Cheapest way to buy a one-way ticket
 

We're looking to buy a car from relatives in Texas. DH looking to fly down next Thursday and drive the car back. Looked on Northwest's website and about had a heart attack when I saw the fare of $707.00. No thanks.
Any advice on how to get a cheap one-way ticket from Detroit to Dallas? Or better yet, Flint, Mi to Dallas?

You may find a better price for a round trip. In that case, go one way and throw away the ticket after you get there. Trust me, they won't send the police after you if you don't show up for the return flight.

Patrick's right. I do it all the time when I visit folks in Miami. I buy two roundtrips (different carriers) and use the "outbound" ticket each way and throw away the other half...it's still cheaper than one ways.

You're quick Patrick! Good point! I'll investigate.

Also, check southwest's website. Or, consider going later. It may be cheaper if you have 14 or 21-days advance purchase, if you can wait that long to get the car. AirTran may be another good discount airline to check.

Definitely don't rely on only NWA. Sometimes you can get great deals, but in general it's more expensive to fly to/from an airline's hub airport.

Try Orbitz (orbitz.com), showing $195 to DFW 2/19 one way out of Flint.

There are some carriers like Air Tran, Spirit, Southwest and ATA that actually quote based on one-way tickets. Don't know if they serve this route. You can also searcgh for one-way fares on Orbitz, as a previous poster said. Got one last Christmas from Milwaukee to Savannah that was actually less than 50% of round trip fare, on Delta.

There's always Priceline or Hotwire. You could always throw away the return.

Yep,

Buy a roundtrip ticket and use half of it.

ATA is decent, they don't require RT to get a good fare, AND they fly out of Flint.

http://www.ata.com/home.html

It might be cheaper to have someone else drive the car or to ship it back than to fly - especially after you add expenses of trip such as gas, food, lodging, etc.

If you cancel your return ticket won't some airlines give you travel credit? I've only cancelled a roundtrip ticket before though (with Continental and Southwebst), and both airlines charged about $100 but the rest I was able to use within a year to fly somewhere else.

~Amelie

Just get a one-way ticket on ATA. It's $187.70 for next Thu from Flint to Dallas.

Amalie, you don't cancel the ticket. You simply don't show up on the return....you "miss" the flight.

Cassidy, when you price the round trip ticket, you may want to put in different return dates as well. Be sure to look at options such as Saturday night stay to get the lowest rate. That could be considerable less expensive than looking at RT for Thurs/Fri, for example.

And don't worry about cancelling the return.....just don't show up. Most airlines are overbooked because people are always missing the flights for whatever reason. With a round trip ticket, if you try to change or cancel the return, it will end up costing you more than throwing it away.

Some airlines charge to cancel half of your ticket?

~amelie

Amalie, I don't know of any airlines that don't charge a fee for any change to most tickets these days. I've never actually heard of a "cancellation fee" other than losing all or part of the cost of your ticket however.....

If you cancel the return part of your ticket, you have just turned your round trip into a one way fare. I don't personally know of anyone who this has happened to (probably because most would just throw it away) but have heard that airlines will reprice to what it would have cost for a one way (which is frequently more expensive) and charge that amount to the credit card that was used to purchase the ticket. I believe that words to this effect are also in all that fine print on the tickets but don't really feel like searching the airlines web sites today (I'm feeling lazy today). Yes, it sounds ridiculous but ...... :)

I don't think the airlines can post another charge on your credit card but they can strip you of your frequent flyer staus and miles. I have seen it done to corporate travelers who made a habit of booking back to back tickets.
There was even a case recently where an airline was sueing a company for thousands of dollars because one of their travelers did this for a long period of time.
I can also tell you that AA has a tracking system for this very purpose and can pull the rights to book from an agency with a history of making a higher than normal amount of these bookings.
Having said all that... It would be extremely hard, maybe impossible to prove in your case.
Who's to say you didn't really miss your flight and decided to take a cheaper carrier or car back vs paying the change fees.

wow I didn't think they would actually charge you for a one way ticket then. This is very good to know!! As my fiance will be needing to do this in May.

~Amelie

TxTravelPro, you may be right. I've heard the part about the airlines charging the cost difference to the credit card but that could be Urban Legend -- I don't actually know of it happening.

I decided to look to see if I can find where it says this and used Delta which I am most familiar with. (Believe most airlines Ts&Cs are similar if not identical). Delta's website (http://www.delta.com/home/notices/carriage/index.jsp) says:

"When you buy a ticket for travel on Delta, you enter into a contract of carriage with us. The terms of your contract are set forth in:
-your ticket
-any tariffs which apply
-our conditions of carriage, or "general rules tariff" "

I downloaded the domestic conditions of carriage.....it's only 61 pages so be sure you read it before your next flight (international is 93 pages!). LOL. Rule 100, para G4 seems to say they can charge the difference but doesn't say how they will do it. I honestly can't read the rest of it....it makes my head swim. (And I'm used to reading contracts and stuff. Good thing I didn't decide to become a lawyer.)

Amalie, just tell your fiance to price out the ticket different ways and buy whichever turns out cheaper.