Have you ever purchased two one-way tickets instead of a round trip ticket?
 

I need to get to LAX from the east coast of Florida for a Dec. 20th flight to Fiji. Tickets were around $500. Two weeks ago, I purchased a one-way ticket from Fort Lauderdale to LAX for $109. Now I'm looking for a flight back on Dec. 30th. I've seen one for $169.00. It appears that the sales on these two different dates occured at two different times.

Anyway, $268 is a lot cheaper than $500.

Either your fares are incorrectly posted or you need to improve your math skills?

btw, the downside of one-way tickets? you will be ordered to keep the seatbelt on during the flight. You will be considered a high security risk. :-D


I and I'm sure many others have purchased one way tickets as needed. Nothing new.

I guess that would be $278.00. Maybe I'll wait one more week to see if it goes down a little before I purchase the return ticket.

$5 a drink too! Horror! :D

When I travel to Asia or Hawaii from the east coast I find it is usually cheaper to fly on two tickets. One on Southwest Airlines to LAX and then other ticket to my final destination. I know this will save me money in most cases. They will not transfer my bags through all the way because I am on two sets of tickets.

With Southwest you are always flying on one way tickets.

Wow... Southwest east coast to LAX on a narrowbody single-aisle 737.

Maybe distant_traveler's panic attack is not about the plane or distance, but it's about the water underneath.

Yeah, on 14th I'm flying Alaskan to St Louis coming back with Southwest. Not only two one-ways but also two airports. Leaving from SFO arriving OAK.

Also did a plane-train a year ago.

Regarding security risk, last Saturday I was issued this boarding pass to get through the security at IAH:

rkkwan.zenfolio.com/p689294111/?photo=327432513

I had no problem, but actually quite a few people in our group got SSSSed. And we were not even trying to board a flight! :D

Jet Blue only sells one-way tickets and we were fine with those. Just bring both of your tickets with you and show them you have a return ticket if asked.

(We flew into Philadelphia on US Air and then drove to Washington DC and flew home out of Dulles airport on Jet Blue. No problems. That was the cheapest way to do this particular trip, and it fit conveniently into our trip plans.)

I did read somewhere that you might be asked to show that you have a return ticket, but I don't think anyone even asked us about this... We had it handy just in case.

No one is required to show any return ticket for domestic flights. It makes no sense. Only time is when a foreign visitor is coming into the country.

What AAFF and I are referring to is that the airlines and TSA have programs to flag potential high-risk passengers. And those who purchase one-way tickets are often categorized as having high<b>er</b> risk. So, the chance of getting SSSSed (secondary security screened) is also high<b>er</b>.

It's all comparative. I don't know the numbers, but say your chance of getting additional screening is 1/1000 if you buy a roundtrip, but is 1/100 if you buy a one-way.

But of course, the <b>vast majority</b> of people who buys one-way tickets do not get secondary screening. Otherwise, TSA lines will be super super long at main Southwest Airlines cities.

Also, with regard to bags being checked, if you are on two airlines that interline, they will check your bags through if you show them your paperwork. For instance, flew Alaska to LAX to catch Qantas flight to Sydney, and then another time flew Alaska to LAX for Air Pacific flight to Fiji, both times bags being checked all the way through. This year flying Alaska to LAX to connect to Qantas to Auckland - same thing. And sons flying Delta to LAX and on to Auckland, also same thing. I believe in the case of Qantas, that Southwest is the only airline they don't interline with. I'm not sure SWA interlines with any airline in fact.

SWA interlines with ATA

I don't about this 1 in 1000 for being checked with one way ticket. My experience is that a one ticket will get you about five red stars next to your name and a lot of extra attention. It is stupid on TSA part who ever claimed they were smart or used any logic. A couple of years I drove to Utah to ski a week with some friends. My 20 years son flew over for the weekend and rode home with me at the end. Since I took all of his ski gear with me in the car he had no need for any luggage and a one way ticket. He was nearly stripped searched, quizzed extensively about no luggage, escorted to and from the gate and search again just prior to boarding the plane. I am surprised they did handcuff him to his seat.