Flying LON to NYC one way: Should I just buy Return ticket instead?

[homeister]

Total rookie question here; would greatly appreciate any advice on my dilemma.

We need to fly from London to New York one way, but all the one way options are either too expensive or too long in duration. Should I just buy a standard London-NY return ticket instead (of which there are plentiful options), and not use the return fare? If so, is it simply a case of seeking a refund on the unused portion? (if refunds are available on the particular fare purchased). Is that how it works?

Thanks for any help

 

[dajop]

What airline? Have you looked at Norwegian who do have competitive one way fares, and have a good premium economy product even.

Return fares are exactly that. You won't get a refund of the return sector if you don't use it, unless it is an expensive return fare to begin with. If you don't want to take it, and notify them, they might recalcualte the fare as a one way fare anyway, it depends on the fare rules. If it is cheaper return than one way, you could just not take the return.

 

[homeister]

@dajop: At the moment TAP is the only one with realistic one way options we could go with. All other airlines showing up on ticketing search engines are cost prohibitive.
The last sentence in your reply makes me think we should just buy a return fare and be done with it.

 

[andye]

I take it a points ticket isn't an option (even if it means applying for a credit card). Can make sense in this situation even in Y.

The other thing to consider (if time isn't a problem) is to take a short hop to Europe then fly from there-it avoids the long-haul UK passenger charge. However, would be on separate tickets so would need to allow time for delays between the connections.

 

[Mattg]

Surely Norwegian Air is the best option here? They have 3 daily flights from Gatwick to JFK and one-way pricing is used.

The reason that the return flights are cheaper is that the cheapest fares have various minimum/maximum stay requirements. If you buy a one-way fare, the airline doesn't know if/when you'll be returning so they'll only sell you a ticket out of the most expensive flexible fare bucket.

If you want to fly a full-service airline then by all means, buy a return ticket and don't use the return leg. Do so at your own risk as airlines typically don't like this and Lufthansa has been in the news recently for trying to sue a passenger that used hidden-city ticketing.

 

[Forg]

This is probably a ridiculous suggestion so please bear with me … but is it possible you only looked at flights departing Heathrow, homeister?

In my (limited) experience there's not a huge amount of convenience difference in leaving from Gatwick, Heathrow or Stansted. The two smaller airports don't have the best lounge facilities, but in terms of getting there it's not hugely different (it'll cost a bit more by train or by taxi - but that cost isn't a big thing compared to the cost of air tickets).

 

[Fergo747]

Not sure what dates you're looking or what class, but over the next month you can get a direct flight in Y for between $300-$400 AUD generally leaving from LGW. Weekends do see that price increase to ~$500.

J however is a completely different kettle of fish (particularly when looking direct). You can get some ok one stop fares for ~$3 - $4k on Aer Lingus.

 

[cvmceg]

Obviously go Norwegian from Gatwick...

Alternative may be look at Boston and a bus down to NYC, or some other periphery city.

 

[andye]

Surely Norwegian Air is the best option here? They have 3 daily flights from Gatwick to JFK and one-way pricing is used.

The reason that the return flights are cheaper is that the cheapest fares have various minimum/maximum stay requirements. If you buy a one-way fare, the airline doesn't know if/when you'll be returning so they'll only sell you a ticket out of the most expensive flexible fare bucket.

If you want to fly a full-service airline then by all means, buy a return ticket and don't use the return leg. Do so at your own risk as airlines typically don't like this and Lufthansa has been in the news recently for trying to sue a passenger that used hidden-city ticketing.

Unless doing regularly, you'd be very unlucky to have a problem doing it though.
As I understand it, LH had a problem with someone flying A to C via B and getting off at B which is slightly different (and their suit is still unlikely to succeed)

 

[homeister]

Hi guys sorry for the delayed reply. I have gone for the Norwegian Air direct LGW-JFK as suggested by @Mattg above. Not because he suggested it or that I saw his suggestion but because I saw it as the first and cheapest option listed on Google Flights.

Which begs the question, why wasn't Norwegian shown as an option on my original Webjet search? On that one it showed TAP Portugal as the cheapest of the +1 stop flights. Everything else after them was in the stratosphere of the ridiculous (3K etc) and Norwegian wasn't listed at all on Webjet.

FWIW I booked a one way in Premium Economy for approx AUD$1035 (July travel)

 

[opusman]

I guess Norwegian don't pay enough commission for Webjet to bother with.

 

[andye]

I stopped looking on Webjet when I found that they had nothing skyscanner (and later googleflights) didn't and missed a number of airlines.
At that time they were also charging hidden service fees on top of the headline price-I expect they still are.
I tend to use the two others mentioned to price simple itineraries. If there is then an option to book direct with the airline, I'll do that. My complex itineraries tend to involve award flights but a good travel agent can be helpful also.

 

[Lemon_Party]

I stopped looking on Webjet when I found that they had nothing skyscanner (and later googleflights) didn't and missed a number of airlines.
At that time they were also charging hidden service fees on top of the headline price-I expect they still are.
I tend to use the two others mentioned to price simple itineraries. If there is then an option to book direct with the airline, I'll do that. My complex itineraries tend to involve award flights but a good travel agent can be helpful also.

Webjets only useful attribute is for planning AU domestic flights, gives a great time, airline and cost matrix to help decide best flight option.