Graeme Kelly writes:
Just booking flights (To Nice) when I noticed (opened a new tab etc…) that the return flight back is more expensive than if I had booked it as a one way journey! Old school pesky airline ticket tricks. Anyone know why?
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I’ve noticed something similar booking flights to and from the UK with Ryanair. If you book the flight from Ireland the price is often completely different to what it is if you book the flight from the UK.
Yes its often much much cheaper if you buy from Ireland. The price in pounds is usually identical to what it is in euro.
Clean your cookies and wipe history and see what it is like
All cookies and biscuits should be clean and fluffy.
with jam
*sniggers*
This has been the way for a long time. Use https://www.google.ie/flights/ or something similar and check the best available price one-way for out-going and return flights.
Most of my recent journeys abroad have been with one airline flying out, and with another flying home. It saves money and also gives you more options in terms of flight times etc.
I wouldn’t be allowed to do that flying to and from the US tho, would I? I assume that as a non-US citizen (with no visa, just going for a few days), I wouldn’t be allowed to book two one-way flights. Has anyone here ever tried this?
Yes, its fine. I’ve routinely flown over with one airline and back with another. As long as u actually have the return flight booked when u are flying over, and u can shown them documentation of such, its fine.
Yes. Flew last year in to one US city and out of another with different airlines and carriers. The only extra requirement when booking was a US-based telephone number (used a relative’s).
Thanks folks, that’s really interesting. I’m just about to book a trip and it might well suit me to have two one-way tickets. And I always assumed it wasn’t allowed.
You will need a visa though ,as far as I know.
You need to fill out an ESTA form online, rather than a visa. Costs about a tenner (?) and is valid for a few years.
I used to book lots of one way flights a few yrs ago do to a particularity of the job I had, what I noticed was that I was subject to an unusually high amount of ‘random checks’
Its also wise to use one email address for outgoing and another email address for incoming flights. Ryanair do the exact same as Aer Lingus. I fly frequently to France and the French get a better deal than we do! Fool me once etc …
Anything but Ryanair out Ireland, Ryanair back cause I’m already miserable at that point.
I booked a flight from Lisbon to Rio this weekend, was €556 with TAP Airlines
Had I taken Iberia, I would have had to Fly, Libon – Madrid – Rio, They were charging €505.
If I took Madrid to Rio (Same flight with Iberia) it was £1k+
I called Iberia and asked if I could board in Madrid – they said no.
Looked into it, its called Hidden City Ticketing. If you miss any leg of your journey it cancels the entire remainder.
Bonkers!
The main reason UK-originating flights are more expensive seems to be taxes. For example, I’ve been quoted DUB->LHR->SFO return flights for less than LHR->SFO which seems absurd unless it’s because of tax differences.
I’m never clear why picking an outbound flight changes the return though. It’s really obvious on the BA website where when you pick a specific premium economy (say) flight it then recalculates the return leg costs. Perhaps it’s something to do with spreading overall costs across the two flights and needing to up the return if the outbound is cheaper. Annoying though.