# Booking 1-way/round unbalanced flight online **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 13, 2005, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booking-1-way-round-unbalanced-flight-online/303706 "2005-05-13T17:36:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2005, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booking-1-way-round-unbalanced-flight-online/303706/1 "2005-05-13T17:36:11Z")
I’m wondering whether anyone here has tried to use an online airline reservation service, such as Cheap Tickets or Orbitz to book an “unbalanced” round-trip flight. In other words, I want to go somewhere by myself and return with someone on the same flight. Does anyone know how to use the online search engines to specify such a flight? ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2005, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booking-1-way-round-unbalanced-flight-online/303706/2 "2005-05-13T17:49:46Z")
Travelocity allows you to specify “Multi-destination” flights. So does Orbitz: Click on “Expanded search options”, then “multi-city”. On CheapTickets, click on “More search options”, the select “Multiple Destinations”. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2005, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booking-1-way-round-unbalanced-flight-online/303706/3 "2005-05-13T17:51:42Z")
But I’m not adding any destinations; I’m just adding a passenger on the return trip. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2005, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booking-1-way-round-unbalanced-flight-online/303706/4 "2005-05-13T17:53:36Z")
It would just be two separate bookings, right? One round-trip and one one-way. Though there is some uncertainty since the seats could sell out or the fares could change in between the two bookings. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2005, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booking-1-way-round-unbalanced-flight-online/303706/5 "2005-05-13T17:53:56Z")
Just buy them a one-way ticket? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2005, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booking-1-way-round-unbalanced-flight-online/303706/6 "2005-05-13T17:56:13Z")
Yes, that’s right. It would be like two separate bookings, but I’m trying to ensure that the seats are together on the return trip. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2005, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booking-1-way-round-unbalanced-flight-online/303706/7 "2005-05-13T18:10:55Z")
On the last two flights I’ve booked via Orbitz, I have been able to choose my seat right after purchase. I was also given the option of choosing my seat on checkin at the airport using the checkin kiosk. IIRC this was on both Delta and Continental. Provided the flight you are booking isn’t jam-packed, it shouldn’t be a problem to reserve two seats next to each other (or if that fails, near eachother) for two separate travellers. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2005, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booking-1-way-round-unbalanced-flight-online/303706/8 "2005-05-13T18:14:02Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > Yes, that’s right. It would be like two separate bookings, but I’m trying to ensure that the seats are together on the return trip. I’ve had this problem not less than a few times whereby I bought myself a ticket through the company agency Amex, and a separate, out-of-my-pocket ticket for my wife at the cheapest place I could. I’ve never, ever found a way to “match” these tickets. Amex, for example, has a neat seat picker. But from Northwest’s site (for example), I can’t ever select a seat next to any that I picked in the Amex system. Often calling reservations won’t help, either. Lately they’re even dicks at the airport – if you don’t use the machine they scream at you to use the machine. It takes an effort to get a real person to check you in instead of the machine. Even so, it’s dependant upon availability of two adjacent seats.