Cost of one way as opposed to return flights

[Henchy]

I am contemplating going on a cruise departing from Sydney but finishing overseas ( Hongkong/Tokyo/Los Angelos), hence I need a one way flight home to Australia.

Airlines advertising their sales always seem to quote "return fares".

Is it possible to buy the return flight but not use the outward leg, as the return fares when on " sale" are usually cheaper than a one way fare?

 

[OATEK]

I am contemplating going on a cruise departing from Sydney but finishing overseas ( Hongkong/Tokyo/Los Angelos), hence I need a one way flight home to Australia.

Airlines advertising their sales always seem to quote "return fares".

Is it possible to buy the return flight but not use the outward leg, as the return fares when on " sale" are usually cheaper than a one way fare?

The general expectation is that if you don't turn up for the outbound flight, the return flight is cancelled.

Have you spoken to the cruise company - they might be able to offer a solution.

 

[opusman]

You could buy a return flight from overseas to Australia and throw away the second leg?

 

[Brisbane Flyer]

I've just found myself in a similar situation recently.
I ended up buying a series of one way tickets from LAX to OGG on AA, then Hawaiian to HNL from OGG and Jetstar from HNL to BNE.

Will be doing this in December. Price was quite reasonable, around $1200.

Cheers
BF

 

[BillytheFIsh]

You could buy a return flight from overseas to Australia and throw away the second leg?

This is a good solution if the pricing works.

Otherwise, book a one-way ticket with points. Even Y rewards can be OK value if one-way tickets are too expensive.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Award travel is a good idea for one way tickets otherwise you need to choose a LCC type airline like JQ who don't charge mega bucks to fly one way like legacy carriers do.

As Opusman mentioned above you could get a return fare ex Asia to Australia which works best if you know what date you'll be using the Aust back to HKG or NRT etc as you'd need to specify a date when you book otherwise you'd be up for change fees which would be counter productive. To get back to Aust after your second trip to Asia you'd need to do another one way award or LCC special one way fare.

People who regularly fly to/from Asia several times per year often position to Asia on a one way award ticket then buy return fares ex Asia back to Australia so they would always have an Aust/Asia leg nested.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I am contemplating going on a cruise departing from Sydney but finishing overseas ( Hongkong/Tokyo/Los Angelos), hence I need a one way flight home to Australia.

Airlines advertising their sales always seem to quote "return fares".

Is it possible to buy the return flight but not use the outward leg, as the return fares when on " sale" are usually cheaper than a one way fare?

I'd be using Jetstar for those routes, or an award, or sometimes some tier 2 carriers have cheap one-way business class flights. Googleflights will show you any cheapie one ways (ex LAX sometimes Philippine Airlines or China airlines will have a cheap one way business class), and there can be some good premium economy deals.

From Asia, sometimes Vietnam Airlines has ultra cheap oneways, even in business class. I bought tickets for $800 each from China one way in business.

 

[downgraded]

Have just been researching some flights myself I found the QF site priced each leg as you would hope, with a return costing the sum of single fares, though generally inbound to Australia was the higher of any round trip pair (and yes I was looking at 1 way fares as my comparison).

 

[wandering_fred]

Historically CX has been much more consumer friendly when pricing one way fares from the USA to Australia. Also has the benefit of actually flying an international leg into ADL.

Happy wandering

Fred

 

[Pierre_a]

When I moved down here I found the cheapest way was to book a multi city itinerary, that way you don't get stung by one way fees. I booked LHR - KUL - MEL on MH for the same as the one way element of a return fare. As I recall Emirates and Qantas had competitively priced fares on the same basis, but I'd wanted a stop over in KUL.

 

[stoneman]

Subscribed !

 

[Henchy]

Subscribed !

Thanks for a reply but I cannot understand exactly what you are indicating by your comment.

 

[Henchy]

That's what I thought may be the case, even though they have your money..
Clicked on Princess cruises flight section and they are much more expensive than Qantas's site.

 

[Henchy]

Managed to get a flight with points in Premium Economy- amazing they still had 2 available!
Checked again later to see if they still had some and no they had none left for Classic so I was lucky and thanks for suggesting it.

 

[get me outta here]

This is what people say when they have subscribed to this thread because they have an interest in receiving email notifications when there is a new post.

Thanks for a reply but I cannot understand exactly what you are indicating by your comment.

 

[kingjjj]

One of the possibilities I've considered is booking a return fare, but with the return leg as a flexible ticket. Qantas' flexi fares are refundable, but I don't know if this refund is the fare you see on the website when booking, or if they work out the one-way cost and only refund you the excess of this. Has anyone tried this, and do you know if the return leg is fully refunded or not?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

One of the possibilities I've considered is booking a return fare, but with the return leg as a flexible ticket. Qantas' flexi fares are refundable, but I don't know if this refund is the fare you see on the website when booking, or if they work out the one-way cost and only refund you the excess of this. Has anyone tried this, and do you know if the return leg is fully refunded or not?

If the ticket is sold on a return basis (as opposed to 2 x one way for domestic), they will recalculate the journey you have undertaken at the applicable one-way fare, and refund the balance. (The one way fare will be the one you get when searching one way only, as opposed to the fare for each leg when selecting 'return')

 

[Henchy]

So as previously mentioned, airlines win again. No way they will let us beat their systems, and you can be sure their one way fare will be the most expensive they can find !

 

[MEL_Traveller]

So as previously mentioned, airlines win again. No way they will let us beat their systems, and you can be sure their one way fare will be the most expensive they can find !

Depends on the airline. Plenty of 'loop-holes' out there - although maybe not on Qantas.

Hidden city ticketing is one example, as is purchasing a round-trip ticket where it is significantly less than the one-way, and simply throwing away the return. A couple years ago my folks needed an intra-Europe flight on LH. The round-trip ticket was something like 120 euro. The one way was 600+. They threw away the return.

Even with Aussie carriers (jetstar and vermin) that price one ways to places like Bali - sometimes cheaper to by two one ways than a return, taking advantage of lower fares ex Bali for the return flight.

 

[Henchy]

I appreciate your suggestions however an earlier reply indicated that of you do not use the outward leg then the Airline will cancel the return. If I was cruising starting in an overseas country then it would be OK as I would use the outward leg first.