Flying in and out of different airports

I check both ways, and always use the +/- 2 days function to see if there are any significant savings to be had by traveling on a different day. Also check alternate airports. I use https://matrix.itasoftware.com/ for my initial search. If you fly round trip, you can get a month-long calendar of best prices. The calendar does not work for Multi-City searches(too complicated) but then narrow it down with the +/- 2 day function.

The only tip is to pick the two entry and exit points that minimize costs - in other words, some open jaw selections are more expensive than others, so it pays to price out and compare several different flight combinations if you have the ability to be flexible. Play with dates, times, and even airports and see what effect they have on total price.

We often find open jaw tickets are cheaper than round trip tickets. And really cheap when you fact in return costs and time.

Just be sure you are not pricing two one-way tickets, but are buying your itinerary on one ticket, using the "multi-city" or "multiple destinations" option on booking websites. To find trans-Atlantic flights, use Google Flights or Kayak. To find flights within Europe, use Skyscanner.

As said above, you never know the price until you look, and there is no longer any logic. For instance, when I went to Spain in September 2015, it was about $80 cheaper to fly into Madrid and out of Barcelona then the reverse. Since it made no difference to me on that trip, that's what I did.

Since you're flying to multiple places, you should check the price of putting it all on one ticket (eg, New York to Rome, Rome to Paris, London to New York, as three segments) vs. just putting the first and last parts on one ticket and the middle segment on a separate ticket (eg, New York to Rome and London to New York as two segments on the first ticket, and Rome to Paris as a separate segment on a separate ticket). Since budget carriers fly within Europe, and these usually don't have agreements with the trans-Atlantic carriers, you may get a better price this way. Or, of course, you may not, since the "legacy" carriers like Air France may match the price of a budget carrier like Easyjet - particularly when you figure in all the extra fees.

By the way, the reason I didn't include Paris to London in either flight plan is that you'd want to make that trip by train (purchased as far in advance as you know your dates). But, if your goal in France is somewhere else besides Paris, or your goal in England is somewhere besides London, you may do better with flights (eg, Lyon to Manchester).

So you see my main tip is play around, and be flexible. For instance, if you want to see Florence, check prices into Florence, Bologna, and Pisa airports; all are viable for flying to Florence, and one may have a much better price. Of course, you have to take all factors into account. If one airport is $50 cheaper to fly into than another, but is an hour farther from the city and will cost $40 more to get to (each way), that may not be such a "bargain."

Harold is right. You do have to play around a lot with this and add in all extras that the bargain airlines charge to see which is actually best. It is time well spent though because you could potentially save a few hundred dollars. We did multicity both times we went to Europe. First time to London and from Paris, with a Eurostar train in the middle. Second time to Rome and from Paris, with a train to Venice and air from Venice to Paris. Our air ended up being Air France because the price was very close to what Ryan Air was charging, after all the luggage and seat fees were added in. (And Air France is my favorite airline so I'd pay a few dollars extra to fly them.) Next year we are flying to Dublin and from Edinburgh, with a flight to Liverpool and train from Liverpool to Edinburgh added. I even considered flying back home from Paris because it was quite a bit cheaper but ended up getting a price I liked from Edinburgh. So just play around with cities, dates, carriers vs trains and whatever makes the most sense for YOUR trip is what you'll want to choose.

I've used open jaw flight a number of times, and I've never found them to be significantly more expensive than a round trip to either of the two cities, and the difference was definitely less than the cost of returning to my arrival city.

I'm thinking of a trip next year using two bases, one closest to Munich and the other closest to Frankfurt, so open jaws makes sense.

Thanks for these suggestions. We will only be flying to get from the U.S. to Europe and return. We will not be flying within Europe. We have time and we have decided to take trains and ferries between our other stops, enabling us to see the countryside and make side trips. We are thinking about either starting in London and working our way towards Rome or the reverse. There may be other factors that will pull us one direction or the other. Timing of when I have to been at a meeting and where we want to travel to before and/or after my meeting.

It sounds like there no great disadvantages to flying open jaw. I will just tinker around a bit with the schedule and see what pops up. Thanks for your help!

Don't fly home from London. Fly in to London, and fly home from...well, anyplace else. This alone will save you a bundle.

Keep in mind that the open jaw flight may take much longer than a r/t. I usually don't fly open jaw because you sometimes have to change planes once or twice, thus making the whole flight 14-18 hrs. I'd rather spend 11 hrs direct r/t. But it mainly depends on the specific airports.

Perhaps there are fewer options from the PNW. But when both legs are on the same airline, it's likely that there will be no additional costs, beyond the fact that some cities would also cost more for a round-trip to that city.

If there are fewer options from the PNW, then I would strongly consider a two-segment flight on the same airline or its partners. I use that to get delivered to, say, Cologne instead of Frankfurt. But you might use it just to get direct from the West Coast to the first city in Europe, even if it's not one you want. United/Lufthansa often "push" two-segment flights by making them cheaper than direct flights. I've been lucky with good service and on-time flights. And your hotel room is never ready at 9AM anyway. (Talking East Coast departures there ... )

The travel agent that we use at work has advised us that the airlines are raising the prices on multi city tickets so they may not be as cost effective as they once were. The agency told us it might be less expensive to book one way tickets if we need something other than a round trip. Multiple one way tickets also make it easier to cost compare different carriers for each leg. I haven't had the occasion to book a multi city ticket yet, so I can't verify. It's definitely more work to book tickets this way.

I usually use a multi-destination itinerary, and suggest this tactic: If the trans-ocean flight includes a connection to a domestic leg, either coming or going, I like to do it at the start. Then my return departure will be from an international gateway with a mid-day takeoff -- and a much more comfortable time to get out of bed and travel to the airport. (To be clearer: New York-Paris-Marseille on the eastern leg, return Paris-New York. I hate early wake-ups.)

I had no idea about the exit taxes from London. Based on our planned itinerary - we were thinking of finishing in London. Would these same taxes apply in all of UK? What if we were to depart from Dublin or Edinburgh? I will poke around at the fares and see what turns up.

Airport taxes are a distraction. Airline tickets include all taxes and fees the airline pays. Just look at the total quoted price. If the bottom line for flying to London Heathrow versus Paris Charles de Gaulle is different, it doesn't matter why. Only customers travelling on points will see a separate charge, notably on American Airlines and British Airways, partners on trans-Atlantic flights.

Yes, Southam, I keep checking for GB airports that would offer cheaper trips back to the US than London, and I'm coming up empty. I know there are sometimes some very low prices for Scandinavia in the winter, but other than that, I don't think I've ever seen a European city that was less expensive to fly to and from than London, at least from my origin.

If anyone has information to the contrary, I'd love to have it, because I haven't enough miles to get next year's ticket for free, and I intend to fly into France and out of England or Scotland.

I certainly have observed the very high taxes you're subjected to when you use miles to book a flight back home via London, but I'm speaking of regular ticket purchases.

Depending upon exactly where you are in the "Pacific Northwest" you might check open jaw fares from Vancouver. As of last summer the cost savings, thanks to the strong USD, was considerable. Might be a cost-effective alternative for you.

While UK airports do have high departure taxes, unless you are using a Frequent Flyer ticket this does not necessarily mean that flying out of London will be more expensive than flying out of Rome. You only care about the total price. For example, I often find flying out of London to be cheaper than other cities simply because there is a lot more competition on that route. I would suggest you look at both options (starting in London ending in Rome and vice versa)

If you book now between a flight to London LHR and contrast that with one to CDG to take place in May 2017 from SFO flying BA to LHR r/t versus SFO on United to Paris, r/t, the difference in price is close to $900 with Paris on the high end.