This may sound like a dumb question - but how do you find cheap one-way "hopscotch" fares - you know, where you are routed thru all kinds of crazy connections to get to your destination. Even going way out of the way. Normally I wouldn't do that....but I've been looking to get a cheap one way and you cant find fares like that on the major sites like travelocity etc. They usually pick the shortest itenerary. I wonder if this is something that only a Travel Agent can find (for a fee)?

A good way is to use the Travelocity Dream Map search to find cheap fares out of your city. Once you find a cheap fare look at the routing rules associated with it...then start your multi city booking.

It sounds like the OP's main purpose is to get from A to B cheaply, and for him taking a roundabout routing is OK. As a general rule, taking a many segment trip is not necessarily cheaper than taking a more direct routing, unless the lowest fare buckets are sold out on more direct routings.

If the OP's departure and arrival cities are fixed, I would recommend starting with Travelocity's flexible date search to find the lowest fares. In almost all cases, the lowest fares from Travelocity's flexible date search or fare listing are the lowest fares offered -- regardless of the number of stops. However, if Travelocity indicates that the lowest fare is sold out for given dates (shows as an 'X' on the calendar display), it is possible there may be availability in the lowest fare bucket on a less-direct routing that Travelocity isn't showing. In this case, you can check the routing rules for the fare (from Expedia) and then use a tool like ITN or ExpertFlyer to see availability for each leg individually. (See the MR Tools sticky thread for more info.)

For example, a recent case for me:

Looking for AA Q fare BOS-DEN (lowest fare found through Travelicity). No Q availability existed for the one-stop routings through ORD, STL or DFW. However, I could fly BOS-ORD-STL-DEN and find Q availabillity.

A travel agent could certainly help with this too.

matrix.itasoftware.com is your friend.

If you're actively looking for such things for miles, a strategy I've found useful is to use Travelocity Dream Maps or airport Web sites to find legacy spoke cities that have non-stop or one-stop competition from low-cost carriers.

For instance, Oakland to Burlington, VT is now served OAK-JFK-BTV on jetBlue... so US/HP and UA have slashed their fares on that city pair... with routing rules that allow three connections in each direction! Then it becomes a matter of piecing together the flights that have the right fare buckets, as chrisw mentioned.

If both cities are served by Southwest, they will often be cheapest for one-way fares. Southwest doesn't seem to slap a big penalty on for one-way. On legacy airlines, one-way often is more than round trip, if so, book round-trip, fly one-way and discard the other half.

wow! that is pretty complicated! I was thinking more along the lines of a specific trip on a specific day and I thought of instead of the typical published routings maybe I could do much better this way. I looked a few up and there are only slim pickings. The date is december 26 or 27, so that may be why - tight loads on that holiday period. PLus, my city pair has very limited choices to begin with: GRB to HSV. There are some cheap fares, but not on that day. Southwest can take me part way, plus driving the rest, for less than $250. Now, if I could eliminate the driving and fly all the way for that price...... but the cheapest fare is at least $100 more.

Is it possible to sell half of a round-trip (the second half!)? Do airlines let you do that?

you can always use the first half of a round trip, trying the second half without having used the first is bound for disaster. book it the other way around

As this is not about a mileage run, but rather finding a way to get a specific itinerary for a lower price, I'll move it to TravelBuzz where you may be able to get more assistance.

Dave, a.k.a. dmfriedman
Moderator, Mileage Run

I believe Southwest does allow you to change the name of the passenger on the return leg of a roundtrip ticket. Whether they would allow the person to actually sell the second half of a ticket is debatable.

All other airlines, however, will not change the name on a ticket, and so the "buyer" would not be able to take the return trip.

Psst Dave, it's still in MR.

I'll take care of that!

bhatnasx
MR Moderator