One Way Airfare - Too $$$

We are planning a transatlantic cruise but find one way airfare is extremely exorbitant. It seems almost better to buy a 2 way ticket and throw the unused portion away. Does anyone have any suggestions as to a more cost effective way around this. In a perfect world, we could cruise over on the Queen Mary to Europe, but we don't necessarily have the vacation time (still working).

It is commonly recommended here that for one way transatlantic air fare issues, the cruise line airfares are commonly a pretty good deal.

Have you looked at using Norwegian? I am not familiar with them, but I want to think they have extremely reasonable one-way fares.

My Father and I used miles on Delta from San Jose CA-Tampa and on the return I booked us on IcelandAir for $570 from Amsterdam-Rejkavik-Seattle-San Francisco. We are taking part of the stopover program in Iceland for 4 nights in Rejkavik and we are staying 4 nights in Amsterdam and 1 night in Tampa.

Rejkavik has some decent AirBnB and hotels. CruiseAir is ok but its best just to book your airfare on your own. Try doing multi city like San Francisco-Miami and Barcelona-San Francisco selecting your dates. You may be able to save money this way if you want to stay in Barcelona for 1 week after your cruise as an example.

If you can book your airfare to the Trans Atlantic Cruise and back home under one ticket that is ideal. Also you can look at using Frequent Flier miles one way or round trip.

I hope this helps.

One way international flights are the only time I have booked with a cruiseline's air (Air2Sea for RCI, Celebrity & Azamara). There are risks with those tickets, including often mediocre customer service and the potential for not being able to accommodate you in the event of a cancelled or severely delayed flight, but the cost difference, especially in a premium cabin, can be several thousand dollars over purchasing directly from the airline. So far we have gotten miles on those flights, too.

Booking a flight on points can be tough if you're looking for "saver" vs "anytime" flights. If you don't have sufficient miles on any one airline to book seats, I suggest looking into a co-branded credit card that will give you a substantial mileage bonus once you reach a certain spending level. Then get out there and spend!

Also set up price alerts on Google Flights - we had a $4000 ticket turn into a $2500 one thanks to them (less the airline's pound of flesh for changing the flight) and award seat alerts on Expert Flyer (paid subscription required).

Where from, where to, when? Coach or business? Details are all important if you want us to help.

Air Transat has well priced one ways to Europe.

Air Transat has well priced one ways to Europe.

WestJet also offers reasonable one-way fares.

For other airlines you may be better of baying a return ticket and throwing away the return. If you do this make certain your throwing away the return direction. When you don't show up for a flight, they automatically cancel all remaining segments on the ticket.

In addition to Air Transat, WestJet and Norwegian, Condor, Aer Lingus, Iceland, WOW, TAP, Aeroflot all price most one-way transatlantic routes as half round trip. La Compagnie does too, sometimes, but caveat emptor.

In addition to Air Transat, WestJet and Norwegian, Condor, Aer Lingus, Iceland, WOW, TAP, Aeroflot all price most one-way transatlantic routes as half round trip. La Compagnie does too, sometimes, but caveat emptor.

As someone who often says "caveat emptor", I am curious why you say that about La Compagnie? If you wish to make such a warning, perhaps at least a hint about why might be in order.

I too recommend Condor and Icelandair for great one way rates. We've flown Condor and liked it. Haven't flown Icelandair but likely will next summer.

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Assuming you are flying out of Halifax you may need to get a little creative. More details (date, city in Europe, etc) may help some of the people on here direct you.

Also, what cruise Line? Some have Air programs which may offer decent fares.

As someone who often says "caveat emptor", I am curious why you say that about La Compagnie? If you wish to make such a warning, perhaps at least a hint about why might be in order.

They have, I believe, two planes, so good luck for IRROPS. They canceled their Luton route after selling 8 months of tickets and offered only CDG as an accommodation offering flimsy excuses, so not ideal for cruisers. They are flighty with a business model that many have tried without success. That they now are owned by a low cost carrier with some track record and a few more planes probably means you won't be completely stuck with worthless tickets in a bankruptcy or hoping your trip insurance comes through while you're on a cell phone in EWR wth a ship leaving BCN in 36 hours or whatever, but it's not like you'll have the full schedule of United backing you up.

Could all be fine. Do your research and know your personal risks.

We have used cruise air, consolidators, transat, orbitz, cheapo air for one ways all with good success. The cruise air tickets we were issues were nothing more than consoilidator tickets. We make sure that we are on a good airline. So when looking at flights from BCN to Canada through LHR we want an airline with lots of flights and lots of tin just in case there is an issue.

I have had good luck on eauropean airlines going directly to the airlines site. I use the ita grid or Hipmunk to do initial research. I always check reviews and take proven reputable airlines. I have never paid more than $600 and recently less. Last spring I paid two hundred for a TAP flight from Boston to Rome. I have paid a bit more for Iceland air or Air Lingus. It all depends on where you are going. This fall I am traveling on Swiss Air in business class from Boston to Milan for twenty eight dollars and seventy k United miles. I would never buy from a third party. I have heard too many horror stories of people showing up at the airport and not being on the flight they thought they had booked. You all are braver than me.

Reading the above posts of the flights in the thousands. That sounds like US based airlines. They are horrible in their one way pricing. Use miles with them or check out other airlines.

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I'm looking at OW flights for next spring to return from Europe. I will likely use "Air2Sea" for RCL, but I would NOT use them if I was doing a fall OW to Europe. Reason? They promise to get you to your ship on time, but what if you want to spend several days in Europe before returning to the USA? They only promise to get you to the ship.

I used to think skyscanner was good but it is triple Air2Sea. I'm finding better deals on those airlines previous posters have mentioned. I doubt most travel agents would put in the hours of research necessary to find a good deal using them. In 2016, I booked a $425 OW PP flight from Krakow to Columbus, OH thru Air2Sea. Pretty spectacular!

I'm looking at OW flights for next spring to return from Europe. I will likely use "Air2Sea" for RCL, but I would NOT use them if I was doing a fall OW to Europe. Reason? They promise to get you to your ship on time, but what if you want to spend several days in Europe before returning to the USA? They only promise to get you to the ship.

Please provide us with actual terms and conditions that promise this. Bet you will only find weasel words and marketing spin, with words like "work with" and "efforts" and the like. There is no guarantee you will get to your ship on time, and I challenge anyone to show it in actual T&C.

I will likely use "Air2Sea" for RCL.... They promise to get you to your ship on time, but what if you want to spend several days in Europe before returning to the USA? They only promise to get you to the ship.

You've posted to this thread below, and stated you've had two unsatisfactory experiences with Air2Sea, but you'd still use them? In this thread, poster details how this promise isn't true, but you are still claiming it is?

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2538852

We have used cruise air a few times. But we are under no illusion. We do not count on the cruise line for any assistance.

We also assume that we will be getting consolidator class tickets. Lowest possible fare code means that we will be the last to be taken care of should flight/weather delays occur and that the tickets will not be honored by any other airline.

We recognize that not all cruise air tickets are consolidator class tickets but we plan and assume this when booking. We have been caught mid travel in snow events a few times and were very thankful that we did not have consolidator class tickets. We were able to get out a day ahead of others that did simply because of our fare code. Fare code, plus we had no checked bags.

Iancal -- Bravo. An informed consumer making a reasoned decision. With both eyes open.

They promise to get you to your ship on time

No, they don't. They tell you that's their goal, and they'll "work with" the airlines blah blah blah, but they make no promise to get you to the ship "on time."

It is worthwhile to pay attention to, and understand the fare codes-apart from unforeseen delays en route.

Several years ago we were about to hit the buy button on United for a couple of return tickets to Bangkok. Delta had the same fare, with a similar routing but United was our first choice because of Star Alliance points.

We double checked the fare codes. The United tickets were non refundable, no change. Delta was non refundable but change @ $200. per ticket.

As luck would have it we had to return earlier than anticipated because of a personal issue. We were happy to pay the change fee. Delta got us on a flight with 24 hours of our request. It would have been considerably more expensive had been forced to buy a one way ticket home as would have been the case with our United fare code ticket option.

I suspect that there are many people who purchase cruise air and out of country medical (from various sources) without truly understanding what they are buying. Our experience is that many people selling these do not really know what they are selling. They have a drawer statement in front of them that lists positive attributes but not conditions or fine print.

I have had good luck on eauropean airlines going directly to the airlines site. I use the ita grid or Hipmunk to do initial research. I always check reviews and take proven reputable airlines. I have never paid more than $600 and recently less. Last spring I paid two hundred for a TAP flight from Boston to Rome. I have paid a bit more for Iceland air or Air Lingus. It all depends on where you are going. This fall I am traveling on Swiss Air in business class from Boston to Milan for twenty eight dollars and seventy k United miles. I would never buy from a third party. I have heard too many horror stories of people showing up at the airport and not being on the flight they thought they had booked. You all are braver than me.

 

Reading the above posts of the flights in the thousands. That sounds like US based airlines. They are horrible in their one way pricing. Use miles with them or check out other airlines.

 

 

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I also would "almost never ever" use a 3rd party booking for flights. You need to be the customer of the service provider. (airline or hotel). This was brought to my mind again last month as we stood in line to check-in to the hotel in Charleston SC for the solar eclipse. Service was awful as the check-in staff told customer after customer with their "reservation paper" in hand that they did not have a room and that there were no rooms for 50 miles and that they had to talk to (expedia/travelocity/booking.com etc). I stepped up with my Honors loyalty card out and though not the usual timely room -- I did get one! Same with flights. When flying buy from the airline and put your loyalty # on the reservation -- it makes a difference if on or off the flight. Keep the loyalty phone service center in your phone speed dial and call it not stand at the counter -- sometimes a little faster to rebook and that is the difference between go and no go.

FOR ONE WAY FLIGHTS: Some airlines price a round tip as the 2 one ways --so not a price difference for 1way. (Southwest/Jet Blue/Emirates and some others) Often if you can do a multicity routing it is cheaper than

the one way fare. Working on getting home to Baltimore from cruise ending in Cape Town (Feb. 2018_). British Air has the flights I want. One Way London to Baltimore $1,700. One Way Cape Town to London to Baltimore prices at $1,400 range. Multicity Cape Town to Victoria Falls Zimbabwa see the falls and other activities on 2 day all inclusive tour Africa Safari Lodge the fly Victoria Falls to Johannasburg South Africa to London to Baltimore for $1,120. DH says where else can we fly to get it cheaper. On that same route you can do Emirates airlines Cape Town to Dubai to Washington DC (or New York or Boston). Under $600 one way. So must think out of the box. Try different routings -- changing city that you enter US can cause different prices. BUY REWARD POINTS ON SALE then turn them into one way tickets -- that is how they are sold so don't pay more for one way. Ask for help on cruise air forum -- they are really generous with their help in making up itineraries that are cheaper than cruise air.

I suspect that there are many people who purchase cruise air and out of country medical (from various sources) without truly understanding what they are buying. Our experience is that many people selling these do not really know what they are selling. They have a drawer statement in front of them that lists positive attributes but not conditions or fine print.

Wise words. Especially about the folks doing the selling. They've got the script and that's the extent of their knowledge. Like many cruise "travel agents", they are order takers.

You can mitigate using cruise air somewhat by doing an air deviation and flying a few days early. You will also get to pick your carrier. There is normally a fee to do the deviation so factor than in to your pricing.