When I have attempted to fly open jaw, I have found it more expensive than round trips from the same airport. How do you go about arranging open jaw without incurring a much more expensive flight?

We flew in to Brussels and out of Basel this summer. The fare was actually LESS than return fare for either. Go figure!
Good luck.

Hi,

Last year was the first time we flew "open jaw". NJ to Frankfurt and Munich to NJ. It was just a little more (as I remember, about $40 pp) than flying R/T to Frankfurt. It was no more expensive than flying R/T to Munich.

Paul

I have found it is often actually less than adding in ground tranportaition back to the original airport. Depending on which site you are using to book your air there is usually something like a "multi city" button where you can put in what you want.

Last year, we were able to fly into Paris, stay for 3 nights, then fly to Rome for a 5-night stay before returning to the US (Orlando), all for the same price as R/T MCO-FCO. Good deal.

pja, that sounds like the trip I want to do...so far not cheaper...yet.

I'm looking at summer rates, maybe a river cruise in Portugal, checked RT to Lisbon and an open jaw: fly into Lisbon, out of Porto. Very close, the open jaw maybe even less.

Just keep looking, maybe check other airports, maybe weekdays instead of weekends.

In '07, we flew PHX-LHR and BRU-PHX for less than a r/t to either place.

Use www.kayak.com and select the multi-city option---then pray.

I think it is less expensive if your two European airports are of some substantial difference apart, and of course, you base it on comparing that price against flying RT between your home and the FARTHEST airport.

I have flown two open jaw flights in the last 4 years (Italy/Germany and Italy/France) and did not fine it expensive. Naturally your saving comes in by NOT having to travel back to the European destination you flew into originally (e.g., a train ticket between Rome and Paris can be expensive).

Start shopping early and compare the increased price to the ground and take in the time you will be spending getting back to the other city.
As much as I enjoy a savings, it doesn't work if I'm spending too much of my vacation back tracking.

If it's for work, I don't mind.

As Bob wrote, be sure to use the multi-city option--don't try booking two individual one-way tickets.

I flew open jawed last summer from Atlanta to Prague and from Zürich to Atlanta. Tonight I compared the cost of the open jawed flight with round trip between Atlanta and Prague and between Atlanta and Zürich.

All flights were on Delta, and all were direct. The open jawed flight was perhaps a little less than round trip between Atlanta and Prague because Zürich was involved.

Of course I had to get from Prague to Munich and from Munich to Switzerland, but that was where wanted to go.

I suggest you look at various airlines' web site and price your ticket round trip between two cities and open jawed.

Have flown openjaws many times and it's always half of the fare to each destination.

The only time it may be more is if you can't do it on one airline or one partner group (they don;t serve both cities) - then the costs may be higher.

Or - it may look higher if the lowest price fares are already sold out.

I'm no expert but the last time we did it was the same price as a normal round-trip. We flew into Geneva and out of Paris.

Judtrem,

I used the Lufthansa website under "multi segment" journey. We got a very good price last October. We left on a Monday and returned the following Friday. We also had a 3:15 pm flight from Munich to NJ, so we got to stay in Ramsau (Berchtesgaden area) our last night. Nice not to have to get up before dawn!

Paul

There is no <b>penalty</b> for booking open-jaw to Europe for most airlines. It may be more, may be less, than a roundtrip. Just depends on what fare is available for those cities for the dates you choose.

The roundtrip fare is simply a sum of the available fare class for each segment. Same fare class that are available if you're flying to/from the same airport.

For example, if you search for EWR-LHR on Continental on 1/1, returning on 1/7. The lowest fare may be $1,000; which is a sum of $500 outbound in fare class and $500 inbound.

If you search 1/1-1/7 EWR-CDG on same airline, the lowest fare may also be $1,000; but for $600 outbound and $400 inbound.

Now, if you book open-jaw on those same dates EWR-LHR/CDG-EWR, your fare will price out as $900 ($500 + $400). If you book EWR-CDG/LHR-EWR, your fare will price out as $1,100 ($600 + $500).

So, one Fodorite poster will say &quot;Open-jaw is cheaper!!&quot;, while another one will say &quot;No way!!! Open-jaw is more expensive!!!&quot;

In fact, both are right and both are wrong.

I fly open jaw a lot and it is never more expensive. Of course it would be if someone were foolish enough to try to book two one-way tickets rather than a roundtrip, but it doesn't even have to be on the same airline both ways.

I suspect the only reaon one could say open jaw was &quot;much more expensive&quot; was by pricing it incorrectly, or possibly just hitting some unusual date where cheap seats weren't available on one flight. Of course it would not usually be as cheap as a RT ticket to the closest point of the city pair, but that wouldn't make sense to be comparing it to that. It should not be cheaper than RT to the most expensive city in the pair, though, it should be half-way between the two. It always is for me, although sometimes it is only a little more than flying RT to a close point. For example Air France often has very cheap fares to Nice or Marseilles, and they always go through Paris, of course, as it is their hub. So sometimes an open jaw into Paris and out of Nice/Marseille, or vice versa, will cost only $20-30 more than RT Paris, or even the same price.

Other airlines do the same thing, like Iberia in Spain. Adding on a flight on one leg to Seville or Barcelona may not cost any more, or hardly any more than a RT to Madrid.

Thank all of you for your very helpful information. Now that I am well informed, I can plan my trip and try for an open jaw arrangement.

Not sure if my question is actually open jaw or not - but here goes. We want to fly Toronto to Barcelona in August, and the best flight was looking like a direct YYZ-BCN/BCN-YYZ for about $950 CAD. However, today I found a Spanair flight YYZ-BCN with a stop over in Madrid for about $550. Worth the stopover time when there are four of us going.

So my question is, is there any way to extend the stop over to one or two days, allowing us to at least get a brief visit in Madrid? The price for taking the same flight home is the same for the next two days. However, if I try and book this as a multi-destination, the price almost doubles.

I'm getting my prices from Travelocity - as trying to book this through the airline shows significantly higher prices.

Any advice much appreciated.