When to Book One-Way versus Round-Trip

When booking a flight, you’re usually in two camps: finding the cheapest flight or sticking with your pre-scheduled time to travel. If you’re sticking to exact dates, you’re missing out on some majorly cheap flights.

If you are looking for the cheapest flight and can be more flexible, then booking one-way tickets may be your best move.

Why should I book one-way instead of round-trip?

When traveling within the U.S., airlines typically price one-way flights at exactly half the cost of a round-trip. There certainly are exceptions, especially for those that fly out of smaller, regional airports. However, if you are near a major hub or airport, then prices for one-ways are typically less than half a round-trip tickets.

When paying with cash or card (instead of miles or points), my first rule of thumb is to always search and compare the costs for both a round-trip flight and the one-way flight segments. I typically do this with a simple Google Flights search. There have been many cases where booking two one-way flights — with two different airlines — is less expensive than booking a round-trip with a single airline.

By booking 2 one-way tickets, this may also give you more flexibility if you do positioning flights. If you miss your first flight, you’ll still have the opportunity to make it to your destination and get your flight back since it is with a different airline on separate tickets.

Does this work for international flights?

Many airlines will price international one-way tickets more than a round-trip ticket (or close to it) even though you’re flying half the amount.

Low-cost airlines will not impose these types of pricing practices. Booking a one-way between the U.S. and Europe on a low-cost carrier will almost always be half the cost of a round-trip.

This not only applies to trans-Atlantic flights but also to international flights within a region. In my travels, I have often attached one-way flights on low-cost airlines to existing itineraries when flying within Europe (i.e. Ryanair) or within Asia (i.e. Air Asia). Therefore, by piecing together one-way, low-cost international flights on a low-cost airline and using points and miles for the rest of the flights, I have been able to make trips happen at a fraction of what they would have cost with a round-trip or multi-city cash booking.

Now May Be the Best Time to Book One-Way

With airline bookings still down from 2019, airlines have been offering some assurance in the way of free changes and cancellations to future reservations. However, some airlines may only offer a one-time change per reservation. By booking two one-way tickets that are on two different reservations — instead of a single round-trip, — you may get more flexibility when it comes to taking advantage of change policies.

There’s one exception to my personal one-way flight booking rule: flight deals. If I come across an incredible round-trip fare — either in cash or miles — I wouldn’t hesitate to book it just because it is a round-trip.