One way flights - advice needed

We are looking at the two transatlantic cruises in winter 2019 - Journey Barcelona to Miami and Pursuit Lisbon to Rio.

I have been looking at prices for one way tickets to the U.K. from Miami and from Rio. We have been horrified to see that one way flights seem to cost about 3 times as much as return flights.

Anyone got any ideas about how to get reasonable priced flights. We’d want to book business class.

 

 

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In these circumstances it’s usually best to look for multi city flights, rather than two singles. Being so far out prices will not yet be available for winter 2019, although you could do some ‘dummy’ enquiries using Skyscanner for winter 2018 which should give you some indication of prices.

I am assuming you are looking at booking just one of these cruises. In all honesty unless you have frequent flier miles, which is how we are funding our one way trip back from Rio this December you will be better to book your flights through the cruise line as they do get slightly better prices but it will still be much higher than 50% of a return fare.

As I recall, our two business class tickets back from Rio have cost us 150,000 avois for 2 business class. You can buy Avios which helps if you have not saved enough but there are annual purchase limits. Also there are only 4 seats a day maximum released on Avios at the outset in business class - I was up at midnight the very first day I could book to get them.

My guess is the cruise line will get much better one way deals out of Miami, given the volume of business there than they will out of Rio which has limited choice of carriers.

Edited January 29, 2018 by uktog

Do you know Norwegian Airlines? Not related to NCL and no extra costs for one way flights, their premium product is pretty nice.

I have to admit that i booked a "full" flight once and only used one leg, was cheaper than one way but you have to make sure that you fly the first leg. Sometimes Virgin Airlines with no additional costs if you are lucky ;)

Have you looked at Choice Air? Its probably to early to see prices for 2019. We are doing a TA on Pursuit from Barcelona in Nov. the fares I am finding for business are reasonable. A $7000 fare on Lufthansa is $1600 on Choiceair. I realize the flights are dfferent for me, we are going from SFO to BCN, but maybe you will have similar luck in finding a good fare. :)

I agree that Choice Air is usually the way to go for one-way international flights (and frequently for multi-city trips as well). I suggest you check prices on TAP Portugal. I found a very attractive business class fare to come back from Lisbon to the US after our Quest TA in April. As I recall, it was about $300 per person better than Choice Air options.

 

Just for fun, I used kayak.com to price a trip LHR-LIS and GIG-LHR for the approximate dates in 2018 that match the Pursuit TA (flying out on the day before the Wednesday sailing and returning the day the ship arrives in Rio. The total price for the trip was $1,688 USD per person. That seems pretty reasonable to me.

We are looking at the two transatlantic cruises in winter 2019 - Journey Barcelona to Miami and Pursuit Lisbon to Rio.

I have been looking at prices for one way tickets to the U.K. from Miami and from Rio. We have been horrified to see that one way flights seem to cost about 3 times as much as return flights.

Anyone got any ideas about how to get reasonable priced flights. We’d want to book business class.

 

 

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Have you checked the box that says Multiple Destinations? Put your outbound flight in the first set of blanks and your return set in the second set of blanks. You should be much happier with your prices!

 

 

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We are looking at the two transatlantic cruises in winter 2019 - Journey Barcelona to Miami and Pursuit Lisbon to Rio.

I have been looking at prices for one way tickets to the U.K. from Miami and from Rio. We have been horrified to see that one way flights seem to cost about 3 times as much as return flights.

Anyone got any ideas about how to get reasonable priced flights. We’d want to book business class.

 

 

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From Miami to U.K., you would get better prices than from Rio to U.K.

One way tickets in the main airlines are always more expensive. You could see if on those itineraries a round trip business would not be cheaper. Some times they have offers.

What I do to is I book premium economy and upgrade it to business with miles.

Ivi

Thanks everyone for your advice, it’s very helpful. I didn’t know about the multiple destinations option. I will follow up all your suggestions.

 

 

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Thanks everyone for your advice, it’s very helpful. I didn’t know about the multiple destinations option. I will follow up all your suggestions.

 

 

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A further thought as this is not an Azamara specific question you might want to post (or move the original post) to the Cruiseair board. I’ve got fantastic advice from great ticketing experts there.

 

 

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If you go to a specialist flight agency (they used to be called bucket shops) they can sell you a package of a flight and hotel, including business class and it can be considerably cheaper than flight only, we have done this and never used the hotel.

My personal experience and viewpoint. If I haven't got miles to use for one way business class (which is the most economic way I can use them) I've booked direct with the cruiseline. They can negotiate a much lower one way fare than I can on my own. Sometimes it's been not a lot more than half of the discounted return fare. It also means I can choose my favoured airline more readily. There is quite a difference in the business class offerings between airlines (and often aircraft within an airline) and I try and research the best I can for the most up to date information. Google is your friend here. From a personal perspective I try and keep the flights as simple as I can. I don't want multi-stops as it just adds to flight time and gives a greater chance of my bags going astray. I'm not into doing what some people do and buying a return ticket and only using one sector (although it wouldn't work for you anyway because it's the return only portion you'd need and you couldn't return if you hadn't "left"). I collect BA Avios and earn them by paying for revenue flights (always return) and buying them during the year up to the maximum I am allowed to purchase and when there is a bonus offer going.

 

I haven't discovered a magical solution to cheap one way business class airfare yet. I thought I had. I was going to use Silverjet. Such a great concept and flying from my local airport, but they went bust.

 

As uktog has mentioned you also should post on the dedicated Cruise Air board here on Cruise Critic. There's a wealth of knowledge over there. Much better than mine. That is how I deal with it though. And of course Choice Air is not offered to us in the UK.

 

Phil

Using the buy a round trip and only take the leg you want will work for everyone, for those in the UK, purchase the flight starting in Miami to UK return and only use the Miami to UK leg which is the first leg. You don't have to begin your round trip in your home location. Might take buying on the US website and pay in USD but, will work.

Thanks everyone for your advice, it’s very helpful. I didn’t know about the multiple destinations option. I will follow up all your suggestions.

 

 

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Use ITA Matrix on web to search prices (no tix sales) and provides max flexibility in routes and ID of lowest bizclass flights.

 

 

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Thanks again. I have put my query on the Cruise Air forum and will keep looking. TAP looks a possibility - anyone any recent experience of TAP long haul?

 

 

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Thanks again. I have put my query on the Cruise Air forum and will keep looking. TAP looks a possibility - anyone any recent experience of TAP long haul?

 

 

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TAP is a Star Alliance member- always smart to use as those airlines for flexibility in dealing with flight issues requiring possible change in itinerary.

 

 

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Using the buy a round trip and only take the leg you want will work for everyone, for those in the UK, purchase the flight starting in Miami to UK return and only use the Miami to UK leg which is the first leg. You don't have to begin your round trip in your home location. Might take buying on the US website and pay in USD but, will work.

If you are ditching a leg you must always ditch only the return leg. If you do not do a "dummy" outbound flight it cancels the inbound booking in most cases.

If you go to a specialist flight agency (they used to be called bucket shops) they can sell you a package of a flight and hotel, including business class and it can be considerably cheaper than flight only, we have done this and never used the hotel.

 

 

 

Only problem there is that you earn no FF points for the hotel. By contrast, if you get a "cheap price" webpage or e-mail from any other source, all chain hotels will match or best it.

 

 

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Thanks again. I have put my query on the Cruise Air forum and will keep looking. TAP looks a possibility - anyone any recent experience of TAP long haul?

 

 

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I did a lot of research before booking them for our flight in April. I used seatguru.com for seat reviews (learned that they have two styles of business class seats and which flights/aircraft used the "good" one) and flyertalk.com for additional information. It looked pretty good so I took the chance. I will try to remember to come back and post our experience when we get home the end of April.

If you are ditching a leg you must always ditch only the return leg. If you do not do a "dummy" outbound flight it cancels the inbound booking in most cases.

 

 

Not only is this true, but some airlines will "flag" you for repeated abuses and you may find yourself banned (not uncommon with Star Alliance partners).

 

 

 

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Not only is this true, but some airlines will "flag" you for repeated abuses and you may find yourself banned (not uncommon with Star Alliance partners).

 

 

 

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Yes British Airways and Oneworld as well. Same as doing name changes on one leg as you sell on a ticket to someone else assuming the ticket is transferrable

Thanks again. I have put my query on the Cruise Air forum and will keep looking. TAP looks a possibility - anyone any recent experience of TAP long haul?

 

 

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Check out this post from blog One Mile At A Time. Ben is an aviation geek, and all he does is fly and review business and first class flights as well as hotels. He just flew TAP business from Lisbon to Newark. While it isn't the flight you are interested in, he has a lot of useful info and tons of photos.

 

http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2018/01/28/tap-air-portugal-business-class-a330-review/

Check out this post from blog One Mile At A Time. Ben is an aviation geek, and all he does is fly and review business and first class flights as well as hotels. He just flew TAP business from Lisbon to Newark. While it isn't the flight you are interested in, he has a lot of useful info and tons of photos.

 

 

 

http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2018/01/28/tap-air-portugal-business-class-a330-review/

 

 

 

Thanks for that - goes some way to explain why they are cheap! Still its probably better than anyone’s economy seats!

 

 

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Using the buy a round trip and only take the leg you want will work for everyone, for those in the UK, purchase the flight starting in Miami to UK return and only use the Miami to UK leg which is the first leg. You don't have to begin your round trip in your home location. Might take buying on the US website and pay in USD but, will work.

 

 

 

What about cancellation and no show fees?

 

 

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I've booked direct with the cruiseline. They can negotiate a much lower one way fare than I can on my own.

As we can’t use Choice Air in UK, this is the route we have used with both Celebrity and Azamara. If you book ‘Air’ with the cruise line, your booking becomes a package, so you will have transfers and a day hotel added, as most flights returning from the States / Canada leave mid evening. The single fare from both Miami (Infinity T.A 2013) and Montreal ( Quest Repositioning 2016) was £750, but that was not business class.

I believe you can add Air after booking the cruise.