Why? Well when I discovered this a while back, I asked my travel agent and he mentioned many of the airlines still haven't cottoned on that it makes more sense to charge based on single legs (regardless of whether you travel one way or return) and so think giving a discount for a return journey will entice customers. Clearly we are more savvy than that!
So if a return flight is cheaper, just make sure you book the flight you actually want to take as the first flight (i.e. outbound) then just cancel your inbound flight once you have arrived. Be aware you can't do it the other way round (i.e. cancel your outbound flight and take the inbound) as they will cancel your whole ticket if you do not turn up for your first flight.
I'm guessing a lot of people know this tip already, but for those that don't, hope it proves useful next time you're booking flights :)
This is interesting.... so then they refund you half the fare you paid? And you cancel once you've flown the first leg of the trip?
ReplyDeleteTo be fair, I've never actually done it before, but I've just booked some flights and plan to do that when I fly later in the year. Generally because you're going for cheap fares, they tend not to be refundable but even so the flights STILL end up cheaper than buying a single one way flight.
DeleteBut yep you cancel after you've already flown the first leg. Sometimes they charge you a cancellation fee, but I believe you can then just be a no show (which is annoying for the airlines) but what can they do, right?
Wow! I didn't think of that! Are you talking more so for short haul flights?
ReplyDeleteI've heard of people doing it even for long haul, but they're less likely to cancel their second leg. E.g. a friend needs to travel back to Asia every xmas and flights then are ridiculously expensive from Australia, but not from Asia. So she booked a one way from Aus-Asia, then it worked out cheaper to book a return Asia-Australia and she'll just use the flight home another time.
DeleteBut yes short haul definitely works the best!