NaxosTravels

Hi,

As per a seperate post, we are planning a 6 week trip. Ideally, we want to fly from Edmonton, Alberta to Dubrovnik, Croatia (or Podigorica, Montenegro). Then fly out of Budapest 6 weeks later. We haven't found any plausible flights yet (though admittedly we are still far in advance) and are contemplaing the wisdom of booking our legs seperately. Edmonton is not a great hub to leave from and Dubrovnik not the greatest place to land for cheap flights...perhaps we should be looking at getting to London or Frankfurt then hitting up Ryanair or Easyjet from there....?

Are there problems going through security with one-way tickets? What are other hidden dangers with this aside from making sure your flights are very far apart to ensure you don't miss your next leg?

Any advice would be appreciated,

Thanks (again),

Naxos

Christina

I might be wrong on this as I have heard stories about how passport control does not like it when people enter a country with only a one-way ticket -- however, passport control is another issue.

As far as I know, security has no idea whatsoever if you have a roundtrip ticket or not. No security people have ever asked to look at my tickets, especially return plans -- they look at your passport and boarding pass, and that's all, as well as your bags, of course.

Passport control doesn't look at your tickets, either, they only look at your passport and that form you may or may not fill out saying what flight you arrived on. That is why, when I was thinking about this, I am wondering about those things I've heard -- maybe it's just a matter that if they think you are suspicious or from certain countries, they ask to see a return ticket, but no passport agent has ever asked me to prove I have a return ticket. Of course, few people have tickets now, anyway, but I could show a printed receipt for an eticket.

Besides, you are going to have a return ticket, right? Just not on the same airline.

WillTravel

I would definitely look at German cities. In my experience, these (or sometimes Dublin) have been the cheapest lately. Rarely is London the cheapest anymore, given its very high taxes.

The main drawback is that you have to allow for any separate leg of your trip to have scheduling problems. The flight schedule may change before you go, the flight may be delayed just as you are about to take off, and so forth. There's also the very rare instance of a complete flight cancellation, a problem if you need to get from Point A to Point B stat. You can buy travel insurance that helps cover these contingencies.

It's too bad Zoom is no longer an option. I'm sure you know this, but it's also worth looking from Calgary as well.

nukesafe

You might get more complete answers if you repost your question on the Airlines thread. Those guys know EVERYTHING about air travel.

The problem with separate ticket, as far as I know, is that if you miss a flight, the airline has no responsibility to get you on a following flight.

nytraveler

You don;t have to do all one-way tickets - you can do open jaws to/fro europe.

Your big risk is that with separate tickets no airline is responsible if you miss a flight. You will have to make new arrangements yourself - at what ever prices you can find at the time. And that holds true if flights are changed in advance as well.

If you're willing to take those risks - and have good travel insurance - you can probably sort it out.

lovisa

Airlines in general were in trouble before the current economic downturn (recession?). So it's hard to know how it will shake out. Some European low cost carriers are predicted not to survive.

Looking at the British Airlines site, when I put in arbitary dates of departure June 11 return July 23 from Calgary (it won't let me input Edmonton) to Dubrovnik, and return Budapest to Calgary, it shows the flights as actual BA flights, not codeshares, and a rate of $2031 CAD per person , admittedly not great. And on the outbound leg, you have to switch from Heathrow to Gatwick, which involves a night in London.

But British Airways is supposed to be financially strong, so at least nobody expects it to go belly up, and if you pay all that money, you'll get there and back.

WillTravel

On the other hand, with Air Transat, the original poster could get from Calgary to somewhere in Europe and back to Calgary for June/July dates, for less than $900.

For me, I'd go through some hassle to save $1000.

NaxosTravels

Thanks for your comments...right now I'm not getting any love from the open-jaw route, but I think we are just too far in advance and we will keep trying. (We want to leave Aug 27 returning Oct 10)...we like to get the tickets early because then by the time the trip gets here they are paid off and also...it means we feel locked in - no excuses for not going! I think we may have to go to quite the effort to get the $$ down this time.

Cheers,

Naxos

eliza3

From bitter experience, I can say that the commonly held view that with one ticket, the airline (s) will take responsibility if there are delays etc - is wrong. One ticket with the one airline - maybe but one ticket alone will not necessarily help you. Travel agents will tell you differently.

I have only ever been asked to show proof of onward (not return) flight . next day, not transit- in Heathrow but I suspect that is just Heathrow.

traveller1959

When you land in Germany you won't have a problem with a one-way ticket - the immigration officers do not even look at tickets.

In any case, plan an overnight stay before you proceed on a separate ticket.

Lufthansa flys from München and Frankfurt to Dubrovnik. The return flight is about 400 Euros - it will be much cheaper if you book a Star Alliance ticket directly to Dubrovnik.

A low-cost carrier that flys Cologne-Dubrovnik is Germanwings (www.germanwings.com). You can fly into Frankfurt, take the train to Cologne, see a bit of the Rhine Valley on the way, stay overnight in Cologne and fly out of Cologne the next day. A one-way flight is around 80-90 Euros.