Empress: It's usually better to err on the side of caution, so do listen to all this good advice.

However, I have to go along with QuitetLion on this. I have been told by corporate travel that our example DOES constitute back-to-back ticketing, and I've been told that it DOESN'T. I asked Delta airlines about this and their answer was that it does NOT. However, this would not constitute a legally binding endorsement, so I do urge caution.

For what it's worth, here's what happened to me once. It should give you some peace of mind if you decide to do the cheaper ticketing (but again, I won't make a blanket statement saying that this is the way all airlines operate all the time):

Ticket 1: VPS to PHL Mar. 14
Ticket 2: PHL to VPS Mar. 19
Ticket 2: VPS to PHL Mar. 21
Ticket 1: PHL to VPS Mar 26.

OK? Actually, I had another set of tickets for the following 2 weeks also. Enough tickets to make a pretty good poker hand. Whichis where the trouble began.

I walk in to the VPS airport on Mar. 14 and pull out a handful of tickets. I hand the agent what I thought was the correct ticket, Ticket #1. Agent takes the first coupon and gives me a boarding pass. I board and we take off. Arranging my tickets in the air, I discover to my horror that I had given the agent Ticket #2! He had taken the first coupon, PHL to VPS Mar. 19 and given me, on Mar. 14, a boarding pass for the Mar. 14 flight VPS to PHL.

So, now I am stuck with a coupon to get back to VPS valid Mar 26. And an usused coupon VPS - PHL for Mar. 14. Neither of which was going to help me get home PHL-VPS on Friday, Mar. 19. With me so far?

SO...comes Friday, Mar. 19 and I go to the Delta counter, hand the Delta agent both tickets, and try to explain what happened. This took a while. I even used a blank slip of paper to represent the (now used) Mar. 19 coupon which was used to GET TO Philly.

See the scenario? The Delta agent has BOTh tickets in his hand. Along with my explanation of how the whole thing pieced together to cover both weeks. So, guess what happens?

He takes the Monday, Mar. 14 coupon (VPS-PHL), does some magic on the keyboard, and gives me a boarding pass for this flight, Friday, Mar. 19. No extra charge. No $75 change fee. Not even a scowll.

Sorry about the length, but it WAS complicated. The point is, is Delta was going to consider this back-to-back ticketing, well, there you were, they had both tickets in hand and could have crucified me. They didn't. They didn't even go "tsk, tsk" at my dumbness in handing the agent at VPS the wrong ticket!

So, honestly, Empress, I personally wouldn't worry about it.

(And yeah, I know, they're supposed to check these things, but *I* was the one who started everything by handing in the wrong ticket...I don't expect everyone to protect me from my own mistakes. It's nice when they do, but I certainly don't feel that they are under any obligation to do so. The error was mine and had there been any penalty, I was willing to pay it.)