How to save on one-way flights
Historically, one-way tickets cost roundtrip dollars; that is, you’d pay almost as much for a single one-way ticket as you would for a roundtrip ticket to the same destination. Fortunately for thrifty flyers, domestic discount airlines and travel booking sites have entered the mix and now offer reasonably priced one-way tickets. But the big airlines still charge roundtrip prices (or more) for select routes, and certain one-way trips could cost hundreds or even thousands more than similar roundtrip itineraries. Travelers still need to have a few tricks up their sleeves in order to avoid one-way highway robbery.
Why are some one-way flights so expensive? One-way flights are frequently purchased by business travelers who tend to combine trips (and whose corporate travel departments usually pay full price for fares). The airlines don’t particularly want travelers to fly one-way, as it upsets airline travel schedules.
To get an idea of current one-way fare prices, I searched for flights on a number of airfare providers (big airlines, domestic airlines and online travel booking sites). Some of the exorbitant one-way tickets I found were utterly shocking — others were easier on the pocketbook.
One-way fare case study No. 1: international flight
In this case study, I’m pitting American Airlines against discount airline Aer Lingus and online travel booking site Expedia. I decided a trip to Paris would be just lovely and searched for late-winter flights departing from New York City. For the same travel dates, a roundtrip flight from the Big Apple to Paris cost $751.20 with taxes on American Airlines versus $793.25 with taxes on Aer Lingus and $708.10 with taxes on Expedia — pretty comparable. Things changed when I searched for one-way flights. A one-way flight from New York to Paris cost $440.16 with taxes on Aer Lingus, and $394.10 with taxes on Expedia (flying on Icelandair). For the same travel date and itinerary, American Airlines charged $2,404.10 with taxes. Ouch!
One-way fare case study No. 2: domestic flight
Next in the ring we have major carrier United Airlines, domestic discount airline JetBlue and travel booking site Orbitz serving up their best fares for a late-winter flight from Pittsburgh to Seattle. For the dates I searched, the cheapest roundtrip tickets departing the Steel City for Seattle were $370.40 on both United Airlines and JetBlue, and $205.90 on Orbitz.
One-way tickets for similar dates were low-cost. United Airlines offered a one-way ticket for $120.20 with taxes, JetBlue came in at $185.20 with taxes and Orbitz showed me a one-way flight costing just $105.20 including taxes and fees (flying on Northwest Airlines).
Major airlines playing by discount airline rules … sometimes
Sometimes the big airlines hit consumers with outrageously expensive one-way tickets like the $2,404.10 (economy class, mind you) flight to Europe from American Airlines. However, the majors do match or beat prices of discount airlines on certain routes. Of course, this is on a route-by-route basis; United matched JetBlue’s roundtrip fares on the Pittsburgh to Seattle flights I tested (and they beat JetBlue’s one-way fare by $65), but when I searched for one-way fares for travel from New Orleans to Syracuse — a less popular route — United charged over two times the cost of JetBlue’s one-way flight (one-way fares on JetBlue from New Orleans to Syracuse cost $145 with taxes, while United charged $363.20).
