Airline booking question

[Aerides]

I need to book a "multi city" flight, as I'm flying into one location, cruising to another, then flying home.

In one booking:
From Home to A
then
From B to Home
= If I put all that in, I get a price of about $2000.

However, instead if I book separately:
One way Home to A: $200
One way B to Home: $500

So, obvs the $700 route is the way I want to go. But with such a wide difference I'm wondering if there's some problem with booking this way?

 

[mpeirce]

No problem. I book multiple one way flights often.

Usually there isn't a price difference (with Delta at least). But it's sometimes easier.

 

[athena53]

Yeah, I'd grab the cheaper itinerary. Airline pricing has its quirks.

And, an advantage- if you do need to change one of those flights you won't be penalized (no refund or "re-pricing" which is usually steeply higher as you get closer to the date) on the whole itinerary. I once tried to change my itinerary for a Business Class round trip to Europe, requesting only that I get an earlier flight out of my home airport. They re-priced it at the current rate and it would have cost THOUSANDS extra. Crazy. I showed up at the airport early, was put on standby and got the flight I wanted. It even cost me less because they could put me only in Coach (only a one-hour flight) so I got a small refund for the fare difference.

 

[Aerides]

No problem. I book multiple one way flights often.

Usually there isn't a price difference (with Delta at least). But it's sometimes easier.

Thanks. I looked at another domestic route and that is the same if I split or combine.

Does it matter perhaps that this one includes International? I don't think so because that should be baked in if I multi-city or one-way book, same exact flights/routes, etc.

 

[braumeister]

I did that on international flights this summer (on Delta) and didn't see that issue. Airline prices change constantly, minute by minute, so my guess is that you just happened to hit an anomaly.

 

[Aerides]

Yeah though it's been like it for weeks! I haven't booked as it's not until March, but sounds like I should snap it up

 

[braumeister]

Yeah though it's been like it for weeks! I haven't booked as it's not until March, but sounds like I should snap it up

I probably would. For March international, this is probably the sweet spot.

 

[RunningBum]

Should be no problem at all.

You might be thinking of a case where you book a roundtrip to B with a stop at A. If you got off at A, then cruised to B and flew home from B, that would be a problem, and if you're lucky you'd be warned to never do it again.

 

[brett]

We always price return fares and then compare to one way fares. In the past it was not unusual for us to fly into FLL on one airline and fly home from MIA or PBI on another.

We find it much easier to shop price and schedule separately for each direction. And we do not care if it is not the same carrier both ways. In fact, it seldom is for us.

It can be more challenging, sometimes impossible it would seem, on some transatlantic and transpacific routes.

Our practice is to understand what is a good fare and what is an average fare. When we see a good fare we buy it.

We know that we will most likely not get the very best fare but that is the trade off between getting a good fare and a stayvacation.

You also need to understand the pricing regimes. It was $200. less for us to fly to Madeira, Portugal via Lisbon than it was to fly to Lisbon. It was $225 less expensive for us to fly home direct from Faro, Portugal on another airline (and shorter) that is was to do a return on our inbound airline that routed us through Lisbon last fall. Outbound on TAP, inbound on Transat.

 

[HarveyS]

No problem buying 2 individual one-way tickets. I've done it several times in the last 3 years.

Make sure you are comparing apples:apples. Sometimes when I look I get a premium economy quote when I want an economy. Or with bags, refundable, etc.

 

[braumeister]

Should be no problem at all.

You might be thinking of a case where you book a roundtrip to B with a stop at A. If you got off at A, then cruised to B and flew home from B, that would be a problem, and if you're lucky you'd be warned to never do it again.

That's a possibility. Another point I forgot to mention is that often your last flight (from overseas to home) will be priced in the local currency of its originating country, even if it's a US airline.

 

[Aerides]

Should be no problem at all.

You might be thinking of a case where you book a roundtrip to B with a stop at A. If you got off at A, then cruised to B and flew home from B, that would be a problem, and if you're lucky you'd be warned to never do it again.

Exactly, I've seen people have that problem in real life on business trips, so I know that's a bad idea. But I figured they have no idea what I'm doing and how I'm getting from A to B (and it's none of their business).

And yeah I'm booking the same class both ways.

 

[HarveyS]

For code share flights, given the choice to book with an American carrier or a European carrier, I alway choose the EU option if the price is close. The protections for a ticket issued by an EU carrier in the event of delay/cancellation are much better for the passenger than for a ticket issued by a US carrier.
For example: DL from JFK to Paris, code share with Air France, operated by AF. You can buy the ticked from DL or from AF. I try to buy the ticket from AF.

 

[brett]

For code share flights, given the choice to book with an American carrier or a European carrier, I alway choose the EU option if the price is close. The protections for a ticket issued by an EU carrier in the event of delay/cancellation are much better for the passenger than for a ticket issued by a US carrier.
For example: DL from JFK to Paris, code share with Air France, operated by AF. You can buy the ticked from DL or from AF. I try to buy the ticket from AF.

This is exactly what we do. We will always select an EU carrier instead of a NA carrier all things equal.

Why? EU 261 air carrier rules will apply. Our flight (on a Canadian carrier) home last fall from Faro, Portugal was 7 hours late. According to EU rules, we were each entitled to a 600E compensation payment.

It was paid within 30 days of our claim submission. No questions, no pushback. No 'airline' credits. It took about 5 minutes to complete the on line claim. Two cheques, 600E each. More than the cost of our one way fare, almost covered the outbound flight cost as well!

The rules apply to EU flights leaving the EU and to EU based flights on EU carrier flying from NA to EU destinations. These EU rules are apparently also honered by UK and Scandinavian carriers. This is an incentive for EU carriers to avoid delays and keep to the schedule.

 

[rodi]

The only issue I had was when I needed to cancel and get a credit for a one way from Europe to the US. Our transatlantic Cruise had been canceled so we no longer needed the return flight. They gave me credit when I canceled the flight.

When I tried to apply that credit I was told I could only book flights that originated in Europe because it had been priced in euros. I escalated to a manager and finally got them to apply the credit in a way that I could use it for a South America trip. But the original agent I talked to on the phone was not budging. The supervisor acknowledged that I had purchased the flight from the US, in dollars, and it should be credited in dollars.

 

[tulak]

I often book separate tickets for trips to Europe. Usually a non-stop round-trip ticket to a major Europe city and then separate tickets to different cities in Europe, depending on the itinerary.

The only downside is if the first flight is delayed, you run the risk of missing the second flight. This happened to us on the current trip, our flight was delayed by almost two hours. Luckily we had a long layover, so no risk in missing the next flight.

When flying back, I go back to the final departure city the day before, so little risk in missing my flight back to the US.

In your case, I wouldn’t have any hesitation in booking one way non-stop flights.