International Flight - Rate differs for OW vs. RT
 

Looking at booking a flight between BWI & PUJ (Punta Cana). When I price the flight as a round trip, I'll get a return flight price of $245 (for example). When I price the return trip as a One Way, I get a fare a bit higher, such as $267.

Tried the 1 person vs. 2 people thing, just in case it was that. It's not.

Punta Cana does have a $20 visitor fee for anyone leaving, but that's already included in the ticket price, regardless.

Any idea why a one way flight would be more than pricing it via a round trip? Does it have anything to do with it being an international trip?

And another question...if that's the case, would it be safe to cancel the one way going to the island (which I have booked), and rebook the trip as a round trip? I don't have the EBCI, and I am aware of the risk of the price changing between cancelling and rebooking.

Isn't $22 fare differential more nuisance than obstacle?

Mid-July outbounds are $219 and returns $285.

See this existing thread on the topic: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/southwest-airlines-rapid-rewards/1601713-international-book-round-trip-instead-one-ways-save-intl-transportation-tax.html

Findaway, I meant to thank you 6 months ago for this thread. I ran into this issue when booking Punta Cana last December and couldn't figure it out until I read your explanation. Anyway, thanks a bit late.

Yes, Findaway, that was perfect. As I see, you ran into that in the past. Thank you so much for the explanation! I'll quote the pertinent part of what you wrote on that previous thread here...

The difference here is if you book it as a round trip, you would pay the $219 & $285. If you booked it as separate one-way trips (which is often suggested), you would actually pay $219 & $315 or thereabouts due to the return tax as findaway mentioned. For one ticket, $30 is a nuisance. For a family, it starts to add up.

I know the findaway's thread highlights an additional tax that is levied on one ways but have we been able to figure out whether this is a "real" tax that some countries add for one ways or just another Southwest IT glitch that can't compute correctly?

Their crack IT actually saved me some money when it forgot to charge me for the Belize departure tax so at least it works both ways (although it appears that problem has since been fixed when I try a dummy booking).

The reason for the price difference is that the DR has a 18% Tax on the base fare which is ONLY due when your point of origin is the DR. When you book a roundtrip fare from the US, your point of origin is the US and there is no 18% DR tax due. The Southwest fee listings can be a bit cryptic. They call this 18% tax "Transportation Tax (International)" in the fee breakdown. In the case above, $180 x 18% = $32.40. If you book a flight on Delta, they have more detail on this tax along with the two-letter fee code, "Dominican Republic - Transportation Tax (DO)". So, in short, this is a real tax and Southwest is correctly charging it only for DR point of origin flights.

I think you meant to post immediately before your post and not mine.

I never thought or inferred that it wasn't being correctly charged or questioned whether or not this is a real tax. I merely pointed out the difference.

Prices have jumped up a bit, and I never actually booked that return fare yet. So I'll probably just wait until they fall a bit again. I have several months before the trip, and price fluctuations seem to occur on a weekly basis. At that time I'll either cancel the outgoing trip and rebook the whole thing as a round trip, or just call SW and do it over the phone!