smilee

Was looking at booking flights. For the first time ever I noticed that the one way flight priced significantly more than the return flight.

Previously I had always enjoyed the fact that Westjet flights priced per direction. One ways always appeared to be priced in the same way as return flights.

For example I was looking at booking YYJ-YYC-DUB for my family of 4 in business class.

The return flights Aug 13-21 in business was (outbound) $1792.66 with the return price of $1769.95 each
If I book as a one way, the return price is $1769.95 rather it is $2364.82
I booked last year DUB-YYC-YYJ and the one way in business class was the same as if I had booked it as a return. Has their one way pricing model changed??

Sopwith

I have found in the past that often one way trans-oceanic flights are almost as much as the return price. Not just WS.

Denguin

The only flights that tend to be the same price with 2x one-ways are domestic ones. Typically, any flight that is transborder/international will be charged more as a one-way.

This is not exclusive to WestJet, and has been going on for longer than I can remember.

eggsbenedict

I've been flying once or twice a year on the YVR-LGW since it started and this year seems to be the first time I've noticed that booking two one ways are more expensive than a round trip.

It's not quite as strict as legacy carriers though, as you can book an open jaw with something cheap like YLW-YVR-LHR and get the round trip pricing.

smilee

Thanks for this. I have been booking various international Westjet flights for years and this is the first time I have noticed it. So I am glad that I am not going crazy.

I noticed that TAP often allows one-ways to price reasonably too. It's too bad that Westjet has made this change as it was a great option when I couldn't find return award space, For example last summer I booked Westjet J from Europe back home at a reasonable price for the family of 4 as I couldn't find good award seats for all 4 of us coming home from Europe, so paying WestJet business class one way was pretty good value.

V1213

I believe the fare difference is more to do with the fares offered in the departing market than whether they're one way or return.

Fares sold in Canada, whether one way or return, are sold at a certain price point, with a certain level of availability. Fares sold in Europe, whether one way or return, are sold at a different price point with different levels of availability.
When searching a one way fare from Canada you'll get Canadian prices, when searching a one way fare from Europe you'll get pricing for the departure country. You'll note that return flights from Europe will not be any cheaper for the departing leg than if they are booked one way.

Why fares are different for different markets is based on what WestJet thinks they can sell them for there, plus exchange rate fluctuations if you're not paying in the local currency.

While people are finding fares from Europe to be more expensive than fares from Canada at the moment, I've often found it to be the other way around, and have booked my round trip travel as separate one ways to save money in the past. For example, while Business currently appears to be more expensive from Europe, Premium seems to be cheaper.

mahasamatman

That's not an open jaw. By definition, an open jaw only exists if the missing segment (in this case LHR-YLW) is shorter than any of the other segments. This is simply a standard market fare.

D582

WS only files one-way non-directional fares which allow end-on-end combinations with themselves (vs. other carriers that file round-trip fares or directional fares, and/or have restrictive combination rules).

If your fare origin is YYJ, then booking one ticket will use YYJ-DUB fares (published in CAD) for both directions.

If you book two tickets, YYJ-DUB and DUB-YYJ, only YYJ-DUB will use those fares. DUB-YYJ will use DUB-YYJ fares which a) are published in EUR so you will need to convert to sales currency (i.e. CAD) and b) are different.

tracon

Appears to be "fixed."