Our daughter will be teaching in Spain next year. Once teaching is done, she may stay a few weeks to travel around Europe. Does it make sense to book a round trip ticket with no change fees so she can change the return trip if needed or wait to book a one way flight back when she knows her final plans (and book a one way ticket there now)?
Posted by
Twin Cities of MN
6438 posts
My daughter is a grad student in Honolulu. Given the cost of living there, her kind and loving mother pays for her trips to visit family in MN a couple times a year. I've always booked changeable tickets for her and have changed her tickets a few times. I got burned a few times when fares went up and I had to rebook the entire ticket, but one of the her legs stayed the same (but cost more). Oddly one time I changed her ticket and it let me modify the return and keep what I had for the outbound. I've talked to Delta about this and they really couldn't explain.
Anyway, on occasion, when she has known part of her itinerary, I've booked one way tickets. This has allowed me to book when she doesn't know the other leg of her journey. And it also allows me to change one flight and leave the other untouched. The one way tickets to Hawaii have always been the same or close to a round trip ticket in price.
However, when I've explored doing similar on flights to Europe, sometimes the one way prices equal the round trip, but other times, the one way ticket was super expensive.
So, my answer to your question is you have to play around with the pricing and see if you can book the one ways without paying a premium. But, whatever you do, book a changeable ticket. I think if I could get a really reasonable round trip ticket that was changeable, I'd take my chances. But again, you have to do some research
Posted by
Washington DC
28062 posts
If only the return trip changes and she updates the ticket after getting to Europe, at least she won't have to worry about an increase in the cost of the outbound ticket.
United Airlines (and maybe others) prices teach segment of a frequent-flyer ticket individually; there's no penalty for booking one-way flights. I always book the outbound and return tickets separately in case I need to change one of them (and have done so). That way, I don't have to worry about whether frequent-flyer seats will still be available when I need to make a change, or how many miles they will cost. United also allows free changes to frequent-flyer tickets; I imagine it's not the only airline with that policy.
Since there's no price (mileage) penalty for booking one-way frequent-flyer tickets on United, I have often not booked my return ticket until after I've arrived in Europe and been traveling for some time.
I mention the above possibilities in case there's a family member with a stash of frequent-flyermiles your daughter could use.
Posted by
Chicago
645 posts
As noted, most of the time, a one-way fare for European travel is much more
than half a RT fare. I think some discount airlines that offer transatlantic travel
may offer 1 way fares = 50% RT fare, but they don't offer broad coverage and
you don't mention departure/return cities.
Either option you mention may work, but it seems like there's a good chance your
daughter might end up in a different place than she starts, so you would want to
be able to change not only the date, but the return departure city. That could be
an issue if the airline you booked the ticket with doesn't fly from there. Even if
the same airline offers flights, the ticketing conditions will come into play.
I'd say that 9-12 months away is a long time and who knows what might happen
in that time. So I'd most likely just do the one-way there now and wait until later
to purchase the return. At the same time, if the return is going to be during the
summer, you may not want to wait until the last minute as flights may get booked
and fares may be high.
Also as noted, frequent-flyer miles may be an option, but waiting until the last
minute to book a flight from Europe in the summertime is a dicey proposition.
Posted by
Chicago
1135 posts
Former expat (not EU or Spain) - I wonder what kind of visa she is traveling on. Sometimes, depending on country, there will be questions for someone entering a country without a return ticket. I don't know if that is a problem with Spain, but I was explicitly advised by an employer in one country as to what type of ticket to purchase to avoid slow downs at immigration, i.e., not one way.
Does her employing school have an HR person that this can be discussed with? Or, other current US or other foreign teachers that could share their experience and advice?