# Purchasing airline tickets



## newfoundlander61 (Feb 6, 2011)

Haven't travelled a quite a few years and was looking at a trip to see some family in ST. John's NFLD. My plan is to fly out of Toronto or Ottawa and I was wondering if buying a one way ticket there and doing the same thing coming back is cheaper than getting a return ticket? Anyone have any suggestions or experience with this way of travelling on canadian airlines.


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## uptoolate (Oct 9, 2011)

I suspect that a return airfare is cheaper but you can go on Air Canada's website and book it either way to see what each would cost. Just don't actually book anything until you are sure of details.


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## Eclectic12 (Oct 20, 2010)

The airline business, particularly booking over the web seems to be constantly changing.

For what it's worth, there's only been one time I found booking one way to be cheaper. That's when there was a "loss leader" on the flight down to Florida as the flight down was $59 plus taxes/fees but no matter what day of the week for the return flight, the return flight on the same airline started at $450. I checked booking one way on one Canadian carrier and a different one for the return but the other Canadian airline was something like $330 one way return.

The final, chepeast solution was booking one way on a Canadian airline (to get a $59 one way flight) and then booking a US airline back (to get an $89 one way flight), which ended up with a total bill including taxes, airport fees etc. of $305 for the round trip.


When I checked a three way flight - it was cheaper to book two one way trips as if it was a round trip and then a one way to connect the two cities (i.e. book to LA with a return that started in San Francisco on the Canadian airline and then separately book a one way from LA to SFO using the cheapest US airline).


Bear in mind that my co-worker who was going back to Newfoundland for Christmas was typically booking at least ten months in advance. I'm not sure if it has changed since.


Cheers


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## Plugging Along (Jan 3, 2011)

With the way tickets are, it is no longer cheaper to buy round trip. 

Your best bets are flying on Tuesday or Wednesday. The cheapest flights are usually 2 days before, but you really take your chances. I found waiting for a seat sale usually works if you are not in a rush. When booking for a major trip I pretty much everyday or just subscribe to the newsletter.


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## marina628 (Dec 14, 2010)

If you are planing to buy a ticket in winter months get return because of weather if there is travel alert you will get to change the flight and date for free.It is crazy to try to fly there this time of year and have several family members who went home for Christmas and had trips canceled 1-2 days each way.


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## newfoundlander61 (Feb 6, 2011)

Thanks for the great feedback, I will do a return flight purchase. Good info on the cheaper days.


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## realist (Apr 8, 2011)

I like Kayak.com which includes "mix and match" flights in its comparisons. It is less useful within Canada since we are only picking from 2-3 airlines depending on the route, but for international it's great.


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## OurBigFatWallet (Jan 20, 2014)

I'd also recommend kayak. Lots of different ways to tweak a search. Prices seem to change every 30 minutes which can be frustrating and is more related to the airline industry not just kayak


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

When flying within Canada, there is generally no advantage of a round trip ticket (international is different: I've seen big savings on round trip tickets)

Best is to try it out using the Westjet and Air Canada web sites! See if it results in a difference.

Subscribe to the WJ and AC emails for seat sales. The sales pop up often. You generally should buy more than 2 weeks before your trip as cost of tickets generally rises as you approach last minute because cheaper fares sell out. You'll also want to check Westjet Blue Tag Sales. They are most Thursdays (afternoon) for just a few hours, but sales can pop up there at other times too.

The key to getting good prices on flights are: check the prices, and keep checking the prices often. Watch for sales. Try Blue Tag Thursdays. Wiggle your dates, use the tools on the air line web sites to scan the range of dates for cheaper days (both WJ and AC web sites make this easy as you can see the "lowest price" on each day to the left or right).

If you have the luxury of waiting, then it's easy... just wait for the sale to pop up and occasionally check the prices (even without a sale). Start searching *now* to get an idea of what the fares may cost.


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

By the way I fly to/from Toronto very frequently with both WJ and AC.

I find I've gotten the lowest fares when I buy 2 weeks - 4 weeks before my flight. Even though I use kayak to check fares, I always buy directly from the airline web sites. This is important as you'll get the best refund/update policy, and best airline cooperation, when you buy directly from them.

Another tip. Both airlines offer you a total refund (even for non-refundable tickets) within 24 hours of purchase. So if you see something that you think could work, *just buy it*. Then you can think about it more thoroughly and you can still get a full refund within 24 hours. Make sure you phone the call center to get the refund.

During seat sales, the available flights can disappear fast. Really fast, like you could check the web site 1 hour later and see one of the options is gone. This happened to me last week. I saw the sale and immediately bought a WJ ticket as a "tentative" booking. I soon learned that I needed another travel date, and by that time WJ had sold out (literally an hour later) and only AC had a suitable time. So I also bought a duplicate ticket at AC. Then I phoned WJ and got a full refund on the first purchase.


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## cedebe (Feb 1, 2012)

james4beach said:


> <snip>
> 
> Another tip. Both airlines offer you a total refund (even for non-refundable tickets) within 24 hours of purchase. So if you see something that you think could work, *just buy it*. Then you can think about it more thoroughly and you can still get a full refund within 24 hours. Make sure you phone the call center to get the refund.
> 
> <snip>


Thanks for posting this tip! I wasn't aware; I thought nonrefundable meant just that, regardless of the timeframe.


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

I think virtually all airlines in North America do this 24 hour refundability


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## northernguy (Oct 19, 2013)

Don't forget that United also flies direct to YYT from EWR and a crossborder flight out of BUF can sometimes be had for cheaper than ex-yyz. That said, when Porter puts on its seemingly monthly sales, AC often matches and you can piece together something pretty cheap if you're willing to fly on less popular flights.


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## MoreMiles (Apr 20, 2011)

james4beach said:


> I think virtually all airlines in North America do this 24 hour refundability


They offer it to avoid "I typed in the wrong name / date, etc" claims. They are not doing this to offer better service. They are doing it to reduce liability.

Once you have your 24 hour period for verification, it's final. It's like the 10-day new condo period, you either cancel or accept all mistake / bad terms after that period.


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