OneWay Flights Within Europe
 

I just checked Expedia for the cost of a one way flight between London and Marseille for our vacation in September. The one way fare for the flight we would be interested in is $655.73!!! The round trip fare is only $164.79 for the same flight! Why would anyone pay the one way fare? Am I missing something? Last year when we flew one way between Paris and Nice, the cost was approximately half of the round trip fare. Was that because it was all within one country? I'm just curious as to any comments some of you experienced travelers have about the huge difference in the one way and round trip fares. With all the talk lately of inexpensive flights within Europe, I never thought we might run into such high prices for a one way flight. Thanks in advance for any feedback.

We encountered the same deal with a flight from Rome to Marseilles two years ago. At a travel agent's advice, we bought the RT tix and threw away the return portion.

Hi Judy,<BR><BR>Last time we went to Europe we had to buy a one way ticket from Bologna to Paris, the travel agent we went through in Bologna (we were inexperienced and desperate) suggested we get the round trip ticket as it was about $300 cheaper. We only used the one we needed and disposed of the other no problem!<BR>Much cheaper! I have no idea why they charge so much more for one way tickets.<BR>

Nimes is not far from Marseille. If you get there you can fly on www.ryanair.com where the flight to London can cost as low as Euro 19.<BR>Ryanair is a Southwest but even more successful - it now has the highest market capitalization of all airlines in Europe - higher than British Airways, Lufthansa, Air France etc

Just make sure you use the first leg!

The reason is because when European airlines such as Air France or Lufthansa book one way fares, they are usually only available in Business Class. So really the 600$ ticket is a one way business class fare.

Thank you all for your responses. We may check into the flight to Nimes or we'll book the round trip flight. It's so helpful to know what other people have done, so we can make a good decision.

Who are you taking transatlantic? If part of the One World Alliance (AA, BA, othes) check out http://www.oneworldalliance.com/prod...sit_europe.cfm for cheap intra-Europe tickets. I believe Star (UAL et al) has a similar program. www.Europebyair.com also has similarly cheap tix, available 1-way.

There is nothing uniquely intra-Europe about this. One way tickets in the US are always sold at "full coach" price, whereas the majority of roundtrip tickets sold are at discounts of 30-80% with rules to follow about Saturday night, length of say requirements, day of the weekm non-refundability, non-changeability.<BR><BR>I think that a small number of full coach one way (and round trip) tickets are still purchased by business travelers. they simply consider that the price needed to pay to get exactly what they want with full refundability, full exchangeability - - and no hassles to their "agents" (in house or retail travel agents) who might have to face an airline representative (theoretically) asking, what's the deal with all these round trip tickets you bought, and never used the return half?<BR><BR>In business, there is an understanding that there is "full price", and there is a discounted price for qualified buyers. Many business travelers pay full price because that's what they would expect their customers to do, if there were rules to qualify for the discount, and the customer wasn't qualified to receive the discount.<BR><BR>My two cents worth. I have bought round trip tickets and thrown away the return portion dozens and dozens of times.<BR><BR>Best wishes,<BR><BR>Rex<BR>

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