I have my first occasion to purchase an open ticket, and find that I am unable to do so on CO. I could find no reference to open tickets in the rules for any fare I checked. And, the res agent I spoke with said that open ticketing was no longer available. Actually, it was difficult to get him to say this directly, as he kept suggesting alternatives: "buy an unrestricted ticket, then change the date", or "get an EasyPass award ticket which has no change fees." These were good work-arounds to my situation, but none answered my question directly. This question probably comes up so seldom that I wouldn't be surprised if it was indeed possible, but the particular agent I spoke to had never run into it before.

So, I put this question to the collective wisdom of FlyerTalk: does anyone know if open ticketing is still possible on CO? Of course, an unrestricted fare and paper ticket would be involved.

For the uninitiated, here's what one travel dictionary says:

So, the open ticket I want to buy would have a specific city pair, fare basis, and fare paid, but no specific date or flight number. I would later make a reservation for the date/flight I want, and turn in my ticket at the airport for travel.

These used to be more common than they are today (especially if they are now extinct ), but I'd be a bit surprised if there is no way at all to do it.

Browsing in SABRE, I see that many airlines allow "open return" on many international fares. One fare I found on AA says "OPEN RETURN ALLOWED BUT CANNOT BE AUTO PRICED/TKTD." which I take to mean that the ticket would involve the rate desk, and even might have to be hand-written, but is nonetheless doable.

So, we know that open returns are still allowed on some carriers. Does someone have enough ticketing knowledge to know for sure if open one-way tickets were ever allowed?

I realize this is a very esoteric issue - thanks in advance for any input.

[This message has been edited by Steve M (edited 07-31-2002).]