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-   -   Buying 2 one-ways instead of a round-trip? (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta-air-lines-skymiles/2001944-buying-2-one-ways-instead-round-trip.html)

lsquare Dec 31, 2019 5:36 am

Buying 2 one-ways instead of a round-trip?
 
I was searching for airfare on DL's website and I noticed that for some dates and on some routes, it was actually cheaper to purchase 2 one-ways rather than a round-trip. Anyone here notice this from time to time? I decided to book the two one-ways to save a bit of money. Are there any consequences in terms of IRROPS or anything that I can't think of when not purchasing a round-trip?

tennessetom Dec 31, 2019 5:43 am

The only negative is that if you need to make a change you will need to pay the change fee for both tickets.

Often1 Dec 31, 2019 5:47 am

There my be substantial differences, but that will depend on the fare rules for your particular tickets. If refundable, it will not make any difference.

If your tickets are fairly typical non-refundable penalty fares, e.g., you pay $200 + fare difference to make a change to a domestic ticket:
1. If you need to make a change to your travel dates, e.g. push your trip by a few days, you will pay $200 per ticket. Thus, if you have two one-way tickets, the change costs $400 (+ fare difference). On one ticket, changing both segments osts $200.
2. If there are delays or cancellations resulting in a trip in vain, the ticket in question will be refunded. If on the first ticket, you are stuck with a second ticket (what would have been the return).

Thus, you really need to way the up front savings against your own risk tolerance and the cost of the underlying tickets. Thus, a $190 round-trip vs. two $80 one-ways won't matter. Change fees would "eat" both scenarios.

cre95 Dec 31, 2019 5:56 am


Originally Posted by tennessetom (Post 31892337)
The only negative is that if you need to make a change you will need to pay the change fee for both tickets.

Not only on the change fee front, but if there is a weather waiver that impacts your trip that, you would easily be able to change a RT. On the two one-way ticket approach, changing the one outside of the waiver window may be harder to change.

lsquare Dec 31, 2019 6:23 am


Originally Posted by Often1 (Post 31892343)
There my be substantial differences, but that will depend on the fare rules for your particular tickets. If refundable, it will not make any difference.

If your tickets are fairly typical non-refundable penalty fares, e.g., you pay $200 + fare difference to make a change to a domestic ticket:
1. If you need to make a change to your travel dates, e.g. push your trip by a few days, you will pay $200 per ticket. Thus, if you have two one-way tickets, the change costs $400 (+ fare difference). On one ticket, changing both segments osts $200.
2. If there are delays or cancellations resulting in a trip in vain, the ticket in question will be refunded. If on the first ticket, you are stuck with a second ticket (what would have been the return).

Thus, you really need to way the up front savings against your own risk tolerance and the cost of the underlying tickets. Thus, a $190 round-trip vs. two $80 one-ways won't matter. Change fees would "eat" both scenarios.

I'm so glad you posted in my thread. Since I'll be travelling to and from the Northeast, I might have to cancel the two fares and re-purchase them as a round-trip. IRROPs a high possibility given that it's winter?

xliioper Dec 31, 2019 6:35 am

There are limited cases where this should be true. Domestically, a simple A-B-A roundtrip should never cost more than two one-way's and I challenge someone to show an example. Multi-city is a different situation as the cheapest one-way fares may often only allow A-B-A routing fare combinations.

The most common case where this is true is for trips to Canada. This is because the airlines generally price one-way fares to/from Canada for the same "dollar" amount. However, if you buy as a roundtrip, both flights are priced in US dollars. While if you purchase as two one-way's, the outbound fare is priced in US dollars while the return is priced in Canadian dollars and you get a cheaper total fare due to the exchange rate. However, there are still Canadian markets where DL has roundtrip fares published and you can get a cheaper fare by purchasing the roundtrip fare if you meet the advance purchase and minimum stay requirements. For many longer haul international destinations, roundtrip fares are generally much cheaper than two one-way's as long as you meet advance purchase and minimum stay requirements. The main cases where it would not be true is if you are book short notice trips and don't meet the advance purchase requirements of the cheaper roundtrip fares. Then you can potentially get cheaper pricing as two one-way's due to differences in point-of-sale pricing from international markets.

sydneyracquelle Dec 31, 2019 7:52 am


Originally Posted by tennessetom (Post 31892337)
The only negative is that if you need to make a change you will need to pay the change fee for both tickets.

Numerous times I have only had to pay one change fee on 2 one-ways.

gooselee Dec 31, 2019 9:21 am


Originally Posted by sydneyracquelle (Post 31892678)
Numerous times I have only had to pay one change fee on 2 one-ways.

Same here, but it requires a calling in, getting a competent agent (most are fine for this, but there's always the wild card), and them having to manually process a waiver to one of the PNRs. Also, they technically could enforce the double change fee if they really wanted to be a jerk that day.

On a single round-trip ticket, you're guaranteed a single change fee and for simple domestic itineraries it can all be done online. Full stop.

Lomapaseo Dec 31, 2019 12:42 pm


Originally Posted by lsquare (Post 31892418)
I'm so glad you posted in my thread. Since I'll be travelling to and from the Northeast, I might have to cancel the two fares and re-purchase them as a round-trip. IRROPs a high possibility given that it's winter?

I don't see the problem with IRROPs since the implication that you have already used a ticket and that Delta will make good on getting you to your destination for that ticket. On the other hand the worry may be on a Weather cancelation before your trip. In that case they may offer to rebook or refund the one way fare only. Although I might expect them to offer to credit you for both tickets (not refund) if you can talk them into it.

gooselee Dec 31, 2019 12:52 pm


Originally Posted by Lomapaseo (Post 31893676)
I don't see the problem with IRROPs since the implication that you have already used a ticket and that Delta will make good on getting you to your destination for that ticket. On the other hand the worry may be on a Weather cancelation before your trip. In that case they may offer to rebook or refund the one way fare only. Although I might expect them to offer to credit you for both tickets (not refund) if you can talk them into it.

My earlier post applies to this as well. On a single RT ticket, IRROPS or weather waiver will easily and without fuss be applied to the entire ticket (even if you want to just cancel the trip altogether).

On separate tickets, you'll almost always find agents who will understand your plight and treat the two tickets as one, but it requires them to manually override the system so it a) creates an extra layer of work for both pax and agent, and b) requires you to call in during a time when hold times might be longer vs. just self-servicing online. And at the end of the day, they aren't necessarily required to treat it as a single ticket, so DL could say the weather waiver is good to change/cancel your outbound but you're stuck with the return as-booked unless you pay a change fee; and you'd have no recourse other than HUCA.

TL;DR, unless the price difference is extreme or there's a very specific reason that you need to manage the tickets independently (e.g., only one direction will be expensed and your client/employer is a stickler for matching receipts), it's almost always better and easier to book simple RTs as a single ticket vs. two one-ways.

ekozie Dec 31, 2019 12:57 pm

I have often had Delta make a free change on the second separate ticket free after IROPS/waiver affected the first - change departure cities, push up/back a day, etc.

Sure, it's a touch more work on the phone, but no agent I've ever talked to has given overwhelming pushback.

MSPeconomist Dec 31, 2019 1:18 pm

To answer the more general question posed by the OP, two OW international tickets could potentially result in some hassle if the destination country requires proof of onward travel for admission or issue of a visa, although I'm not aware of any examples of places that have a strict RT airplane ticket rule for USA passports.

cmd320 Dec 31, 2019 2:21 pm


Originally Posted by sydneyracquelle (Post 31892678)
Numerous times I have only had to pay one change fee on 2 one-ways.

I book almost exclusively pairs of one way tickets and I have had the same experience. I often pay the fare difference to upgrade my tickets (company pays for Y, I pay fare difference to F) and it's much easier to work with two one ways than a round trip in my experience.

I have only ever once run into a situation where I've needed to change a ticket doing this, however the agent was able to waive the second change fee so that I would only have to pay the normal amount for a roundtrip.

ijgordon Dec 31, 2019 4:57 pm

Delta is generally good about waivers and favors; I’d be more leery of the two one-ways on other carriers.

MSPeconomist Dec 31, 2019 6:33 pm


Originally Posted by ijgordon (Post 31894421)
Delta is generally good about waivers and favors; I’d be more leery of the two one-ways on other carriers.

Agree, although I suspect that status helps a lot too.

BTW, I don't think I'd want to do this for business travel because I'm afraid that someone would question (at least in their minds, even if I'm not asked to provide proof) whether the two OWs are more expensive than a RT.

Zeeb Dec 31, 2019 10:21 pm


Originally Posted by lsquare (Post 31892418)
I'm so glad you posted in my thread. Since I'll be travelling to and from the Northeast, I might have to cancel the two fares and re-purchase them as a round-trip. IRROPs a high possibility given that it's winter?

How close together are the two one ways? I'd be a lot more comfortable with two one ways separated by a week than two on consecutive days.

rashodw Jan 1, 2020 7:29 pm

We booked one way tickets from CLE to Los Cabos last year, both ways on Delta. Had no real issues. We did get questioned about having a return flight when going into Mexico. When I told then we were flying back on Delta they had no issue. Said be prepared to show if they ask in Mexico.

ConnieDee Jan 6, 2020 7:48 am

Glad to see it's usually okay to do this, since it's my SOP for my 5-7 week, retirement overseas journeys. I book the departing flight, then work on the itinerary and timeline, and finally book the return flight after I know where my travels will take me (usually it's open-jaw anyway.)

RobertS975 Jan 6, 2020 7:54 am


Originally Posted by MSPeconomist (Post 31893801)
To answer the more general question posed by the OP, two OW international tickets could potentially result in some hassle if the destination country requires proof of onward travel for admission or issue of a visa, although I'm not aware of any examples of places that have a strict RT airplane ticket rule for USA passports.

I bought a OW ticket to Manila several years ago. At check-in in BOS, I had to show proof of an onward flight out of the Philippines.

xliioper Jan 6, 2020 9:58 am


Originally Posted by ConnieDee (Post 31914760)
Glad to see it's usually okay to do this, since it's my SOP for my 5-7 week, retirement overseas journeys. I book the departing flight, then work on the itinerary and timeline, and finally book the return flight after I know where my travels will take me (usually it's open-jaw anyway.)

Depending on where you are going overseas, this can be dramatically more expensive than a roundtrip booking. One-way's to-from EU destinations in particular. Most of the cheaper fares require a roundtrip booking.

Cledaybuck Jan 6, 2020 11:29 am

Or course there is also the positive to two one ways that if you don't fly the first part for some reason, the second won't be automatically cancelled.

SamOF Jan 6, 2020 11:52 am


Originally Posted by xliioper (Post 31892450)
There are limited cases where this should be true. Domestically, a simple A-B-A roundtrip should never cost more than two one-way's and I challenge someone to show an example. Multi-city is a different situation as the cheapest one-way fares may often only allow A-B-A routing fare combinations.

Basic economy available in one direction but at a fare that can't be combined with a main cabin fare on the return, so to price as a RT you have to pay the main cabin fare in both directions. As two one ways, you'd pay BE + main cabin.

xliioper Jan 6, 2020 12:06 pm


Originally Posted by SamOF (Post 31915684)
Basic economy available in one direction but at a fare that can't be combined with a main cabin fare on the return, so to price as a RT you have to pay the main cabin fare in both directions. As two one ways, you'd pay BE + main cabin.

Point taken. In fact, I don't believe you can ever combine a BE fare with a non-BE fare on a single roundtrip booking due to BE fare restrictions. On the other hand, if you are purchasing BE in one direction and MC in the other, it's no longer really the same exact product as two MC fares.

SFTNYC Jan 6, 2020 12:24 pm


Originally Posted by Cledaybuck (Post 31915601)
Or course there is also the positive to two one ways that if you don't fly the first part for some reason, the second won't be automatically cancelled.

+1 I've been buying 2 one-ways for years on routes where they are price-equivalent to a round trip. Needing to make a change to / cancelling or otherwise not flying one segment doesn't ruin the whole ticket. In terms of change fees, I usually only need to make a change to one segment (not both), and booking a fresh one-way can sometimes be less than $200. This happens a lot when tacking personal travel on before/after work trips. Have never had an issue needing to get trip in vain or getting IRROPS help where warranted.

jmanirish Jan 6, 2020 6:02 pm


Originally Posted by xliioper (Post 31892450)
There are limited cases where this should be true. Domestically, a simple A-B-A roundtrip should never cost more than two one-way's and I challenge someone to show an example. Multi-city is a different situation as the cheapest one-way fares may often only allow A-B-A routing fare combinations.

The LAX-SLC market seems to be one of those one-offs where a simple A-B-A round trip is cheaper than the sum of the one-way pricing. I haven't looked into the fare tables to see exactly what's causing, and if it's seasonal, but an example

LAX-SLC Jan 17 - Jan 19
DL2658 Jan 17
DL 1348 Jan 19

Roundtrip price for Main cabin: $380.80
DL 2658 - $215.40
DL1348 - $200.40
For a total of $415.80 or a $35 premium to the roundtrip ticket.

That said however, I almost always book one-ways. The biggest 'benefit' is that I don't have to fly the outbound for the 'return' ticket to be valid. Very useful when I may be traveling A-B-A but later find out I actually need to come directly from a 3rd city where it's cheaper to just fly C-B and then take my original B-A rather than pay a change fee + have the whole C-B-A be repriced at the (likely) higher price.

xliioper Jan 6, 2020 6:36 pm


Originally Posted by jmanirish (Post 31917196)
The LAX-SLC market seems to be one of those one-offs where a simple A-B-A round trip is cheaper than the sum of the one-way pricing..

It's really not that complicated. Look at a market where there is a large LCC presence (like LAX with WN, SEA with AS, or BOS with B6) and the routes they fly non-stop. These LCC's (okay, AS is technically a legacy) all price roundtrip's as a combination of one-way's and don't have any fares which require a roundtrip purchase and DL tends to match these. Do an Expert Flyer fare search and you will see DL has a small handful of fares on LAX-SLC that require a roundtrip purchase, but the vast majority are WN fare matches (as WN also flies this route non-stop) and don't require a round-trip purchase. Compare that with an Expert Flyer search on LAX-DTW (where there are no LCC's competing non-stop -- only pipsqueak ULCC NK) and you will see DL has a ton of fares which require roundtrip purchases.

So yes, they would be considered a "one-off" in LAX (particularly if you are only flying to major markets where LCC's compete non-stop). But in a market like DTW, where the LCC's have a limited presence, roundtrip fares on DL are present on the vast majority of routes. About the only DL routes out of the DTW that have no fares with a roundtrip purchase requirement are BWI, ORD, MDW, DEN, SEA, and STL. Even BOS (B6) and BNA (WN) have a handful of fares requiring roundtrip purchase.

jmanirish Jan 6, 2020 8:03 pm


Originally Posted by xliioper (Post 31917289)
It's really not that complicated. Look at a market where there is a large LCC presence (like LAX with WN, SEA with AS, or BOS with B6) and the routes they fly non-stop. These LCC's (okay, AS is technically a legacy) all price roundtrip's as a combination of one-way's and don't have any fares which require a roundtrip purchase and DL tends to match these. Do an Expert Flyer fare search and you will see DL has a small handful of fares on LAX-SLC that require a roundtrip purchase, but the vast majority are WN fare matches (as WN also flies this route non-stop) and don't require a round-trip purchase. Compare that with an Expert Flyer search on LAX-DTW (where there are no LCC's competing non-stop -- only pipsqueak ULCC NK) and you will see DL has a ton of fares which require roundtrip purchases.

So yes, they would be considered a "one-off" in LAX (particularly if you are only flying to major markets where LCC's compete non-stop). But in a market like DTW, where the LCC's have a limited presence, roundtrip fares on DL are present on the vast majority of routes. About the only DL routes out of the DTW that have no fares with a roundtrip purchase requirement are BWI, ORD, MDW, DEN, SEA, and STL. Even BOS (B6) and BNA (WN) have a handful of fares requiring roundtrip purchase.


Ah I feel dumb. The part of your post I quoted I completely mis-read. Don't know how, but I read that you were saying that the sum of two one ways should not cost more than a roundtrip (clearly not what you said).


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