booking a return flight for cheaper?

[Kim and Nath 0]

Hey everyone,

Good news that Nath has his visa. He's found a snag with booking his flight.

Its £280-350 for a two-way flight, but £480 for a one-way flight.

At this rate, it's cheaper for him to book a 2-way flight, but would people at the POE give him issue with this? He's not going to use it, obviously, but we don't want issues when he arrives.

Has anyone done this? Thanks!

[Otto 83]

Either way is no problem - most folks book the round trip for the exact reason you pointed out.

[Old Dominion 26]

No, there won't be an issue at POE. He can explain what they already know, that a round-trip ticket is often much cheaper than a one-way ticket.

[Rob&Dawn 1]

Just seems crazy that a round trip is cheaper than one way!

Congratulations on having the visa in your hand.

Edited January 23, 2009 by Rob&Dawn

[Jasman0717 9]

Congrats Book the cheapest

[Shannon ♥ Nick 0]

I got a round trip direct to Orlando for 300 quid but one way was over 800?????

[paul. 0]

Same here, one-way London-Tulsa was 700 quid, a return was only 310. If you get the return ticket as an open-ended ticket, you can use it as an emergency get-me-home in an emergency, that is what I am doing. I guess I'm just stingy though haha, but if he's Scottish, he will be too! It's well known.

[paulinespens 3]

When I flew here I paid 200 UKP for a one way ticket from Dublin to Louisville KY Via O'hare. I just got my dad to drop me off at Ferry Port took a trip over spent night at Hotel Airport in Dublin and used free bus from hotel back to airport.

[Stinky Monkey 1]

I still cant get my head around why a return is cheaper............

I will book the cheapest when my time comes as got to have the dosh for AOS

[Damian&Kelly 16]

I don't understand this either. We bought return, I spent days searching for the cheapest. and his return flight just passed, it was nice he wasn't actually leaving this time

[Laura+Tom 2]

The airlines don't care, as they are making money either way. If you ring and cancel the return portion when you get to the US you may get the taxes back, plus they get to sell on the seat and make even more money. I used to book travel for business use and we did this a lot when meetings ran over etc.

On a side note apparently the airlines pay for their flights from business class seats so any economy seats they sell are profit.

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

A return ticket will be your best deal. And a tip: When booking your return, go for the cheapest, day and time of year you can get since you aren't going to use it anyway. Like don't book a weekend return for summer, if a Wednesday in Feb. would be lots cheaper. Find the cheapest scenario.

They don't ask about return tickets at POE. You show them the visa and brown envelope and go get processed. That's it. It's not like when you are presenting a VWP form I-94W. This time you have a K1 visa and a I-94 form, so no questions about if you are going home and ties to UK.

Nick came in Sept and booked the return for March, so he actually could use it now that he has AP to travel. But then how does he get back here without doing another weird return ticket from London. We haven't worked that out yet. Maybe they could apply the unused ticket toward a new ticket. Or maybe we just forget it.

[Otto 83]

I still cant get my head around why a return is cheaper............

The question is not 'why is a R/T cheaper' but 'why is a one-way more expensive?'

The reason is:

Airlines are in the business of filling seats and since most of those seats are filled by people going R/T, those are their primary customers. Along comes someone going one-way - to the airline, that person is (potentially/probably) taking up a seat that a R/T passenger would/might otherwise occupy so they charge a premium (hence most one-way tickets are more expensive).

Side Note: An airline would not sell you a one-way ticket if you did not have the proper entry permit (Visa).

[Kim and Nath 0]

A return ticket will be your best deal. And a tip: When booking your return, go for the cheapest, day and time of year you can get since you aren't going to use it anyway. Like don't book a weekend return for summer, if a Wednesday in Feb. would be lots cheaper. Find the cheapest scenario.

They don't ask about return tickets at POE. You show them the visa and brown envelope and go get processed. That's it. It's not like when you are presenting a VWP form I-94W. This time you have a K1 visa and a I-94 form, so no questions about if you are going home and ties to UK.

Nick came in Sept and booked the return for March, so he actually could use it now that he has AP to travel. But then how does he get back here without doing another weird return ticket from London. We haven't worked that out yet. Maybe they could apply the unused ticket toward a new ticket. Or maybe we just forget it.

Hey, How long did it take for you to get approval to travel? We're wanting to file that asap, just in case there's any issue with his family over in Scotland, we don't want him to be stuck in the US.

Also, when you go over you have to fill out an I-94 form, even though you have your K1 visa?

Thanks!

[Laura+Tom 2]

A return ticket will be your best deal. And a tip: When booking your return, go for the cheapest, day and time of year you can get since you aren't going to use it anyway. Like don't book a weekend return for summer, if a Wednesday in Feb. would be lots cheaper. Find the cheapest scenario.

They don't ask about return tickets at POE. You show them the visa and brown envelope and go get processed. That's it. It's not like when you are presenting a VWP form I-94W. This time you have a K1 visa and a I-94 form, so no questions about if you are going home and ties to UK.

Nick came in Sept and booked the return for March, so he actually could use it now that he has AP to travel. But then how does he get back here without doing another weird return ticket from London. We haven't worked that out yet. Maybe they could apply the unused ticket toward a new ticket. Or maybe we just forget it.

Hey, How long did it take for you to get approval to travel? We're wanting to file that asap, just in case there's any issue with his family over in Scotland, we don't want him to be stuck in the US.

Also, when you go over you have to fill out an I-94 form, even though you have your K1 visa?

Thanks!

Yup, they'll give you a white I-94 (for people with a visa) to fill out instead of the normal green I-94W (for VWP).

Edited January 24, 2009 by Laura+Tom