Buying one way tickets—Christmas time

[quandrea]

I’m travelling the last week of 2019 into 2020. West jet has not released their fares yet for January. Wondering if I should grab the outbound leg now and purchase himebound once it’s released. Please advise.

 

[hcortesis]

This is how we always book. Outbound when it becomes available. Then return when it becomes available. We fly Air Canada (Aeroplan) and it is pretty much a must to do it this way as by the time the return flights become available, the outbound flight would have been gone. So yes, I book outbound the day it shows up. And I book the return the day it shows up. 356 days out. This is a little difference case with you and WestJet possibly.

 

[Disneylover99]

If the price is right going, you know your dates, you're going for sure, then buy now.

 

[quandrea]

This is how we always book. Outbound when it becomes available. Then return when it becomes available. We fly Air Canada (Aeroplan) and it is pretty much a must to do it this way as by the time the return flights become available, the outbound flight would have been gone. So yes, I book outbound the day it shows up. And I book the return the day it shows up. 356 days out. This is a little difference case with you and WestJet possibly.

Thank you. A friend is joining us. We bought our Air Canada outbound the day it came out. Haven’t bought homebound yet. Waiting for Westjet. I’m actually coming back later with my twins in January than my husband and older daughter so hopefully those flights will be lower than the flights that fly right before school goes back. This way we will only take the high fare hit in two tickets. I’ll tell my friend to buy now.

 

[quandrea]

If the price is right going, you know you're dates, you're going for sure, then buy now.

Price isn’t right but it’s probably as good as it will get.

 

[michelb]

In my experience, for flights in Canada, there's a huge premium when buying one-way flights so I'd be surprised if this was beneficial financially but I have to admit I've never compared it (The only times I've looked for one-way fares in Canada, it seemed to be almost the same price as buying a return ticket - we fly one-way in the US multiple times per year and there's not a big difference in "per-leg" cost).

 

[quandrea]

In my experience, for flights in Canada, there's a huge premium when buying one-way flights so I'd be surprised if this was beneficial financially but I have to admit I've never compared it (The only times I've looked for one-way fares in Canada, it seemed to be almost the same price as buying a return ticket - we fly one-way in the US multiple times per year and there's not a big difference in "per-leg" cost).

That used to be true. I have found recently though that this no longer applies. In fact, I often get a better rate purchasing two tickets rather than one round trip ticket. Important to always check. The airlines are very sneaky.

 

[Tinkershelly]

That used to be true. I have found recently though that this no longer applies. In fact, I often get a better rate purchasing two tickets rather than one round trip ticket. Important to always check. The airlines are very sneaky.

I have found this as well as long as I'm paying cash, using airmiles it's usually much cheaper to buy a round trip. You're wise to be checking this far out and keeping track, good luck