nanp

Two family members have gifted me their FF miles, each a tad over 40,000. I am thinking of flying TYS-MAN this fall and was hoping to book one award out and one award back to the States two weeks later. I could book the return a day after I booked the departure. Is there any concern with this kind of booking?

mnbp

Be sure to price the return one way ticket now before deciding what to do - ex-Europe one way mileage tickets usually have high fees.

flyerCO

1)you'll pay EU surcharge for the ex-MAN award, whereas a RT avoids this
2)if one changes then technically the other isn't effected. Ie if you lose two days on outbound on a RT you can push return back two days. On separate tickets can't count on them doing that.
3)two redeposit fees VS one if cancel

utgypsy

So long as you have proof of return at the time of your departure you are just fine. (I am a former airline employee and was required to explain that to customers booking one way tinternational flights) It doesn't even matter if the return flight is with a different carrier. We just flew out on an international Delta flight yesterday that was booked as two separate one ways booked at different times. No issues whatsoever.

PHXflier

It all depends on the particular situation: (1) In my experience, it is best to jump on a low-miles award ticket for a desired date/itinerary before it evaporates, and it is common that there is not the best deal on the flight for the way back on the particular day/itinerary you desire. So, then two one-way award tickets make a lot of sense as long as taxes for two one-ways are about the same as for a roundtrip. Also, assuming that you can redeposit without fees, two one-way award tickets give you the flexibility to change each of them independently from each other when a better itinerary becomes available or if miles requirements drop; when booked as a return the itinerary may get repriced as a whole when changes are made, which may result in the loss of availability on a partner airline or in you forking over more miles. (2) Two one-way award tickets to certain countries (all of Europe, for example, but not Canada) are a lot more expensive than a round-trip ticket because of taxes ex-Europe. So, it makes sense to carefully determine what is best in your particular case. I have never had issues with one-ways as long as you have proof of having a ticket for the way back. However, when traveling on a one-way ticket internationally, sometimes you are deemed a high-risk traveler, and you get the dreaded SSSS on your boarding pass, which some security agents see as a license to check you and your luggage to no end. I have not had an issue with that (either in the US or in a foreign country) since I have had pre-check, though.

MSPeconomist

nanp

Interesting responses. I was thinking more along the lines that Delta might not like the ticketing. But as I do not have enough miles for an award round-trip, I was trying to press the easy-button, cost wise.
" Be sure to price the return one way ticket now before deciding what to do". I checked a few weeks ago, both flights were at 40,000 miles, booking at least one week before departure. I will book last minute and hope for the best. If there are some departure fees at MAN, it can't be too much, can it? I am not concerned about a possible redeposit of miles. And as to being deemed a high-risk traveler, that could be interesting. As I have a titanium hip, they pull me over anyway.

flyerCO

Its not departure fees at MAN that are an issue. DL like basically all European carriers charge YQ (aka fuel surcharges aka scam charges) on tickets booked EX-EU.

LoganFlyer

If you need to cancel your trip, you'll need to pay two redeposit fees instead of just one. This doesn't apply if you're PM or DM.

CarmenOM

nanp

" You could get a round trip TYS-MAN at about the same time for 65,000 SM "
Minor problem. I have access to 3 accounts, each has a bit over 40,000 miles. So. As you cannot combine accounts, it is what it is.

MSPeconomist