Alex McWhirter examines topical business travel issues. This month the rules on one-way travel using return tickets.
Can discounted return tickets be used for a one-way trip? That was the question posed by readers of our online forum recently (see the “Pricing of single air tickets” thread on the businesstraveller.com forum).
In truth, there is no definitive answer. Much depends on the travel supplier and its attitude towards canny travellers not using the return portion of their ticket to cut costs. Consider that:
- A one-way economy London-New York ticket with British Airways costs £703, whereas BA will readily sell you a return for £440.
- A one-way Birmingham-Milan trip with Swiss via Zurich will be £419, while a round trip can cost as little as £66.
- Norwich-Amsterdam is little more than a hop across the North Sea, but a one-way with KLM costs a hefty £381, while an excursion is available for £119.
The price quirks are all down to market forces and affect only conventional carriers, which cut their return fares to remain competitive with rivals. But when it comes to one-way journeys, for which demand is limited, some airlines may simply charge the full one-way price. Do note that some one-way fares, such as the BA one above, give a greater degree of flexibility than the excursion fare. For instance, you can cancel your flight with the one-way fare and get your money back, something that is not possible with the excursion rate, and also make changes without paying a fee to do so.
In general, airlines dislike travellers throwing away the return halves of their ticket. “They would argue that travellers are not honouring the ‘spirit’ of the excursion fare,” says a spokesman for industry watchdog ACAP (formerly the AUC). “In other words, the ticket is not being used in the way it was intended.”
One airline, Conti-Flug, which used to operate between London City (LCY) and Berlin (alas, this independent German carrier has ceased trading), was realistic enough to accept the situation. A sign on its LCY ticket desk offered to purchase unused return halves from passengers for a small fee.
But the more serious airlines claim that purposely missing part of your itinerary constitutes a breach of contract. They also say that buying a cheap ticket in this way deprives bone fide round-trip passengers of cheaper fares, because the number of seats is then limited.
Airlines have systems that allow them to track “unusual ticketing activity” and no-shows. If you use this ruse a few times then it’s unlikely anything will happen – after all, you could claim that plans changed or you were taken ill. But exploit this loophole many times and there is a chance the carrier will come after you or your agent.
An airline is unlikely to take you to court for the fare difference as it would not want the resulting publicity, but it could blacklist you via its frequent flyer programme. Travel agents could be issued with an ADM (agency debit memo) for the difference in price. A memo forwarded from British Airways to its agents states: “We will raise an ADM for non-compliance with fare rules. The general principle applied is to raise the fare to the next applicable fare.”
One thing that you definitely cannot do is use only the return portion of your ticket. If you fail to show up for the outward journey, the airline will automatically cancel the remaining flight or flights on your itinerary. It means that when you report to, say, Munich airport for your return to London, you will be refused boarding and will have to purchase a new one-way ticket priced in euros, which will be a costly exercise.
The cross-Channel operators are also known to be strict. Before the summer peak, P&O Ferries was selling day returns (for a car and passengers) priced at a flat £25 between Dover and Calais. This contrasted with the current average one-way rates priced at £50.
Again, you can use this ruse once or twice but after that, beware. The ferry firms can easily track you down from your vehicle registration so, unless you change your vehicle, it’s easy for them to blacklist you in future.
By contrast, one rail firm is quite laid-back. When I used Eurostar for an appointment in Paris some years ago (at a time when Eurostar did not offer a cheap one-way) and needed a cheap Paris-London one-way, I was provided with a £59 round-trip and told to use only the return leg. When I queried this with Eurostar, I was told there would be no problem. The train firm explained that it always had walk-up passengers (those who did not know Eurostar operated a reservations-only service) who had to be placed on stand-by when trains were busy. But, routinely, a number of £59 return passengers would never show, which in turn allowed last-minute customers to be accommodated. (Eurostar confirms the situation is unchanged, but the savings are minimal or nonexistent nowadays.)
So the moral is to use throwaway tickets carefully:
- Do not declare your frequent flyer programme details (or prepare to lose mileage).
- Where possible, use a different carrier for each trip.
- Consider using a budget carrier. These, of course, always price on a one-way basis.
