Booking One-Way International Flights

A nationally recognized reporter, writer, and consumer advocate, Ed Perkins focuses on how travelers can find the best deals and avoid scams.

He is the author of "Online Travel" (2000) and "Business Travel: When It's Your Money" (2004), the first step-by-step guide specifically written for small business and self-employed professional travelers. He was also the co-author of the annual "Best Travel Deals" series from Consumers Union.

Perkins' advice for business travelers is featured on MyBusinessTravel.com, a website devoted to helping small business and self-employed professional travelers find the best value for their travel dollars.

Perkins was founding editor of Consumer Reports Travel Letter, one of the country's most influential travel publications, from which he retired in 1998. He has also written for Business Traveller magazine (London).

Perkins' travel expertise has led to frequent television appearances, including ABC's "Good Morning America" and "This Week with David Brinkley," "The CBS Evening News with Dan Rather," CNN, and numerous local TV and radio stations.

Before editing Consumer Reports Travel Letter, Perkins spent 25 years in travel research and consulting with assignments ranging from national tourism development strategies to the design of computer-based tourism models.

Born in Evanston, Illinois, Perkins lives in Ashland, Oregon with his wife.

See recent posts by Ed Perkins

Q: Can I buy a one-way international flight?

A: Of course you can, but in many cases only at a gouge price. Finding really low one-way fares can sometimes be a challenge. In early June, we tested trips from Boston to London and Los Angeles to Hong Kong for travel in mid-July, and found these fares:

One-way international flights: Boston-London

Cheapest one-way $265 on WOW with stop/change at Reykjavik; WOW round-trip $990
Cheapest nonstop: $345 on Norwegian, round-trip $800
Cheapest legacy line nonstop: $1,476 on British Airways, round-trip $1,045

One-way international flights: Los Angeles-Hong Kong

Cheapest one-way $479 using three different airlines, round-trip $764
Cheapest nonstop: $941 on Cathay Pacific, round-trip $1,329

There are no transpacific low-fare lines at this time.

For intra-European flights, the two giant low-fare lines, EasyJet and Ryanair, are all price tickets as one-way fares. Low fare lines in other areas typically do the same. Again, sometimes the legacy lines match; sometimes they don’t.

The takeaway: Although we used a very small sample, what we found seems to reflect the general pattern.

Most low-fare lines price all tickets on a one-way basis. If a low-fare line goes where you want to go, you can find a one-way ticket at half the round-trip or even less, depending on seasons, taxes, fees, and such.
Absent competitive pressure, major airlines tend to price one-way tickets much higher than half round-trip prices.
Legacy lines sometimes even price one-way tickets at less than round-trip. Obviously, in those cases, you buy a round-trip and throw away the return ticket.
You often find substantially lower one-way fares if you’re willing to forego a nonstop and instead accept a stop, change of planes, or circuitous routing.

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Consumer advocate Ed Perkins has been writing about travel for more than three decades. The founding editor of the Consumer Reports Travel Letter, he continues to inform travelers and fight consumer abuses every day at SmarterTravel.

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