# Any disadvantages to buying one way tickets?



## Anne S (Jul 22, 2009)

This may be a stupid question, so please be kind  I have a week reserved in St. Lucia but would like to add another week on another island, or perhaps a second week on St. Lucia. The price for the one way flight to St. Lucia is quite reasonable ($209) so I am tempted to buy it. Will it be a problem if it is two one way flights instead of a roundtrip purchase (assuming we'll spend the two weeks in St. Lucia)?


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## vacationdoc (Jul 22, 2009)

I do it all the time with Southwest.  Some airlines charge more for 2 one way tickets than one round trip ticket.


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## djs (Jul 22, 2009)

I've done it a number of times myself.  No big deal.  The only concern I have (which may not even be founded) is that when it comes to security you may be flagged for traveling "one way" even though you are not.  LIke I said though, that concern may not even be founded, people travel one way all the time don't they?


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## Talent312 (Jul 22, 2009)

Anne S said:


> This may be a stupid question, so please be kind  I have a week reserved in St. Lucia but would like to add another week on another island, or perhaps a second week on St. Lucia. The price for the one way flight to St. Lucia is quite reasonable ($209) so I am tempted to buy it. Will it be a problem if it is two one way flights instead of a roundtrip purchase (assuming we'll spend the two weeks in St. Lucia)?



Not at all.  However, as another poster mentioned...
TSA may single you out for "special treatment."  Prepare for a full body-cavity search.
To distract them  from the circuit board & timer, put a coke in your carry-on.


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## John Cummings (Jul 23, 2009)

Typically most airlines now base their fares on one-way so you don't save anything on a return ticket as it costs 2 X the one-way fare.

It is true that you may be selected for additional screening by security. This happened to me on a Southwest flight from San Jose, CA to Ontario, CA.  When I was in San Jose, I had to stay an extra day so I had to change my return flight. This made it look like I booked a one-way trip from San Jose, as they canceled my original return and issued a new ticket. The net result was, I could not check-in on-line and I was flagged to get the going over by security.


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## SuzanneSLO (Jul 23, 2009)

Just double check that return tickets are comparably priced before buying the OW outbound.  I recently found great prices on AA to Maui but nothing comparable on the return.  Now that AA has OW pricing on award tickets, I thought about booking an award for the return flight, but when I priced the OW to Maui for cash, it went from about $150 (as part of a RT) to about $650.  -- Suzanne


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## Pat H (Jul 23, 2009)

Also realize that if you have to cancel/change your tickets, you will be charged the change fee PER ticket. Instead of losing $100-$150, you'll lose $200-$300.


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## Anne S (Jul 24, 2009)

Thanks for all the good advice. I hadn't thought of the penalty if cancelling two one way segments, but hopefully that won't happen. Now that AA has one way award pricing I was thinking of booking the outward bound flight as award travel and waiting to see about the return flight. However, I dragged my heels and now the flight that arrives in St. Lucia in the afternoon is no longer available for award travel for 17,500 miles and we'd rather not get there at night. Is there any possibility that AA will release more seats as time goes on? Our flight is for May 15.


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## falmouth3 (Jul 24, 2009)

djs said:


> when it comes to security you may be flagged for traveling "one way" even though you are not.  LIke I said though, that concern may not even be founded, people travel one way all the time don't they?



Absolutely true.  I had a co-worker who looked Middle Eastern, had a "non-American" name, and was in his 20's.  He was definitely flagged, questioned extensively and almost missed his flight.  This was a few years ago.  He said he won't be flying on any one way flights in the future.  That's the only variable he can control, unfortunately.


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## goofygirl17 (Jul 24, 2009)

I always book one-way flights with Southwest because then if the price goes lower for one of the flights I can rebook it and get a credit without effecting the other flight.


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## retired4ever (Jul 24, 2009)

djs said:


> I've done it a number of times myself.  No big deal.  The only concern I have (which may not even be founded) is that when it comes to security you may be flagged for traveling "one way" even though you are not.  LIke I said though, that concern may not even be founded, people travel one way all the time don't they?



Yeah, this exact thing happened to us!  No biggie.  They just make you take off your shoes and wave a wand around you.  SOmetimes it is cheaper to buy one way. 

Great last minute deals at expedia.com and travelocity.com if you click on last minute fares..


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## gorevs9 (Jul 24, 2009)

Talent312 said:


> TSA may single you out for "special treatment."  Prepare for a full body-cavity search.


At least it would be cheaper than going to my proctologist.


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## John Cummings (Jul 24, 2009)

goofygirl17 said:


> I always book one-way flights with Southwest because then if the price goes lower for one of the flights I can rebook it and get a credit without effecting the other flight.



You can do that whether you book one-way or not at Southwest, Booking a R/T at Southwest is really just booking 2 one-way flights as a R/T. I have have always received the credit if either the out-bound flight or return had a reduced fare after I purchased my tickets.

There are no penalties at Southwest for changing your flights so that is not an issue regarding one-way or R/T.


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## goofygirl17 (Jul 24, 2009)

I was told that it was easier to just rebook one part of the r/t than rebook both just to save money on one-way.


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## John Cummings (Jul 24, 2009)

goofygirl17 said:


> I was told that it was easier to just rebook one part of the r/t than rebook both just to save money on one-way.



That is not true. You have to understand that you don't save any money, nor is it any easier,  one way or the other on Southwest. The down side to booking just one-way at a time is the possibility of being declared a security risk. If that happens, you will not be able to check-in on-line which is very important with Southwest.


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## happybaby (Jul 24, 2009)

John Cummings said:


> That is not true. You have to understand that you don't save any money, nor is it any easier,  one way or the other on Southwest. The down side to booking just one-way at a time is the possibility of being declared a security risk. If that happens, you will not be able to check-in on-line which is very important with Southwest.



I booked one way with SW because the OB fare was low.  After shopping around, I booked the return trip with Northwest.  

I had no trouble checking in on line with SW for the OB flight.

I don't see how security knows if you have a one way or round trip ticket.  With SW all I have is one boarding pass for the OB trip since you cant preprint your boarding pass until 24 hrs prior to departure.


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## John Cummings (Jul 24, 2009)

happybaby said:


> I booked one way with SW because the OB fare was low.  After shopping around, I booked the return trip with Northwest.
> 
> I had no trouble checking in on line with SW for the OB flight.
> 
> I don't see how security knows if you have a one way or round trip ticket.  With SW all I have is one boarding pass for the OB trip since you cant preprint your boarding pass until 24 hrs prior to departure.



Security doesn't know but Southwest does. It is Southwest that flags you for additional security check. One of the criteria that they use is making a one-way trip. That doesn't mean they will automatically flag you but they may. If they do flag you then you will not be able to check-in on-line and your boarding pass will be marked for security to do the secondary check.

As I said, it is not automatic but it can and does happen as it did to me. I do not fit any other criteria. I am a white male senior US citizen with an English name. I asked Southwest why they flagged me and they said it was probably because of the one-way reservation. The ironic thing is it was not a one-way trip. I had booked it as a return flight but had to change the return to one day later. To do this they cancelled my return flight and issued a new one with a different confirmation number so it looked to their computer like it was a one-way flight.


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## M. Henley (Jul 24, 2009)

*Ha!!*

Being a WASP with a Western Kentucky accent, I have never had trouble with profiling, either at airports, customs, or border crossings.  Looking and sounding like a redneck does, sometimes, have its advantages.


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## calgarygary (Jul 24, 2009)

I found booking one way tickets for our trip from Calgary to Nassau saved us substantially. As we are travelling near peak times, we were not seeing sales on the entire trip.  Finally West Jet came through with a decent price getting us down there but up until we booked our return, their return fare was double the competition.  The combination of West Jet going down and Continental coming back is saving us substantially on each fare X 6 of us travelling.


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## SDKath (Jul 25, 2009)

We did just what you were planning on doing via AA.  We flew from SFO to St Lucia via Miami and then got a multi segment ticket that took us to St. Thomas.  (We actually stayed at St. John, which I cannot recommend enough as your second island!)  Then we flew back home to San Francisco.

We didn't get a bunch of one way tickets.  We got a "multi-segment ticket".  It helped to talk to an AA agent.  In these more complex cases so I would recommend calling their 800# instead of booking on line.  They can at least give you advice if not book it for you for a very small fee.

As for more FF mile seats opening up, I think that is extremely unlikely.  Most of the flights have a limited number of seats and once they book those, you are out of luck.  Time is not your friend when it comes to FF mile tickets!

Katherine


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## Jennie (Jul 25, 2009)

M. Henley said:


> Being a WASP with a Western Kentucky accent, I have never had trouble with profiling, either at airports, customs, or border crossings.  Looking and sounding like a redneck does, sometimes, have its advantages.



Don't get too complacent. A few days ago my 93 year old mother-in-law, who has a frequent flyer account and has traveled by plane for over 30 years, including four prior trips in 2009, was made to get up out of her wheelchair, take off her shoes, and undergo a more extensive screening. They claimed that it was random, that a computer randomly picks the 10th or 25th or some other variable number passenger. What a dumb system. Like a disabled 93 year lady can pose any threat to the security of this country.


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## Anne S (Jul 25, 2009)

SDKath said:


> We did just what you were planning on doing via AA.  We flew from SFO to St Lucia via Miami and then got a multi segment ticket that took us to St. Thomas.  (We actually stayed at St. John, which I cannot recommend enough as your second island!)  Then we flew back home to San Francisco.
> 
> We didn't get a bunch of one way tickets.  We got a "multi-segment ticket".  It helped to talk to an AA agent.  In these more complex cases so I would recommend calling their 800# instead of booking on line.  They can at least give you advice if not book it for you for a very small fee.
> 
> ...



I would do that if I had my second island lined up. the trouble is that I don't, as yet. I'm looking for Barbados or Antigua since LIAT flies there from St. Lucia, but am not seeing anything as yet. I may just bite the bullet and just  buy the roundtrip St. Lucia ticket. (Patience is not one of my virtues!)


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