Round-trip airfares versus two one-way fares.

The short answer is no. You could book an open jaw which would act like to one way tickets but you would still need a firm return date. But call the airline and ask about an open ticket. Our experience with that was when our son studied abroad and he purchased a RT but the return date was open. He had two or three week window when he had to return. That was set up by the school for the study abroad students so I knew they do that but don't know under what conditions for an individual.

Last time we flew into Germany (Munich) the immigration insisted on seeing our return tickets.

Patty, you could open a can of worms if you try to arrive in Europe without a return ticket...that's a big red flag. They'll likely quiz you pretty well...(some countries might even escort you directly to the ticket counters for your IMMEDIATE return to the USA) That would be a bummer...8^0

As others have said, European authorities normally want to see you arrive with a return date ready. Just because you have an American passport does not mean you can come and go whenever, and anyone who shows up with a one-way ticket and without some type of visa will look suspicious.

I've never been asked to show a return ticket upon arriving in Europe. But maybe that's because info is already is the computer system and one-way tickets are flagged in advance; I couldn't say. Regardless, you could test out RT vs. 2 OW ticket costs on a search engine just by entering two OW requests on varying dates and comparing costs against a round-trip ticket.

An open ticket means basically that you have paid the fare but will book the flight date later. That used to be easy to do in the days before airline deregulation, when most fares were pretty much fixed. But now, fares vary so much depending on seat availability, I can't imagine an airline committing to let you pay a certain price for a ticket, but leaving it up to you to book the actual flight when you feel like it. If such open ticket privileges still exist, I would imagine they would be the maximum fare charged on that route, which would be very expensive.

It's odd how experiences vary. I must pass through some kind of european border/immigration control six or eight times a year and have never been asked to provide evidence of how I plan to leave. With two more trips in the works prior to Thanksgiving, for neither of which will I arrive with a return ticket, it looks like I'll have to squat down and duck-walk along the side of the booth/counter.

I've never flown to Europe without a return ticket. Although I've often flown with an open-jaw ticket to fly home from another airport.......I don't see a discount for a roundtrip vs. open jaw ticket. The price is the result of the total costs for the legs you are flying (though ironically sometimes extra legs can significantly lower the overall price).

Ed, I've made a couple of phone calls; you're now on 'The List'...

Wow!!! I can't believe the number of responses. My thanx to each of you. If I'm able to negotiatiate anything that is of a positive nature, I'll pass it along. Again, thank you. /s/Patty I.