Tricks for getting best 1 way airfares
 

Looking at a cruise in April 2012 from Miami to Barcelona. Live in Memphis, so obviously have to fly MEM / MIA and then BCL / MEM (or some returning European city). Is there a way to minimize the cost of one ways versus typical R/T tix ?? Have never done a 1 way cruise before, especially transatlantic, so would welcome the travel tips of those who have such experiences. Thanks !!

Check first with your travel agent or cruise line as they often have access to bulk fares for this type of trip. Fares not otherwise publically available.

There are a couple of airlines that often have fairly affordable one-way transatlantic fares; Aer Lingus via Dublin, sometimes Swiss International. In business class, Open Skies has affordable (in the context of business class) between Orly airport in Paris and Newark or Washington Dulles airports.

With your route, if you want to use "throw-away" ticketing (using the first half of a round-trip, not the second) - which is counter to the airlines' rules, by the way - then you'd need to set up a round trip from Barcelona to Memphis, then "throw away" the return portion. Buying a MEM-BCN round trip then not making the first flight will cancel the return.

Or my favorite way to do (cheap) one-way flights over the pond is to purchase enough frequent flyer miles to cover a one-way ticket. For example, American Airlines will "charge" you 20,000 miles for a one way trip from Barcelona to Memphis in April. You can go to the AA website and buy 20,000 miles for around $500. Once you've done so, just go online and redeem them for the flights you want (if available) or else phone and see if there are seats open on partner airline flights (e.g. Iberia or British Airways) over the water. Actually, the thing to do is see when flights are available, and THEN buy the miles and do the redemption, so that it's more of a sure thing.

Go to Kayak.com and search for one-way flights there. It will show you quite a few options.

2 tricks I have used

#1 go to AA.com or similar get FF CC a bunch of FF miles like 40000 bonus just for signing up use them...#2 www.airtech.com

iberia.com has some cheap MIA flights might work for you

sometimes cheaper to do RT BCN MIA MEM and throw away the return

cheapoair.com kayak.com/buzz

2 sites to shop around for best price.

You actually don't want one way flights, you want open jaw or multicity. Doing a multicity search prices as a RT, not 2 one ways.

Use Kayak.com and choose multicity.

You should try pricing the trip BOTH as a two one-ways and a multicity trip. I jsut tried your trip both ways in april and got a total of $1931 for a multicity and as $1731 for two one ways.

Also try searching over a period, at different times of the day. A lot of times, I get ready to give up because the air fares seem so high, then out of the blue a really cheap flight will appear.

Agree with Noflyzone - call the cruise line. The mileage option is also worth looking at. I'd do throwaway as a last resort.

<i>phone and see if there are seats open on partner airline flights (e.g. Iberia or British Airways) over the water.</i>

But these would incur some decently hefty fuel surcharges, correct? Perhaps not a complete deal breaker, but something to factor into the equation.

<i>You actually don't want one way flights, you want open jaw or multicity. Doing a multicity search prices as a RT, not 2 one ways.</i>

An open-jaw will not usually be available when there is an ocean separating the two destinations. In other words, this works fine if you are flying MEM-MAD/BCN-MEM, but not for MEM-MIA/BCN-MEM. Plugging in random days for April, this seems to price as 2 one-ways.

>>An open-jaw will not usually be available when there is an ocean separating the two destinations<<

Interesting! Learn something new everyday!

You don't actually need to use the cruise line to get the bulk fare. Any travel agent who works with consolidators who offer cruise air fares would do the trick. (To qualify for the cruise air fare, you will have to show your cruise ticket when you check in for the flight.)

Don ... owner, Don Topaz Travel

Just as we said, Don, and gave agents first billing, too!

Sorry, NFZ, I somehow missed your answer.!

I like the idea of buying miles for a one-way award. I had not considered that, as I have plenty of miles, but I will pass on that idea if I have a chance, thanks.

For a single open-jaw, you would likely find that the open leg has to be shorter than the other two. If A->B->C->A then B->C has to be shorter than A->B and be shorter than C->A