Why is one way ticket so expensive

I do understand that it is likely that the one-way is a flex ticket and in a different fare bucket than what the roundtrip is based on. I have found similar results with international roundtrips vs. Only a handful, like TAP, Aeroflot and Turkish, offered prices that could be deemed reasonable for the one-way.

Comparably, on domestic flights, I find that 9 out of 10 times a one-way will price at or around half of the comparable roundtrip. Thank you for all the interesting content you provide to us readers. The reason I ask is because this used to be far more commonplace even in domestic markets, but it has started to fade away over time thanks to competitive pressure. But I suppose I should back up. After deregulation, the airlines really poured gas on the fire in trying to improve revenue management.

What they realized was that they liked all these full-fare-paying passengers that filled about half their airplanes, but they also knew that once that airplane pushed back from the gate, an empty seat was a permanent lost opportunity. How could they keep those business travelers paying full fare but then sprinkle in lower-paying leisure travelers to fill those empty seats?

They created fences. Or not. Instead, these are artificial fences that force each category to buy their own respective fares. The primary fences that were used were somewhat intuitive. Business travelers tended to book at the last minute, fly during the week, make changes and get refunds as plans changed, and mix and match airlines to get the option with the best schedule. So, to get a low fare, the airlines instituted long advance-purchase requirements, required a roundtrip purchase with a Saturday-night stay, and made tickets non-refundable.

The plan was a smashing success. Airlines filled a lot more empty seats, and they made a ton more money on each flight. This became the norm in the s and s, but business travelers were naturally grumpy about this. After all, they were now flying on airplanes that were more full and not with respectable business travelers yet they were still paying a ton of money.

The companies themselves grumbled about the latter. Something was bound to give. Little Southwest stabilized and grew rapidly after its rocky start in the s. With it, the airline brought low, one-way fares that travelers loved. The floodgates opened, and now there is so much low-cost competition within the US and elsewhere that one-way pricing has become the norm.

For long-haul, the same scenario is replaying a couple decade later. Low-cost carriers never successfully penetrated the long-haul world during this time.

The dynamics were such that it was just too challenging, so the old fare structure stood. Newly-converted TAP Air Portugal is now using the same model as a way to make people consider accepting a Lisbon stop. Nobody wants to add a connection in Dublin or, even worse, Moscow, when flying between the US and Europe. There certainly are exceptions, especially for those that fly out of smaller, regional airports.

Cheap days: In the U. For international travel, weekdays are usually cheaper than weekends. Expensive days: Fridays and Sundays usually cost more, especially in the U. Airlines prefer that travelers fly round-trip simply because it is more convenient for their scheduling systems.

Travelers who purchase one-way flights with the intention of purchasing another one-way ticket for the return journey make it difficult for airlines to make airplane staffing decisions and set flight schedules ahead of time. It is common for passengers who need only a one-way ticket to take advantage of the lower round-trip fares, then simply discard the unused ticket portion.

This is against airline ticketing rules, but it is almost never punished. When someone purchases a one-way ticket at a higher price than the cost of half of the same round-trip journey, the airline is able to adjust flight schedules without losing money -- whether the passenger decides to book a one-way return or not. If you're not sure when you'll be returning, purchasing a one-way ticket seems logical. Terms apply to the offers listed on this page. For an explanation of our Advertising Policy, visit this page.

TPG reader Mona wants to know why it seems that one-way tickets are often more expensive than round-trip tickets …. Why is it that one-way tickets are always so much more expensive than round-trip tickets? Some carriers price tickets on a per-leg basis, where the round-trip price is simply the sum of the two one-way fares JetBlue and Southwest immediately come to mind.

On any given day, American Airlines operates about 10 non-stop flights between these two cities. Still, there are plenty of cases where the opposite is true and one-way tickets are incredibly expensive.

So what should you do about this? While there are a number of different ways to book this award, your best value is typically going to come from redeeming 70, Alaska Mileage Plan miles. So which should you use for your one-way redemption? The inflated one-way price?