Originally Posted by
Lux Flyer
Not possible. Everyone in a single PNR must have the exact same itinerary. Without pulling up the exact fare filings, IAH-YYZ is probably constructing based on two one ways anyways, so from a price stand point, you're probably coming out the same if you book a OW with you + dad and OW return with just you on a separate PNR.
Edit: just tried doing a dummy booking since I'm too lazy to pull up fare fillings right now. Got to love the weird interactions continuous pricing can produce, as two separate one ways are pricing lower than a RT on the exact same set of flights.
(these prices mean nothing for your specific itinerary as they were random dates 7 months from now)
Outbound priced as 425.55 alone
Inbound priced as 307.18 alone
Round trip priced as 805.65
this is normal, IME, on US-Canada itins where one way fares are 1/2 round trip. I believe it is a tax thing. I’ve never figured out the exact amounts. But my understanding is HST (Canada Harmonized sales tax) is charged on the entire round trip fare if booking a round trip, but only on the ex-Canada portion if booking one ways. There may be other items that are similar.
The amount of the differences you are quoting are higher than I’m used to seeing, though I’ll admit it’s been a while since I’ve paid much attention to the details - mostly I’ve seen ~$30/pp or so cheaper for 2 OW vs. a round trip. Because of this (and typically traveling with a family of four, where a $30 difference is $120 total), I’ve been booking as OW for years - and I typically go to Canada at least 2-4 times per year.
so in OPs case, may be better to book 1 PNR for each direction anyway, which will keep both on the same PNR when traveling together. Theoretically, there’s no real disadvantage, especially since the demise of change fees. The only thing I can think of is potentially being asked about return travel plans by customs entering Canada if a foreign citizen, but in the odd case one is asked, showing the return PNR should be just fine.