Flight query - One way tickets!

[munkeynutts 0]

Hi all,

I am on the verge of my K-1 interview and I shall be booking my ticket to Houston as soon as I get my visa. What have people on here done when booking a flight to the US? One way is around £700 to Houston, but a round trip is around £300. I am thinking...ok, obvious thing is to buy a round trip and not use my return portion of my ticket, more commonly known as 'Throwaway Ticketing'. What's the worst that can happen? Delta Airlines could not come to my house and force me to get on the return flight could they!?

Thank you.

Martin

[msu17 0]

If you only do it this time, no big deal. If you make a habit of throwaway ticketing, I've heard the airlines can get picky. USCIS and immigration won't care which you have.

[munkeynutts 0]

Thanks a lot. Yes, just this time I'll be doing it. Never done it before and money is tight, so what the hell!

Regards

Martin

[Lisa and Ian 7]

Thanks a lot. Yes, just this time I'll be doing it. Never done it before and money is tight, so what the hell!

Regards

Martin

My husband (then fiance) came to the US on a round-trip ticket and it was not a problem. He just didn't use the return ticket. That's what stand-by passengers are there for... to fill the gaps.

[steve 27]

What ever is cheaper is your prime route.

[Damian&Kelly 16]

They over book flights for this reason.

My husband also came on a return ticket and had no problems at all.

[Bobby+Umit 161]

Thanks a lot. Yes, just this time I'll be doing it. Never done it before and money is tight, so what the hell!

Regards

Martin

Don't worry about it - your under no conditions to use the return portion of the ticket.

With that being said, some airlines do keep track of people doing this (mostly in the States - jumping connections) and they could flag you - there was an interesting article in the WSJ about it - but I wouldn't get worked up about it

[christeen 966]

If you only do it this time, no big deal. If you make a habit of throwaway ticketing, I've heard the airlines can get picky. USCIS and immigration won't care which you have.

My husband worked for a cruise line and we had to do this at least 15 times over the past 9 years... we were definetly habitual throwaway ticketers... We never had an issue with any airline... We had to buy the round trip either to the US or from the US and we only used one portion of it depending on which way the cruise line was paying...

So bottom line... They really don't care

[SuperDuper! 230]

I bet NO ONE can solve the mystery why a one-way ticket is more expensive than RT. I mean, you are traveling half as much distance, so it makes sense the one-way ticket should cost half as much. Maybe the airlines just haven't figured this out yet.

[christeen 966]

Dems runnin the airlines too I suppose... smells like democratic mathmatics

[Jeff B. 0]

If you only do it this time, no big deal. If you make a habit of throwaway ticketing, I've heard the airlines can get picky. USCIS and immigration won't care which you have.

I used to work for Continental Airlines. You shouldnt have a problem. They really dont care if you use it or not...they got their money.

[payxibka 10,045]

Not a K-1 visa general discussion topic

moving thread

[RUSSandRACHEL 3]

I've come across this too. We're planning to leave April 27th, together with our labrador, pending the interview. We are planning to do just the same thing. I couldnt care less about the return portion of the ticket. My fiance travels a lot on business and often as a standby passenger, he would always be extremely grateful to be 'saved' at the last minute. Also imagine that extra person whos supposed to be sitting next to you onboard. Dont you just love it when you're in that position and get all that extra room for 8 hours mmm bliss!

Edited January 4, 2010 by RUSSandRACHEL

[Mikkel 0]

Echoing the previous posters, it's unlikely that you'll get into trouble doing it just once. Be aware, though, that according to the contract of carriage of your airline, they /can/ choose to charge you the fare difference between your round trip ticket, and a one-way ticket on the same flight, and that the one-way ticket price considered is the price in effect on the day of departure, which is commonly very high. You should be able to get away with it, but be aware that they reserve the right to go to extremes.

I bet NO ONE can solve the mystery why a one-way ticket is more expensive than RT. I mean, you are traveling half as much distance, so it makes sense the one-way ticket should cost half as much. Maybe the airlines just haven't figured this out yet.

Oh, they have it figured out. One-way tickets are more expensive than round trip tickets on legacy carriers for the same reason as why flexible tickets are more expensive than fixed tickets. One-way and flexible tickets are typically booked in the same fare classes, with the same allowances and restrictions, and are commonly bought by corporate and other business travellers, who have larger budgets at their disposal. This is also why quite a few airlines serving strictly leisure destinations, or traditionally serving leisure travellers will issue one-way tickets at half the price of round trip tickets. For transatlantic travel, Icelandair is a good example of this.

[Craneman 2]

The dreaded ticket police will show up at your door and either make you take the return light or pay the difference.

Hell I fly 150,000+ miles a year and do this quite often, most of the tiem it will cost more to rebook a flight, when circumstances change, thasn to buy an entirely nesw ticket.

Perfect example week before last coming through Chicago, made the Atlanta route instead with a different airline cheaper than changing the Chicago ticket.

Just a return flight through Chicago, round trip throught Atlanta.

Edited January 4, 2010 by Craneman