bwelliott

I'm looking for feedback on the potential risks of doing the outbound and return on two different airlines. I'm considering such an option because I can't get business class saver awards on the same airline/alliance but I am able to find one-way saver availability in opposite directions on UA and AA.

Other than the risk of two redeposit fees if by chance I had to cancel the trip, are there other risks I should be considering?

In short, I can do a trip to Hawaii at saver levels but only if I do the outbound and return on two different carriers/alliances. As an FYI, I have looked at alternate airports and the two carrier approach seems to be the only way to do it on saver.

Thanks for any feedback you can provide.

ctuttle

Can't see any reason not to do this since UAL and AA let you get one way award tickets at half the roundtrip miles. This has not always been the case. I buy tickets like this frequently when I can save some money or get a better connection.

Sounds like an excellent way to maximize the use of your award miles!

KennyBSAT

Yes, driving to the airport can be really dangerous. Be careful, and enjoy Hawaii!

guv1976

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.601 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

Don't forget that if your home is at or near one of AA's international gateways, you can fly Hawaii-home (stopover) - Europe/Asia/South America for not too much more than Hawaii-home by itself in Business Class. In fact, Hawaii-mainland U.S.-Central or near South America costs only 30,000 miles in Business.

Firewind

Split ("spread") the risk. I always do one-ways unless there's a strong reason to do a round trip on one itinerary. Hands down preference. Same or different airlines, makes no difference when they're in the opposite direction.

hard2please

I thought stopovers were only allowed on round trip tickets...I know that's the case on United, for example. For me, that's one of the drawbacks of two one-way awards.

StevenH123

Check the FAQs in the airline specific forums. AA allows a stopover at the international gateway city on a one way.

guv1976

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.601 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

AA no longer offers roundtrip awards. (A roundtrip award itinerary with AA miles is simply a combination of two one-way awards.)

UA offers both one-way and roundtrip awards. Roundtrip UA awards offer a free stopover; one-way UA awards do not.

Boraxo

The only risk is the risk of increased cost in the event of cancellation. For example, if you cancel your trip voluntarily you will have to pay 2 redeposit fees. The other risk is that if there is a mechanical or weather problem that cancels the outbound portion of your trip, i.e. hurricane but not the inbound portion you could be stuck with a redeposit fee for the return.

However if these are remote possibilities then I would assume the risk. We book one way travel all the time because we often find a good one-way fare for one segment but not the other. So it provides more flexibility - we can wait for a fare sale or use miles. And similar to your situation, we will book a one-way saver award using miles and then gamble on space opening for the return.

There are also some advantages to one way tix that don't apply here - like avoiding autosplitting of your reservation by United's finicky computer.

sdsearch

But there could also be decreased cost in some events. For example, I had a afternoon HSV-DFW-LAX one-way award ticket on AA last winter, when AA cancelled that afternoon HSV-DFW due to weather disruptions at DFW, and booked me on the next morning on a very roundabout itenerary. But I needed to be at work the next morning. I was able to find a nonstop award ticket BNA-LAX on WN (Southwest) that evening, and I had plenty WN points to use so no problem with that, and was able to change my rental return from HSV to BNA (a couple hours drive away) for only $75 extra, and since it was AA's fault that they had changed my plans, I was able to cancel that one-way for a full return of the miles with no fees. But would I have been able to do that if it was a round-trip? (In this case, it was the return home, but what it had been the outbound?)

So in part it depends on whether it's you cancelling purely on your end, or you cancelling because the airline rebooked you to something different enough that you can cancel without penalty.

I don't tend to fly to hurricane areas during hurricane season, an in the case of AA I have at least mid-level status (lifetime), so I tend to see lots of reroutings and reschedulings but hardly ever an outright cancellation.

A mechanical cancelling, not just rescheduling? I guess that depends on how critical your day of arrival is. In my case, I usually structure my trips so the first day isn't so critical that a day delay would make the whole trip unusable. And mechanicals in my case have always resulted in me being rebooked somehow, not just left at home. (I once put up with a 2-day delay due to a mechnacal on on CX -- Cathay Pacific -- which shortened an 8-day visit to Hong Kong to 6 days, but that ended up being long enough and for putting up with the delay they upgraded me from my business award to first class! Btw, that one was booked as a round trip, because that was before AA started offering one-ways.)

Boraxo

Day of arrival is often critical particularly for long international business trips. For example, my last mechanical would have resulted in a missed connection with no alternative flights for 24 hours. The one before that (6pm from DCA) would have resulted in a forced overnight = additional hotel expense and lost productivity. You are right that a mechanical cancel is essentially just a delay, but in some cases it may result in a long delay (3 days in Shanghai for some UA passengers) or a trip in vain.

Again, don't get me wrong - I think one-ways are great and I try to book them whenever possible for my leisure trips. But they are not 100% win/win.

satman40

I often split one ways between airlines depending on departure time,

Lately PVG to LAX has been easier with UA at the last minute. 60k J.

AA has an early morning PEK ORD, and jump the first open flight to IND.

Travel time, and an open seat, AA seems a little tight at the moment for my travel but great on the flip.

sdsearch

People use one-way awards for business trips? (I never considered that possibility! Awards, other than "anytime", take a lake of advance trouble usually to book, and so don't seem to me particularly suitbale for business travel, which often needs to be booked closer in but OTOH usually not last-minute either.)

So while day of arrival can of course be very critical for any business trip, I don't see why that's this relevant to this thread about award travel. Please educate me.

Mbcijim10

I booked three one way flights today (in 4 days). I'm flying a triangle start/end at home. Absolutely it is the way to go. Flights were at least $750 cheaper that way. If i get stuck, then I still can spend $749 and be ahead.

pinniped

I do one-ways all the time. Sometimes a mix of UA and AA, or sometimes a case where there was a cheap paid one-way on some airline and I flew award the other.

Only risk, as you mention, is the redeposit fees. But since I'm not top-tier on any airline anymore, I don't make too many highly-speculative award bookings to begin with. (That was my favorite UA 1K perk back in the day!)