We are going to Paris for several weeks in the fall. While we are in Europe, we thought we might go to Portugal and possibly, back to Spain. Since we are not sure where we will go after Paris, we are wondering if it is possible to fly "open jaw" with the departing city and date of return unspecified at the time of the reservation.

I don't know, but I wonder how an airline could compute a fare from an unknown airport. Perhaps you could pay for one departure city and just pay whatever change fee they would require when you change your mind.

I would not expect them to be generous.

Anyone familiar with the Schengen agreement?

Will they let a non-EU resident enter without a return flight?

When my daughter was spending 6 months in Spain, she decided to come home on Easter break so we bought a round trip ticket Madrid/US,US/Madrid. When I took her to the airport to return to Madrid, they wanted to see a return ticket to the states. She didn't have it with her (it was in Spain), but she had her visa for Spain and showed that. They really spent a long time going over it and asking questions (this was in 2006). I'm not sure what would have happened without the visa. It was the airline questioning everything.

Just plan a normal trip as most people do and decide where you're returning home from. Airline personnel don't take kindly to folks who are all loosey-goosey about where they're going and where they're flying home from these days.

Somehow, I think Gardyloo might just have the answer to that. I consider Gardyloo the transportation expert for Europe.

However, it is a tricky question.

You cannot purchase an open jaw ticket unless you really have all of the cities in the purchase price. Otherwise,it is basically two different one way trips to the airlines.You could purchase a round trip from your US city to Paris and then use a discount airline to Portugal then over to Spain and then back to Paris before using your return ticket back to the states?

After reading your responses, which were very helpful, we need to decide where we are going after Paris. It seems like the easiest thing is to book roundtrip. Thanks

No - you don;t have to book rountrip - open jaws works perfectly well, But you must book both halves at the same time - otherwise you are buying one-way tickets - which would be incredibly expensive. If y ou ust have flexibility pick the city you are most likely to want to return from. Then, i fyou change you mind all you need to do is pay the change fee - assuming there are seats available at any besides the walk-up price.

Don´t forget that if you are booking from a popular airport ie Paris, gatwick etc, you can always catch a budget flight there if you change your mind.

If you are using the term roundtrip just to mean you buy the ticket for going and returning, yes, that is what you need to do. You just don't need to return from the same airport where you entered, if you don't want. Just make up a plan that seems good as to where you want to end up.

One way tickets are totally authorized as long as you can prove that you have the means to buy your return ticket (cash or credit card) -- and you can truthfully tell anybody who asks your plans. Frankly, it is not uncommon for people to fly to Europe one way and then fly out of Morocco or even Lebanon (short ferry ride from Cyprus). The travel possibilities are nearly infinite now, so people are no longer obliged to stick to the protocol from grandpa's time.