Buying Tickets - One Way, Round Trip..??

[KansasDragon 1]

In trying to get the tickets purchased for me Round trip to Philippines, and Annie's ticket back with me, I'm finding my round trip ticket is on many quotes cheaper than her one-way ticket.

Is there any reason I can't buy two identical tickets, departing from the USA, and only have her use the return portion of the ticket?

[maria_n_john 0]

Here's something I plan to research when we get our interview:

I will buy a round trip ticket here, from Tampa to the Philippines (although I will additionally check tpa to sfo or lax, then 2nd fair to hong kong, then to Cebu);

I will check fair for Maria's roundtrip from Cebu to here with an open return (up to one year). That way she can go home for a visit on her 2nd half of this ticket, and book another r/t which she would use the front half of to come home. She'd have that return (up to a year) to start a 3rd trip.

It's just an idea, but it may save some money.. I've not checked fares yet as we don't know interview date.

One good thing for us June filers is that by moving the interview date away from Christmas, air fares should decrease significantly. Having said that, I'd willingly spend the extra money to get Maria home as quickly as possible.

Just some thoughts....

Good luck.

[Jasman0717 8]

Buy whatever is cheaper. Are you buying her ticket in the RP? It should be cheaper there.

[JelloShotGirl 0]

i had this issue last year, yes the o/w ticket from Phils is more expensive, however I beleive that you do HAVE to buy the ticket from Phils to USA in Philippines, or thru ticket agent that has an office in Philippines, I beleive it has to do with homeland security, possibly...I beleive this went info affect a year or some time ago, I am not sure. sorry for my spelling, good luck. Shop around, esp with travel agents that specialize in Asia. Good luck. They also have the special fares, sometimes the have the 1st time immigrant fare for your fiancee(etc) and other specials depending on p/o/e.

[Jasman0717 8]

i had this issue last year, yes the o/w ticket from Phils is more expensive, however I beleive that you do HAVE to buy the ticket from Phils to USA in Philippines, or thru ticket agent that has an office in Philippines, I beleive it has to do with homeland security, possibly...I beleive this went info affect a year or some time ago, I am not sure. sorry for my spelling, good luck. Shop around, esp with travel agents that specialize in Asia. Good luck. They also have the special fares, sometimes the have the 1st time immigrant fare for your fiancee(etc) and other specials depending on p/o/e.

I gave Claudeth the money to buy her ticket and she got it for $150 less than what I or my travel agent could find

[RandyandRina 2]

It seems that the one-way ticket is about the same price as the R/T ticket nowadays. If all works well, my hubby will have his interview by November, and will be flying from Manila to JFK (POE/ NY). The thing is the ticket is about close to $1K now and thats for one way ticket, that is still subject to change (will likely go up as the holiday season approaches)

[JVKn'CVO 11]

Round Trip tickets are ussually cheaper than one way tickets

In my case, I booked a direct flight to the US, and booked a very cheap return flight: 2 stops, on a wednesday (cheapest day to flight), and in low season

saved us a lot of money -came down to almost half the price-

(Glad I won't be using that return ticket )

Saludos,

Caro

[jerzboi 0]

It seems that the one-way ticket is about the same price as the R/T ticket nowadays. If all works well, my hubby will have his interview by November, and will be flying from Manila to JFK (POE/ NY). The thing is the ticket is about close to $1K now and thats for one way ticket, that is still subject to change (will likely go up as the holiday season approaches)

$1K really, what airline? I've been looking at Cathay Pacific because I wanted to give Eve my miles so she could fly business class for her trip to the states, one way is $2,500 also looked at Korean Air Lines they were $1500.

[RandyandRina 2]

Those prices were quoted back home in Manila as they were referrals. It's Cathay, Korean Airlines and NWA. Korean Air was the cheapest for $1,100++

It seems that the one-way ticket is about the same price as the R/T ticket nowadays. If all works well, my hubby will have his interview by November, and will be flying from Manila to JFK (POE/ NY). The thing is the ticket is about close to $1K now and thats for one way ticket, that is still subject to change (will likely go up as the holiday season approaches)

$1K really, what airline? I've been looking at Cathay Pacific because I wanted to give Eve my miles so she could fly business class for her trip to the states, one way is $2,500 also looked at Korean Air Lines they were $1500.

[DeeZee 0]

It seems that the one-way ticket is about the same price as the R/T ticket nowadays. If all works well, my hubby will have his interview by November, and will be flying from Manila to JFK (POE/ NY). The thing is the ticket is about close to $1K now and thats for one way ticket, that is still subject to change (will likely go up as the holiday season approaches)

I booked for January 2008 flight to SFO one-way ticket and with the K-1 discount its going to be around $800+. My dad also booked as tourist for the same date r/t but just a little over $1k. One way is definitely more expensive!

[jom 4]

i had this issue last year, yes the o/w ticket from Phils is more expensive, however I beleive that you do HAVE to buy the ticket from Phils to USA in Philippines, or thru ticket agent that has an office in Philippines, I beleive it has to do with homeland security, possibly...I beleive this went info affect a year or some time ago, I am not sure. sorry for my spelling, good luck. Shop around, esp with travel agents that specialize in Asia. Good luck. They also have the special fares, sometimes the have the 1st time immigrant fare for your fiancee(etc) and other specials depending on p/o/e.

I gave Claudeth the money to buy her ticket and she got it for $150 less than what I or my travel agent could find

Myla bought a cheaper ticket too from her place compared to the prices online so just send the money. Bank to bank now is just 2 days transaction. Goodluck!!

[radsr2002 0]

Thats strange.

As long as I book about 15 days in advance I can get a ticket from manila to Akron Canton airport for less then 800 dollars.

Always remember that if a flight is required for her to get to manila from another section of the phil's. Western union her the money for the ticket. It is much cheaper purchased in the phils then trying to connect from say NWA to PAL airlines

Rick

[David-and-Mae 15]

It seems that the one-way ticket is about the same price as the R/T ticket nowadays. If all works well, my hubby will have his interview by November, and will be flying from Manila to JFK (POE/ NY). The thing is the ticket is about close to $1K now and thats for one way ticket, that is still subject to change (will likely go up as the holiday season approaches)

$1K really, what airline? I've been looking at Cathay Pacific because I wanted to give Eve my miles so she could fly business class for her trip to the states, one way is $2,500 also looked at Korean Air Lines they were $1500.

www.cheapair.com

Monday flight is usually the cheaper at NWA...

[dj1206 0]

I haven't really seen a good answer on the original question posed here. Really don't need conjecture or "I think" when it comes to booking tickets. I know that I also have the EXACT same concern that the original poster posed. We had initially looked at flights for mid-January 2008, and one-way trip for J from MNL to JFK (to RDU) via HKG on CathayPacific was around $2200. On the flip side, a round trip ticket from RDU to JFK to MNL via HKG on the same airline, same travel dates, same flight numbers, was about $1200 per ticket.

I called CathayPacific about the difference in cost at the time, because I didn't think it was anywhere near fair. They gave me this talk about the ticket being purchased in the Phils, etc. etc., and the very unfriendly lady I got on the phone didn't seem to care (or maybe didn't understand) that I'm not on Philippine soil, so I should not be subject to Philippine taxes on the one-way airfare.

So, my (and the original poster's) question is...would it be legal and/or valid for me to purchase two round-trip ticket for me and for J, and just not use her stubs for the first leg of the trip (my travel to go see her and her family), and then both of us leave for the USA together? I mean, in the end, a ticket is a ticket, and I can't see why they would care if J used the first half of the ticket or not. Plus, I wouldn't mind having an empty seat beside me on the flight over there. Please, anyone with authoritative answers, share it with us who need to make travel arrangements soon. Thank you.

D

And PS- I wouldn't recommend travel during the Christmas/New Year's season. My two trips in May (06 and 07) were about the same cost combined for airfare as the Christmas trip was last year.

PSS- I understand Philippines Airlines might have a more fair luggage allowance for the things of J's that she desires to bring with her. I haven't really checked with my airline of choice, CathayPacific, yet, in terms of luggage allowances. I guess I'll definitely be doing some checking before I book the final flights...and advice would be much appreciated. Thx.

PS - I've always heard that Tuesday flights are the cheapest of the week, as they are the hardest to fill up to capacity. I'm sure Mondays aren't bad, too, though.

[Dakine 26]

I paid about $900 for my wife and $700 for anak one way business [Mabuhay] after getting first time immigrant discount with PAL.

Don't know if they still give the first time immigrant discount tho! It was about 20% at that time. 1 year ago!

I bought the tickets here in the US. That didn't include the P1620 and P810 [anak] travel tax. P750 airport terminal fee for each either.

Edited September 22, 2007 by beckypua