lovesadventure

Looking into interasia flights for later this year to catch our return flight to the US.

One-way tickets appear to cost much more than what a round trip ticket is. What happens if I only use the starting leg of the RT ticket? Our flight back to the US is not on the same airline.

Thanks!

rhkkmk

i think you would be fine....as long as it is not the same airline or an affilitate of the airline you will use to home...

Kathie

Unless you are talking about a "budget" airline or a special promotional rate, you can usually get one way tickets for half the regular price for intra-asia flights. And if you buy a regular ticket and only use half of it, you can get a refund of the other half if you cancel ahead of time (or in some cases, even afterwards). I'd suggest that you contact a local travel agent in Asia to ge thet best price quote. Many of us on this site have used Eddie at the Bangkok Am Ex office [email protected]

lovesadventure

Eddie has thus far quoted me $305/ticket thus far. On expedia, I can get them for $200 each, round trip, that is.

I doubt the expedia rate is refundable. But am comfortable with paying $200 per ticket, compared to the other pricing I've found thus far.

Kathie

Where are you flying to/from and what airline?

lovesadventure

BKK to Taipei. Expedia is on KLM.

Kathie, have any secret tips to great one-way airfare?! I'd love to hear it. And if you do, I'd love to buy you a frappacino (or Thai iced coffee) for sharing your knowledge. I could even venture to YOUR side of Lake Washington!

Thanks in advance!

Kathie

Does the Expedia rate include taxes? Is the ticket that Eddie can get you also on KLM?

Flying an airline that makes a stop in Bangkok before going on to Taipei is a good way to get a great airfare. It can sometimes be problematic if the flight often lands late (sometimes hours late...) I don't know much about KLM's ontime performance.

Sometimes you can get a good one-way fare in Asia by booking a promo rate on one of the main carriers on that route. Usually, you would have to wait until closer to the date of your travel to find these promo rates.

I'm afraid my tips aren't good enough to lure you to this side of the lake!

lovesadventure

Thanks for your input, Kathie.

I think I'll just go with the Expedia rate. It seems to be 1/2 of what I'm finding anywhere else. Not quite 1/2 of Eddie's 1-way rate, but still significantly less. KLM must be running a special or something.

Also, I can get miles on Alaska Air for going through them. That's a bonus.

lovesadventure

Bob, define "affiliate".

My flight back to the US is on Cathay. That's set. The flight I anticipate taking from BKK and not using the return flight on is KLM. They both send miles to my same account (neither of those airlines). So they are connected, but not really.

Do you think this will be an issue?

Kathie

Just to be on the safe side, call and cancel the leg of your ticket you won't use a couple of days before the flight.

lovesadventure

Thanks again!

rhkkmk

i agree with kathie....affiliate is like northwest and klm.....delta and air france....delta and the former song...airlines tied together in more ways than just FF miles...maybe part of the same global network....one that would be able to see your flights on their computers taken on other airlines in their network....anyone that would have your credit card number...

the $200 klm fare seems almost impossible to me but.....

KimJapan

The $200.00 roundtrip BKK - TPE - BKK fare is a published fare on KLM available now on many days through the end of the year at least...I didn't check more. It is a highly restrictive ticket...no changes, no refunds, cannot be endorsed to another airline. Fare rules are long and complicated. You can book it right on klm.com and avoid the hassle of expedia and their service charge.

KimJapan

One way fares are also seldom offered at discounted rates...they are usually 1/2 of full fare, which is very expensive.

Marija

Don't cancel the leg of the flight you're not planning to use if it is a roundtrip ticket! This can invalidate the ticket.

rhkkmk

mar---so what you are finished with it???

rkkwan

Just don't show up for the return flight. Nothing to do.

Kathie

My advice was to cancel it AFTER you had used the other leg of the ticket. No shows get flagged in the system.

lovesadventure

Thanks to all for your input. So I am flying to Taipei on December 8 from Bangkok, potentially through KLM. My flight back to the US is on the 12th on a separate carrier (but related through the mileage system), Cathay. Actually, after reviewing the webpage, it looks as if both feed into my milieage accoung (Alaska Air) but are not direclty related to each other.

My question is whether I should book the "to be disposed of" leg of the trip for after my flight back on the 12th...obviously it makes no difference to me. I'm wondering if Cathay will be able to see that I am in the midst of an open jaw and that I don't have a return ticket to Taiwan between my real departure and disposed of departure date.

Just trying to avoid any snafu's in the check-in line.

I also promise to stop with the tedious details of this thread after this post.

Thanks.

rkkwan

If you're that worry, do not put down a FF number for the BKK-TPE flight. All you lose is ~1,500 miles. Big deal.

However, if you cancel a ticket, the airline have a right to charge you the fare difference between a roundtrip and a one-way, which can be very substantial.

How would CX know where you've been, or what tickets you have had in your hand? They don't care, won't care.

The only party that you need to worry is KLM. Unless you do this often (i.e. abusing the fare rules), they won't come after you. If they do, tell them you woke up late for return flight or something like that.