Legalities of 'return tickets'?

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I am looking at flying from Australia to the US (return) in the next few weeks. While in the US I will be heading over to the UK for a week, then returning to the US for a few more days before flying home to Australia. (the RTW option doesn't suit).

I will be flying out of Boston to Manchester via LHR, then returning LHR to JFK.
I can appreciate travelling from these various ports does not qualify as a standard 'return' ticket, however I am quite suprised how expensive these two 'one-way' tickets are going to cost me.

Boston to Manchester = $1,400
London to New York = $1,300

If I were to book one of these flights on a return ticket (despite having no intentions of returning) I could save myself approx $650.

Given how strict US customs are how very tense the world of air travel is these days, I am concerned that purchasing a return ticket between the US and UK, flying the inbound leg and then on arrival, cancelling the outbound leg of that ticket, will cause a safety concern or make me become some kind of 'unsafe risk' as cancelling a return ticket after flying only one leg may look suspicious?

The whole time I will be in possession of my original AUS-US return ticket, so I will always have a ticket/booking to exit out of the US, however air travel is so highly strung these days, I don't want to cause any extra distress.


Any advice would be appreciated.
Cheers

 

[rechoboam]

My advice would be to find a travel agent and try to book an open jaw ticket, I've done that a dozen times. Unless something has radically changed recently I can't see why that should be a problem?
EDIT: sorry missed that the originating port is different. If it were me I would book an open jaw ticket return from/to Boston, with a stopover in New York for a couple of days. On arrival in New York I would let the airline know I need to cancel the last leg. I haven't done that before, but that's what I would try.

 

[TimB]

I will be flying out of Boston to Manchester via LHR, then returning LHR to JFK.
I can appreciate travelling from these various ports does not qualify as a standard 'return' ticket, however I am quite suprised how expensive these two 'one-way' tickets are going to cost me.

Boston to Manchester = $1,400
London to New York = $1,300

If I were to book one of these flights on a return ticket (despite having no intentions of returning) I could save myself approx $650.

This should be bookable for a reasonable price as a double open-jaw fare. You'd typically search for this as a multi-city trip.

Using Matrix - ITA Software, I was able to find the above flights for US$770 in total (although BOS-MAN was via ZHR and LHR-JFK was via IAD).

 

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Thanks for the replies and info.

Yes thanks Tim, I see there are some cheaper options.
Unfortunately I am fairly time critical with my travel times this time around.

I need to be on a flight which leaves Boston in the morning and arrives in Manchester that same night - have only found 1 flight which does that, British Airways which connects with the last LHR-MAN domestic flight of the day.
(what if I miss that domestic flight due to the international flight being delayed, does BA put me up in a Hotel for the night?)

Then my return flight back to the US can't be too early morning departure - need to be sufficiently well rested before an event later that same night in NYC. So looking for a departure ex London between 9:00-14:00.

 

[ozmille]

depending on your travel dates you can do from BOS to NYC for AUD264 andthen buy an AUD998 JFK x/LHR MAN - LHR JFK or all on the 1 ticket for AUD1236

------------------------------------------------------------

2 AA3813 M 24OCT 1 BOSJFK DK1 1040 1155 24OCT E 0 CR7 F
3 BA 112 L 24OCT 1 JFKLHR DK1 1840 0635 25OCT E 0 744
4 BA1384 N 25OCT 2 LHRMAN DK1 0745 0840 25OCT E 0 319
5 BA 117 S 02NOV 3 LHRJFK DK1 0830 1210 02NOV E 0 744


USD 603.00 24OCT11BOS AA NYC227.91BA X/LON BA MAN E/
AUD 625.00 xx_ M217.00/-LON BA NYC158.00NUC602.91END
AUD 358.20YQ ROE1.000000
AUD 16.60YQ XT AUD 5.70YC AUD 16.90US AUD 16.90US AUD
AUD 237.10XT 5.20XA AUD 7.30XY AUD 5.20AY AUD 98.20GB
AUD 1236.90 AUD 77.00UB AUD 4.70XF JFK4.50

 

[ozbeachbabe]

I am looking at flying from Australia to the US (return) in the next few weeks. While in the US I will be heading over to the UK for a week, then returning to the US for a few more days before flying home to Australia. (the RTW option doesn't suit).

I will be flying out of Boston to Manchester via LHR, then returning LHR to JFK.
I can appreciate travelling from these various ports does not qualify as a standard 'return' ticket, however I am quite suprised how expensive these two 'one-way' tickets are going to cost me.

Boston to Manchester = $1,400
London to New York = $1,300

If I were to book one of these flights on a return ticket (despite having no intentions of returning) I could save myself approx $650.

Given how strict US customs are how very tense the world of air travel is these days, I am concerned that purchasing a return ticket between the US and UK, flying the inbound leg and then on arrival, cancelling the outbound leg of that ticket, will cause a safety concern or make me become some kind of 'unsafe risk' as cancelling a return ticket after flying only one leg may look suspicious?

The whole time I will be in possession of my original AUS-US return ticket, so I will always have a ticket/booking to exit out of the US, however air travel is so highly strung these days, I don't want to cause any extra distress.

Any advice would be appreciated.
Cheers

Note that both the destination cities in your itinerary ie MAN & LHR are in the same country & ditto for both cities in your country of origin ie BOS & JFK so you have a double open jaw itinerary so in most cases the airfare would be costed as a half return BOS/MAN fare & a half return JFK/LHR fare.

It's a different matter when the cities you are flying between are in different countires or IATA areas eg BNE/NRT & LAX/SYD.

 

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Thanks all for your replies and advice - much appreciated.

-Adam

 

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I need to be on a flight which leaves Boston in the morning and arrives in Manchester, UK that same night - have only found 1 flight which does that, British Airways which connects with the last LHR-MAN domestic flight of the day.
(what if I miss that domestic flight due to the international flight being delayed, does BA put me up in a Hotel for the night?)

If I may re-ask the above question please;
The International flight I am looking at arrives at London Heathrow at 7:30pm, with the next sector, a domestic flight departing from the same terminal at LHR at 8:40pm.
The catch is that this is the last flight to Manchester out of LHR for the day.

If on-time I believe 1 hour 10 minutes is an acceptable transfer time for same-carrier, same-terminal flights at LHR.

However if the international flight is delayed and I miss the connecting domestic flight I will be 'stuck' in London for the night.
Who would be responsible (physically and financially) for finding me accommodation for the night in this scenario?
- Myself for not allowing sufficient transfer time between flights,
or
-The airline as it was their website's booking engine which suggested this particular combination of International and domestic flights?

cheers

 

[richie9x]

However if the international flight is delayed and I miss the connecting domestic flight I will be 'stuck' in London for the night.
Who would be responsible (physically and financially) for finding me accommodation for the night in this scenario?
- Myself for not allowing sufficient transfer time between flights,
or
-The airline as it was their website's booking engine which suggested this particular combination of International and domestic flights?

cheers

For that circumstance it depends entirely on the conditions of carriage of the airline you are flying with. Typically low cost carriers will not cover the cost of overnight accommodation. While premier carriers will. Some might find you a hotel and pay for it, while others expect you to find hotel and reimburse you up to certain limit.

Also some carriers exclude events outside their control. So if you are delayed by a snow storm you would not be covered. But if you were delayed due to a technical fault you would be covered.

Also there are sometimes local laws that will give you additional benefits to what is stated in the conditions of carriage.

Also consider having travel insurance as a backup.

 

[serfty]

If all on the one ticket, the carrier is responsible for your welfare. If not on the one ticket you may be SOL.

This is documented with REGULATION (EC) No 261/2004 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

Accommodation comes under "Right to Care" provisions and the " Circumstance" exclusion is not relevant nor applicable.

(For what it's worth, a snow storm at at LHR is not really an "Extraordinary Circumstance"; although an airline may try to tell you otherwise.)