Why One-Way Tickets Cost More Than a Round-Trip

By Mike Grasso

Last week a reader forwarded me an itinerary in which the round-trip ticket price cost less than two separate one-way tickets on identical flights. It was an American Airlines flight between San Jose and Dallas/Ft Worth. The ticket prices out to $349 round-trip, but the exact same days and flights booked as two separate one-ways comes to $454 ($227 each way). "What gives?" the reader asked.

At play here is supply and demand. When most people fly somewhere, they usually need to come back, causing a demand for round-trip tickets. In response, you find many airlines fiercely competing in this market. One-way flights are less popular, and most mainline carriers don't compete, resulting in an upward spike in those fares. Although the supply of seats remains constant - regardless if sold as one-way or round-trip, the demand and competition exists for round-trips.

But there are exceptions. Southwest Airlines, for example, sells all their flights as one-ways. In response to this, you will find mainline carriers such as American and United offering equivalent one-way fares in markets they compete with Southwest in. Take San Francisco to Los Angeles, for instance. Southwest frequently sells this route for $49 each way. Other carriers flying between these cities match Southwest pricing, choosing not to bump up the cost of the one-way flight, as they would otherwise do on non-competitive routes.

San Francisco to Florida From $170 RT w/Taxes

Fly Delta/Northwest Airlines from San Francisco to Miami for $170 round-trip, including all taxes and fees. Travel permitted through early summer 2010 for outbound flights Monday-Thursday and Saturday. Example dates: September 15-21, 2009. Click here to book.

Earlier tonight on Twitter, we reported on a $187 "all in" fare SFO-Ft Lauderdale on Continental Airlines.

Mid-Week Travel: $29 Bucks Each Way to SoCal

United, American, Southwest, Alaska and Virgin America have all lowered airfares to Southern California. Travel for just $29 each way + tax, which comes to $78 roundtrip w/taxes. The fares are good for Tuesday and Wednesday travel through September 8, 2009. Click here and search by "flexible dates" option.

San Francisco to Ft Lauderdale $187 "All In"

American and Continental have dropped fares between San Francisco and Ft Lauderdale to under $200 round-trip, taxes and fees included. Plenty of availability through April 30, 2009. 21-day advance ticketing required. To book, visit Travelocity.com and search by "flexible dates."

Midweek Round Up Of Airfares

Thanks to a significant drop in the price of crude oil, many airlines recently announced a drop in fuel surcharges. These charges were choking the price of an airline ticket adding $50-$250 to the price of a round trip flight. Delta, American, United, Air France and Virgin Atlantic all announced cuts in fuel surcharges. Other airlines are maintaining the heavy fee citing unpredictable short term charges in the cost of oil.

Now may be the time to capitalize on recent drops in fuel surcharges, and discounts on some routes. Here is a roundup of fares from Wednesday morning. All prices below are round trip and include all taxes and fees. Most travel dates valid through Fall 2008, some longer.

San Francisco to:
Long Beach $118 (JetBlue/B9)
Seattle $149 (Virgin America/VX and Alaska/AS)
San Diego $118 (Virgin America/VX)
San Jose, CR $513 (Continental/CO))
San Juan, PR $304 (U.S Airways/US)

Sacramento to:
Berlin , DE $765 (United/UA and Continental/CO)
Cabo San Lucas $329 (United/UA)

Santa Rosa to:
Las Vegas $179 (Horizon/QX)

Find Cheap Flights from 100+ Sites with One Click.

U.S Domestic Airfares Up 4.4% Over Previous Year

The Bureau of Transportation Statistics released findings today that show an overall 4.4% increase in the average price of an airline ticket during the 1st quarter of 2008, compared to the same time period in 2007. In the Bay Area, San Francisco actually saw a 6.7% decline in fares, while Sacramento's increased by 6.2%.

Q1 2007 to Q1 2008 average fare by market
$317.88 to $331.72 (U.S Domestic Average Fare)
$240.23 to $244.46 (Oakland)
$263.07 to $279.36 (Sacramento)
$421.90 to $395.54 (San Francisco)
$261.02 to $268.03 (San Jose)

United Adds Minimum Stay Requirements & Bumps Up Fares

Late Breaking News...
In the continuing battle against rising costs, United Airlines announced in a press release today that they will bring back minimum-stay requirements on nearly all routes, even in markets where they compete with low-cost carriers. The minimum stay requirements apply to those flying on the cheapest fares and for flights starting October 6th. Under the new rules, in order to score the cheapest ticket prices, a minimum stay of 1-3 nights will be required.

And about those cheapest fares...United also announced a system wide increase in fares, from $1-$90 each way. That now makes the least expensive ticket on United Airlines to be $69 each way. It seemed like just yesterday we were showered with $39 airfares from the Bay Area.

inFLIGHTout recommendation: If you have a same-day return flight and you want to avoid the minimum stay requirement but still score the best fare, consider purchasing one-way tickets in each direction. (This does not work in some markets, as United often charges extra for a one-way ticket). For example, rather than a round trip ticket from SFO-Las Vegas, purchase a one-way ticket there, and one way ticket back. The price might be better than the round trip price since it circumvents the minimum stay requirement.

San Francisco to San Juan, PR $275rt tax included

This great fare is back! All the big name carriers are again offering a fare between $270 and $300 for travel now through August. Choose from United, Continental, Northwest, Delta and American.

For the best options, choose kayak.com or farecompare.com

For more information on Puerto Rico - click here

$91 Airfare Sale: Bay Area to Southern California

United Airlines is offering some pretty decent airfares from the SF Bay Area to Los Angeles and San Diego. Travel is valid now through May and available most days of the week.
Examples of the sale:
San Francisco/San Jose/Oakland/Sacramento to Los Angeles $91.20, roundtrip, tax included.
San Francisco to San Diego $91.20, roundtrip, tax included.
Memorial Day Weekend to L.A prices out slightly higher - just $99 bucks "all in"

Fares are available for a limited time and at a limited quantity. Visit http://www.ual.com/

A few good fares found today:
Oakland-Los Angeles $78+ tax/roundtrip United & Delta Airlines
Oakland-Long Beach $78+tax/roundtrip JetBlue
Oakland-Chicago-Midway $57+tax one-way Southwest DING! Fare
San Francisco-San Diego $78+tax/roundtrip United Airlines
Sacramento to Columbus for $58+ one-Way Southwest Airlines DING! Fare

Most of these fares have holiday black-out date exclusions or other travel date restrictions. Visit farecompare.com or download the DING! program from Southwest for more information.

San Francisco - Memphis, TN $178/roundtrip taxes included Frontier Airlines
Fare valid 7 days a week through next year.

Fare Basis Code: Unscramble to reveal the mystery behind your fare

By Mike Grasso
Decoding the Fare Basis of your Airline ticket. Oh what fun!
Understanding the pricing strategy behind the fare basis can help you realize the different fares available for a particular route, saving ya oodles of money.
Caution: Now entering the murky waters of airfare pricing.

A fare basis code (different from the confirmation number) applies to all purchased airline tickets. Each code explains how your fare was calculated, the restrictions on it and more. They usually aren't printed on your boarding pass, occasionally found on your receipt, or sometimes no where to be found & you just have to call the airline directly to find it out. Hint: Travelocity is pretty good about giving at least the first letter "booking class" when you view rules of a selected airfare. Let's look more into fare basis codes:

Below is a sampling of fares available for San Francisco to Las Vegas:

The "L" fare basis code is the cheapest $44 each way. The "14" in the code signifies the ticket must be purchased 14 days in advance. The remainder of the codes can signify peak or off peak or minimum stay requirements. If you were purchasing a ticket 10 days before departure, the computer would display a $99 "W" fare because you meet the requirement of a 7 day advance purchase. Of course if the airline has sold out of the "W" fares, then it looks for the next higher priced tier- in this case a "V" fare. Finally, the "Y" fare is a refundable fare with 0 day minimum purchase; you can walk up to the ticket counter to purchase - and pay the $407 fare that luxury comes with.

Fare Basis Purchase as early as Fare
LA14ON9 29 Oct 07 $ 44
WA7NGZ 22 Oct 07 $ 99
VA3NGZ 18 Oct 07 $ 109
YTED0 15 Oct 07 $ 407

This is a simplified version of how to unscramble your fare basis code. In reality there are several fare basis codes, and sub-categories, since airline pricing is pretty complex. Here is a link for SFO-SEATTLE (scroll to the bottom part of the screen) if you want to look at some additional fare basis codes. You can also check your own itineraries and try to decode the mystery behind fare basis. BTW - fare basis codes are different from the airlines confirmation code.

An important thing to remember is the airline allocates a particular number of seats for each fare basis. They don't want the plane full of people buying cheap tickets! So maybe 10 of the "L" cheap cheap tickets are available, and 15 of the "W" still pretty cheap tickets. Once the "L" tickets are sold out, then everyone else gets "W" or higher fares. So when you book a ticket for 2 or more people, if there is only 1 cheap cheap seat left, most of the time the computer doesn't split your reservation where 1 person gets the "L" and other the "W" fare - both end up getting the "W" more expensive fare. In other words, if your buying for 1 person, the fare is cheap, but buying for 2 in this example, the fare isn't as cheap per person. In this example, you might consider booking this as 2 separate reservations so at least 1 person can take advantage of the lower price.

Of course the fare basis is only 1 piece of the pricing pie. The airline may not offer multiple tiers of pricing on some routes because of a lack of competition or expected higher demand. In this case, all the fares may be high when you perform a search. Best advice: Keep at it. Check prices periodically, airlines have sales, and sometimes they even have unannounced short-term deals which the general public never hears of unless they just happen to stumble on it.

In the meantime, have fun with your fare basis code - decode. Use the link provided above and change your cities and dates in the address bar line to suite your needs. With this information, you can find all fares published and the restrictions with each, enabling you to make an informed decision for airline tickets.

Hot Fare: San Francisco to Kansas City - $120 roundtrip + tax Continental Airlines
Fare Valid 7 days a week thru February 9th CLICK HERE

A few good fare finds this morning:
San Francisco to Los Angeles $78/roundtrip + tax on Virgin America
San Francisco to Cleveland, OH $144/roundtrip +tax on United Airlines
Both fares available 7 days a week including weekends.
virgin america sale and farecompare

HOT FARE! San Jose to Los Angeles $80/roundtrip, taxes included! American Airlines
Travel Tuesday & Wednesdays in October and first 2 weeks of November.
Visit http://www.farecompare.com/

HOT! Oakland-Orange County $30 each way (not a typo) DING! Fare from Southwest Airlines
Fare is valid for travel Monday-Thursday and Saturday, October 1 through November 15, 2007 only. You must have DING! from Southwest Airlines installed on your computer as these rates are not available at the Southwest website.

San Francisco to Orlando, FL $199RT taxes included. Frontier Airlines. 14-day advance purchase required, and the fare is available 7-days a week through early next year.
Visit farecompare.com or frontierairlines.com

San Francisco to Newark, NJ $185/rt taxes included. Valid for travel Tues/Wed/Saturday August 14th to November 14th. Non-stop service. United Airlines

Oakland/San Jose to Miami/Ft Lauderdale/West Palm Beach - $202/rt including taxes. Valid travel September 5-November 14th. American Airlines