One-way fares can add up to round-trip discounts
— -- A funny thing happened to me while booking a recent trip to Chicago. When I realized flying a different airline for my outbound and return flights offered the greatest flexibility, I also discovered the cost of purchasing two one way tickets on different airlines was the same price as a round trip ticket on a single carrier.
After a little research I soon determined the fares for my Chicago trip were not an anomaly and that, in most U.S. markets, two one way tickets most often cost the same or in many cases less than a round trip ticket for the same trip.
If you hang around long enough, most things eventually come full circle, and now you can add airfares to that list. Before deregulation, airline pricing was simple. Every airline offered the same prices as mandated by government rules and all tickets were priced as one way segments. It didn't much matter if you split your business on two or more airlines on any trip.
But following deregulation in 1978, airfares became complicated. Free of government control, airlines began offering special discounts, generally for tickets purchased several weeks in advance with a Saturday night stopover. Unfortunately, most business travelers couldn't qualify for discounted "super saver" fares if they don't meet the purchase requirements or if their company already had negotiated discount rates with that airline.
Although airlines generally match competing fare sales, the number of airfares in any given market rapidly increased and fare rules gained in complexity. Additionally, those deeply discounted fares were generally accepted only on the issuing airline's flights. Competing airlines would not honor those tickets because the originating airline would not compensate them.
Business travelers, accustomed to changing flights at the last minute when meetings end early, run late or cancel, often found themselves stuck if they were holding a discounted airline ticket.
In this deregulated world, the very first "ancillary fees" were born as airlines imposed stiff penalties for changing flights and they added non-refundable fares just in case you had to cancel your trip. Those who flew regularly during this period became conditioned to accept that discounted fares were available only when the entire trip was booked on a single airline.
This scenario endured until low cost, discount airlines, such as Southwest, grew to become a major force in the U.S. air travel market. With simple, straightforward pricing, Southwest set a new precedent, offering all full or discount fares on a one way basis.
Over time, other low cost airlines emulated Southwest, basing their pricing on one way flights. With low cost airlines now comprising nearly one in four domestic departures, other airlines routinely match those one way fares to remain competitive. Though no major network or legacy airlines announced a new pricing policy, just about every airline now quietly offers a wide range of one way prices in most markets.
While convenience and frequency are good incentives to purchase one way tickets on different carriers, capacity control pricing provides another reason to look at one way flights on multiple airlines. Though many airlines have dropped the round trip requirement, the Saturday night stay and even the advance purchase regulations on discount tickets, capacity control is widely practiced throughout the airline industry.
With capacity controls, airlines set aside a specific number of seats at each fare level. When the less expensive seats are sold, the next group of seats are sold at a higher price and this process repeats until the very last seats are sold at the highest prices.
If you analyze a round trip ticket on a single airline you may find a sizable pricing discrepancy between the outbound and return legs of the trip if substantially more seats are already sold on one flight than the other. While you might secure the lowest fare on one flight, the fare on the other flight may greatly increase the overall price of your ticket. By purchasing two one way tickets on different airlines you have a greater chance of securing the lowest fares on each flight.
Likewise, it doesn't matter if you are booking a multi-stop trip, a trip for tomorrow or one three months away. You may still find booking individual segments separately often yields better pricing and than flying a single airline all the way around.
Airlines boast their lowest prices are offered on their own websites and that may be true if you are considering flights only on that one airline. But if you are willing to fly whoever has the lowest fare, travel agents are well positioned to shop prices across multiple airlines. Just be certain the travel agent has authorization to sell flights on Southwest Airlines and other low cost airlines that don't often distribute in every travel agent computer booking system. In all cases it pays to ask up front.
Even if you don't fly low cost airlines, all travelers have benefitted from the pricing changes they began. I don't know how long one way air fares will continue to compete with more traditional round trip pricing, and it may not work in every instance, but you have nothing to lose by checking out your one way options when you book your next trip.
Send David your feedback: David Grossman is a veteran business traveler and former airline industry executive. He writes a column every other week on topics of interest and concern to business travelers. E-mail him at travel@usatoday.com.