Sher

Traveling from Budapest to Zagreb I can only seem to be able to find one carrier with good connections.
Malev airlines has a one hour flight. All others have at least one connect and long lay overs.
The problem is that the one way fare is more than twice the round trip. $427 for one way, $221 for a round trip.
For the first time I am considering buying a round trip ticket and throwing the return away.
I know there has been discussions about US carriers but can anyone suggest a solution.
I am assuming the rules of carriage are the same with European airlines which do not allow this.
Or is there an airline I am missing which will permit a one way at a more reasonable price. The train is seven hours.
Thank You

Dukey

My question is always the same..HOW is that airline GOING TO KNOW you are abandoning the return portion?

What if you got sick and couldn't use it, for example?

Cowboy1968

According to Malev's condition of carriage:

5.1.2. Given that the price of the ticket is calculated on the basis of the entire route indicated on the ticket, the flight coupons may only be used in the order in which they are issued, and the passenger shall commence the journey at the place of departure indicated on the ticket.
The first flight coupon shall be used in all cases, otherwise the ticket loses its validity. <b>The rest of the flight coupons may not be used</b>, provided the passenger notifies Malév about it not later than the closing time of the check-in for the flight concerned. Should the passenger fail´to notify Malév or notifies it later, the flight ticket loses its validity, the rest of the flight coupons cannot be used.

You don't need to notify Malev since you seem to have no use for the return part of your ticket anyway.

Problems arise when people want to skip the first part a return ticket and still wish to use the return part. Which is not your case.

adrienne

I recently asked Lufthansa about using only the outbound portion of a round trip ticket (within Europe) and was told that I would be liable for the entire one way fare if the return portion wasn't used. I guess if you pay cash for the ticket or notify the airline that the return ticket would not be used on the designated day, as stated above, you may not be charged for the additional airfare. I decided it was not worth taking the risk and looked around for other options.

Dukey

Being "liable" and actually BEING CHARGED are two entirely different things

Cowboy1968

The LH rep gave the correct answer according to LH's terms of carriage - which are a total outrage, IMO, and are under review by the Federal Court in Germany for exactly that reason. Fortunately, there are many other carriers which ticket strictly on one-way basis. (Not) surprisingly, even LH has competetive one-way fares on routes with lots of competition. Once they become the single carrier serving one route, those o/w fares vanish.

Terms of carriage are not uniform and one has to check the individual airline's regulations.

cruiseluv

I agree with Dukey. I have never heard/ read of a case where they have gone back an charged the one way fare ( and I know many people do this). I have done it several times, with Iberia and SAS. Frankly, I wouldn't worry about it. Just build the R/T itinerary that will give you the lowest fare.

lincasanova

check out www.whichbudget.com for possible low cost carriers.

I also see no problem not using return portion. Notify them even if you wish to feel better about it.

Sher

lincasaova. There are no low cost carriers on this route. I checked whichbudget, wegolo, and flc.

The flight is not until Oct. so one may appear sometime in the future.

Dukey. I know they probably won't know. You are right. I just think in my mind it isn't quite correct. But actually right after I posted this I did find a one way fare on CheapO Air for $196.

Cowboy. That was very helpful. I just assumed that there would not be an exception to a round trip and I shouldn't have.

Thanks to all of you. Another thing on my list checked off.

Sher

FYI

I contacted Malev airlines today. They have an office in Canada with an 800 number so I just called.

They are happy to issue a one way ticket and their promotional prices for one way are set and available for their routes through 2010 but cannot be obtained from the website.

She also said that there might be a round trip promotion in the future and I understood that we could book that if it was less expensive than the one way and use one portion.

But those prices she does not know. So for $176.00 we are going to book the one way. They charge in US Dollars and although she feels we have plenty of time there are only so many tickets at that price.