that I flew to San Juan on American and flew home from San Juan on Delta in April 2008. There have been other times I have done this.

[bubbles1209]

Thanks for all of the replies. I wasn't anticipating any problems, and no, not worried about changing or cancelling the trip. If I did, change fees I would care less about, 'cause it would have to be an emergency. Was just curious as to how many people may have done it, or not. I remember reading a while back that 1-way tends to be more expensive, but when I posted this, it seemed to be cheaper. Still keeping my eye on it, I must say it allows for better choices in flight times, will wait & see, but we may end up trying this to save some $$. Thanks everyone! :)

[jagoffee]

Thanks for all of the replies. I wasn't anticipating any problems, and no, not worried about changing or cancelling the trip. If I did, change fees I would care less about, 'cause it would have to be an emergency. Was just curious as to how many people may have done it, or not. I remember reading a while back that 1-way tends to be more expensive, but when I posted this, it seemed to be cheaper. Still keeping my eye on it, I must say it allows for better choices in flight times, will wait & see, but we may end up trying this to save some $$. Thanks everyone! :)

 

Good luck. From my experience the comment about one way being more expensive is related to international and Hawaii fares and not domestic fares.