I don’t fly all that often but I don’t like paying any more than I have to. I’ve read from other threads here that airlines are starting to crack down on people who buy roundtrip tickets and only use part of the ticket. Why should the airlines care (besides losing money)? What are they gonna do, force the traveller to complete the travel on the unused portion?
The way I understand it, airlines discount roundtrip tickets that include a Saturday night stayover so they can fill planes. Weekday tickets without stayovers are usually bought by business travelers who usually have less discretion about when they travel, so the airlines can demand more money for the flight. If you could book a oneway at a rate of half a roundtrip, business travelers could just book two oneway tickets in the middle of the week, instead of buying the more expensive roundtrip.
But “throwaway ticketing” (where you buy a roundtrip ticket, and throwaway the back end) is not specifically prohibited by most airlines, though they do frown on it. Where did you hear they were cracking down on it?
A practice they do object, the name of which I can’t remember, is buying a ticket for a flight with a connection, and traveling only as far as the connecting airport.
medstar, what do you mean, “besides money”? Obviously that is precisely why they care.
I’ve also heard (no cite) that some airlines consider you liable for any difference between the roundtrip ticket you bought and the cost of two one-way tickets if you don’t use the second leg. However, I’ve heard this for years, and I’ve thrown away the second leg ticket on a number of occasions, and nobody’s come looking for me yet. shrug
Colour me confused. How does an airline lose money if I don’t ride on a seat I’ve paid for?? What, the profits are all in the concession stand?
Perhaps, if I might throw a bit of a WAG out there, it’s no longer the airlines caring, per se, but the Feds. At least for not using all of ticket one way using connections. I believe that is one of those things they are looking for as a possibility for a bomb in the baggage; though it’ll be harder to get a bomb through in general if the new scanning systems are actually working properly.
I have, in the past, bought a roundtrip ticket to get me to school in the fall and not used the back half until the spring when it was time to go home. I couldn’t tell if Continental was annoyed or not; I think the change was made with only a small amount of fees to change it and they actually gave me the flexibility thing they were giving everyone else due to the action in Iraq.
Me too.
By “throwaway”, you mean you buy a RT, then toss the return? That sounds stupid, when a one way is always cheaper (for the same flight) than a RT.
Peace,
mangeorge
Not always. Weirdities occur. Especially if there’s a weekend involved. One-way on a Monday or Friday could well be more than the cost of a round-trip leaving on Friday and returning Monday. The airlines do it so they can make more money off the business traveler who really only wants to be someplace M - F.
Where it really gets pricey is if you want to return from a different location, and essentially have to buy all one-way tickets. Say you’re going from NY to LA, then plan to go to San Francisco, and return to NY from there. Three one-way tickets. Costs a fortune. You can get around it by a set of complicated round-trip tickets, which you throw away half of. The airlines don’t like it, obviously, because it costs them money. If they catch you, they can require that you pay the difference, but I don’t know how often that happens.
Three RT’s, NY to LA, LA to SF, then SF to NY at the same departures, could be cheaper than three one-ways?
So I could get a 6:30pm Friday RT on United from NY to LA cheaper than a one-way? On the same flight? Same plane? So basically they’re giving you the return free, and paying you a bonus. Plus tying up a seat they could sell.
Ahem.
I think the airlines are on to you, and somehow having you all on. 
But I’ll do some checking.
You’re assuming they only book each seat once.
There’s a reason you have to “check in” and get your seat assignment.
Ever heard of someone getting “bumped” from a flight? Or someone “flying standby”?
These are due to the airlines selling all the tickets they possibly can, even if there are more tickets sold than the plane has seats!
The COUNT on people not showing up.
There is a HUGE difference between the prices charged for business travellers and for causal tourists or non-business travellers.
Try to book a flight leaving tuesday and returning thursday the same week, then the same flight returning the NEXT thursday and see what the price difference is.
~Wolfrick
I have definitely paid less for round-trip tickets than the asking price for a one-way. This effect is most noticeable when flights are not non-stop. I don’t know why.
For a quick data point, I just checked prices from Los Angeles to Columbus on Continental, Friday 5 Sept. The one-way ticket price is $306. If I say I’m returning on Sunday 14 Sept, my price drops to $273. So the airline is giving me $33 to throw away the return ticket.
I just wonder why the airline, a business, would insist on selling you more for less. None of what you say explains why they would sell a RT ticket for less than a one-way. Unless you’re talking about the one-way portion of a RT, in which case you’d be silly to toss the other direction.
I’m not saying it’s not the case, it simply doesn’t make sense to me.
You’re sure we’re talking about fares on the same, exact flight. Why wouldn’t everyone buy RT’s?
I’ve seen, oh, apples let’s say, two for a dollar or seventy-five cents each. But never (rarely anyway) $1/ea or 75c/2. Not for the same apples at the same vendor.
Business people, in general, just aren’t that stupid. :dubious:
I’m gonna go get a cheeseburger and ponder this awhile.
Fear Itself:
I’ve read several posts about the subject in this forum, although I can’t provide links.
asterion:
That’s what I was referring to. As I understand, the law enforcement agencies are concerned that terrorists could buy roundtrip tickets, plant a bomb, and get off at the connecting airport and stroll off. My cynical suspicion is that airlines are showing great interest in cracking down on non-necessary round trip tickets for the financial loss; rather than for security reasons.
MLS:
How can they get away with this? As long as you pay for the ticket, how can they force you to pay the difference? If I order a combo meal from a fast food place where the side item costs $3.00 ala carte but only $1.50 as part of the combo and I save the other items of the combo for later, can the store come back and charge me the extra money? Maybe that’s an extreme example, but that’s how I feel.
Besides the security concerns that asterion mentioned, pre-9/11 the practice of flying only part of a connecting ticket was enough of a phenomenon that there existed travel industry jargon (which I still don’t recall) for the practice.
I think it may have stemmed from the fact that many carriers use hub airports. In the late summer of 2000, I flew to a Dopefest in Las Vegas from Houston and learned that Continental’s price for a Houston to Salt Lake City flight was more than their price for a Houston to Las Vegas flight, despite the fact that the Las Vegas flight involved making a connection at their hub in Salt Lake City. Why? I’d WAG that to be a what-the-market-will-bear question.
So, a Houston to Salt Lake traveler could get there with less expense by booking a Las Vegas flight and just leaving the airport in Salt Lake.
As to the difference between business and la-la fares, in the '90s I had cause to make several trips to Jackson, Mississippi from Houston. When Continental was the only carrier making the Houston to Jackson run, a midweek roundtrip was $650, but a roundtrip with a Saturday stayover was $150. The only reason I’ve toured the Vickburg Battlefield.
Here’s Cecil’s take on the subject, or part of it, anyway:
Why are airfares cheaper if you stay over Saturday night?
Essentially, the airlines charge full fare prices to business travelers (who are willing to pay that much) and give discounts to pleasure travelers (who wouldn’t fly at all if it was too expensive). The discounts are based on things like staying at your destination over the weekend, so they’re not available on one-way tickets. If you know how to take advantage of the discount (and since you’re not going to use the return ticket you can book whatever flight will save you the most money) a round-trip can cost less than a full-fare, one-way ticket.
Also from Cecil’s wisdom;
He said just that, I promise. 
Ok, I had a steak. Now I’m too sleepy to peruse the airline sites. But I’ll poke around them tomorrow.
I’ve got to know why everybody doesn’t buy RT every time. Even the business flyers.
I don’t think we’re talking about the same thing here. Can’t be.
That quote is from the end of the column when he’s talking about frequent-flier miles, and has nothing to do with the price difference between full-fare and discount tickets. This is GQ, try to stick to the facts.
I have bought rt with no weekend stay that costs $800. If I book a weekend stay, the same destination rt ticket was $200. It was cheaper to buy two rt tickets with weekend stays and toss 1/2 of the tickets.
Have also bought 1-way tickets that cost more than rt to the same destination.
Nope, it’s almost always the other way around. One-way tickets on the same day, same flight can be as much as double the price of a round trip ticket.