copenhagenBA

Why are they so expensive on legacy carriers like BA? In the world of Norwegian competition on US routes, dont get why its such a huge fare to pay one way. Would be one of the "enhancements" would like to see from BA.

ahmetdouas

Funnily enough pretty much the exact same question was asked yesterday!

BA One-way cost. Finally booked my first DY longhaul

corporate-wage-slave

This kind of overlaps with this thread:
BA One-way cost. Finally booked my first DY longhaul

I guess you are referring to longhaul, particularly to North America. There are ways around it, but I agree BA and other airlines don't make it easy. Some European carriers still do this on shorthaul.

Often1

It's not going to happen. Most people flying OW have inflexible schedules and must travel. Hence, they will pay a premium for their tickets which others will not.

As always, if you find a better deal on another carrier, book that other ticket.

brentford77

I think my experience indicates that you are wrong to infer that people will always pay a premium, if in fact I have correctly deduced what you are saying. A premium yes, but a 800% premium? I can't remember ever taking a decision to go away from One World in the last twenty years I have been a regular premium traveller. But in the last few years, almost all of my Asian flights have gone away from BA to QR, CX, AY and two weeks from today I have paid to vote with my feet and go DY rather than BA on a one way itinerary. Would I prefer to travel BA this time? Sure. Will I? No. You are quite correct to surmise that even with folks like me deserting, there are appear to be sufficient others to fill BA's constrained premium seat capacity out of LHR. However, the more that people who would have flown BA move, the closer the day becomes when BA will have to adjust to the market to retain market share.

allturnleft

I have done the same to SEA next year; BA return fares were prohibitive even in Y
Have booked the premium flexible fare ; i was able to cancel the return independently when I secured avios seats for the return on BA
I think the Premium section of DY looks better than WTP more leg room and at the front of the plane and half the price
I still have a nagging fear of an irrops with DY there are reports of 24hr to 36 hrs when things go wrong
i think if they survive the next year they will embed and be a game changer for long haul

LordBuckethead

What I find really interesting about this forum sometimes is the lack of understanding of how airlines work. People whinge about old-school revenue management techniques (e.g. high one-way costs) but then also whinge about the things that have to be removed from the service when a competitor comes along and rips up that particular rule book (e.g. baggage fees, free food, etc.)

For clarity, I do also think it will change over the next few years. But whether we like it or not, it's the high-yielding (normally business-travel-oriented) fares that pay for the pretty things we all like when we travel, particularly in high-cost (labour and ingredients) markets such as Europe. Cheap one-way pricing on all longhaul just isn't enough on its own to cover those costs, so either fares will go up or service will be slashed.

email2markt

Offering cheap one-way tickets on the last flights of the season would probably be wise.

Globaliser

We all grew up on the songs of Queen: "Move out of my way, I want it all, and I want it now."

Is that too much to ask if we've paid £50 to fly to the other end of Europe or £1,000 for a round-trip long-haul business class ticket?

EuropeanPete

I've taken to simply using Avios for one ways to and back from the US. It's either that or fly a Norweigan route really.

Jagboi

Buy a cheap return and throw out the return. Or, fly someone like Westjet from LGW. I picked a random date and I can do a one way YYC-LGW on Dec 4 for $228 CDN ( £134 GBP)
Look beyond BA and there are cheap seats out there.

TravelwhileyouEat

I find that BA doesn't do this for all routes only their 'premium' ones which any LON-NYC route would fall under. Was able to find a $1,560 one-way in CW from MNL to LHR (CX J form MNL-HKG, was going to take CX to anywhere in EU to get OW Emerald with AA but their prices were obscene) this December. The round-trip was priced at $2,800 so roughly half the price. What was more surprising was that Y was $845 vs. $935 for J on the outbound leg for the RT booking.