rebecca

I'm looking for suggestions regarding where to find discounts on one way airfare. I'm looking to fly summer of 02 from the East Coast to Denver, then Albq. back to the East Coast. Some sites don't allow for a one way search (hotwire) and the ones I have found have been rather expensive. Thank you in advance for any suggestions!!

Merilee

Southwest Airlines is the only site I've ever seen that offers affordable one way fares.

Susan

Rebecca, technically, what you are looking for is an "open jaw." You may have luck with Expedia. Choose "multiple destinations" on their airfare menu.

topper

just getting rid of the old posts and pushing them down

Susan

Rebecca, I just tried pricing a flight from JFK to Denver and then Albq. to JFK for random dates in March and got a fare of $410 (on Expedia). It is probably too early for you to get a good deal on summer 2002 flights. The deals going right now are mostly just extending through the end of March. But you could try! Good luck!

Julie

It may actually be cheaper for you to purchase a two-way ticket and use only one half. Try pricing a ticket with your preferred travel date going one direction and then set your flight time in the other direction for a date that no one ever wants to travel--like Christmas day at noon or New Year's Eve at 10:00pm. I've found this option is frequently cheaper than a one way ticket. Go figure!

agent

What Julie said to do is completely illegal and you could get caught. This is called back-to-back ticketing, and if the airline catches you they will confiscate your tickets and make you purchase new ones. They have been cracking down on people who use this practice. If you where to use her method, make sure you are not flying on the same airline for each ticket, and make each fake return for way after the date of travel. Also know that you will not receive credit for frequent flyer miles when you no-show for the returns.
Your better off waiting for a sale on airfare, then stick with the same carrier for the whole trip.

Carol

I am not sure where Jet Blue fly's, but all of their quotes are for a one way ticket. Maybe you can play around with a couple of different airlines.

x

Agent, this is not illegal. It is only against airline regulations. You are right as to the consequenses, but it is not against the law to do back to back ticketing.

RidiculousPolicies

So theoretically, if I buy a six-pack of Pepsi and only drink half of it Pepsi could sue me?

Airline pricing practices are ridiculous. When they stop charging me more for a one-way ticket than a round-trip, I'll stop buying back-to-back tickets. Travel agent is right to warn about possible consequences, however I *seriously* doubt that such penalties would stand up to legal challenge.

x

Actually, the airlines don't really try to enforce these policies against travellers. There really isn't much they can do. They can, and do, however seriously go after travel agents who do this kind of thing.

tim

travelocity allows you to do a multiple stop airfare, so maybe they have something that could suit your needs if you priced out a east coast to denver to alb to east flight. Who knows. Let us know how it works out for you! I think that in this situation I'd call up a travel agent.

rebecca

Thanks everyone for the help! I am going to check out all of the suggestions, and I will let everyone know how I do. I managed to get a pretty good price last year from Hotwire (roundtrip East Coast to Denver for 250)- or at least I thought it was a pretty good price, so I'm looking to pay about the same for this coming summer. That seems like it's going to be harder than I originally thought!

Patrick

Don't overlook the airlines themselves. Friends joined us for a driving trip by flying from Miami to Las Vegas, driving with us eventually to Kansas City and returning by air Kansas City to Miami. The lowest roundtrip they could get at the time Miami-Vegas was something like $279. The lowest round trip Miami-Kansas City was something like $449. But American gave them the open jaw route "round trip" for $229. Go figure.

Don

Frontier, Southwest, Jetblue or some combination of these will most likely yield the cheapest fare.

Frontier (LGA, DEN, and ABQ)
Southwest (ABQ and ISP)
JetBlue (JFK and DIA)

patg

American will let you price a multi-stop ticket on their aa.com website. If you are an AAdvantage member, you can use their AA number for personal help.

Regarding not using both halves of round trip ticket: I discussed this last month with an AA agent because my husband was unable to use his return. Her response, "We don't care if he takes the flight or not."

morez

Also try Spirit and AirTran. Not sure if they go to your destination (sorry) but I do know there pricing is very simple (RT = one way + one way) and there are no restrictions.

As far as the TA comments, I recently bought tix on Orbitz; the cheapest was actually 2 one way fares, which I found out the hard way when I had to change the return. Since the return was actually a one way fare, I had to pay the cost of ticket differenct plus $100. I didn't (obviously) and just bought another one way ticket for $79, pre taxes (ATL - EWR the day after the guy ran through security).

My lesson I learned was that if I want to fly with an unknown return date, I'll fly one way each way - if there is a carrier with no restrictions on my route. Yeah, I could get burned, but then I just buy a RT and not use the return...