One-Way vs RT MSP-YVR on Delta

[rwethereyet1969]

I am looking into buying airfare on Delta for a non-stop flight from MSP to YVR and back for our HAL cruise next year.  When I price out that flight route, it seems to be about $45.00 USD cheaper to buy as one-way flights instead of a RT ticket.  I am assuming it's a heftier tax on the US side of the transaction or ???  When I look at a one-way YVR-MSP the Delta website only displays the transaction in CAD but does give a CAD to USD calculation for comparison.  My Delta AMEX doesn't charge any foreign transaction fees (that I am aware of). Anyway, ...... Is there any reason NOT to buy this as 2 one-way tickets vs a RT ticket?  Are there any issues I could experience if purchasing via one-way tix?

 

Thanks in advance 🙂

[Globaliser]

28 minutes ago, rwethereyet1969 said:

Is there any reason NOT to buy this as 2 one-way tickets vs a RT ticket?  Are there any issues I could experience if purchasing via one-way tix?

 

In theory, the fare rules could be different if you buy two one-way tickets, and this could be to your disadvantage. But that's very dependent on what you're being offered each way around (and I couldn't immediately reproduce what you describe using random dates).

 

Also, if you have to change or cancel the trip, you could be liable for two lots of change or cancellation fees (although your fares may not be refundable at all).

 

In addition, if the airline makes a change in one direction that entitles and causes you to cancel (perhaps to book with some other airline instead), you wouldn't automatically be entitled to cancel the one-way ticket in the other direction . But with the duration of a cruise between the two flights, that seems unlikely to pose a real problem.

 

But the bottom line is that you could for perfectly legitimate reasons have bought two one-way tickets on different airlines to begin with, and doing the same thing but with the same airline in this situation really isn't very different.

[rwethereyet1969]

59 minutes ago, Globaliser said:

 

In theory, the fare rules could be different if you buy two one-way tickets, and this could be to your disadvantage. But that's very dependent on what you're being offered each way around (and I couldn't immediately reproduce what you describe using random dates).

 

 

This is my biggest concern at the moment.  Are the fare rules different if it's a one way flight originating from Canada to US?  Delta has different terms for US and Canada but I couldn't bring myself to read ALL the minutia in each to pick out any important differences.  I am hoping that someone who has flown US/Can routes frequently on Delta may have some insight.

 

 

[Fairgarth]

Airline tickets are sold in the currency of your origin point.  So that would be USD out of MSP and CAD out of YVR if you bought two one-ways.  Currency conversion might explain the difference between the round trip and two one-ways although I am a bit dubious.  BTW Sun Country is much cheaper than Delta.

[FlyerTalker]

3 hours ago, Fairgarth said:

 BTW Sun Country is much cheaper than Delta.

 

Sun Country also has a 29 inch pitch on its 738 aircraft, whereas DL has a 31 inch pitch on the same 738.

 

You get what you pay for.

 

 

[Globaliser]

13 hours ago, rwethereyet1969 said:

Are the fare rules different if it's a one way flight originating from Canada to US?  Delta has different terms for US and Canada but I couldn't bring myself to read ALL the minutia in each to pick out any important differences.

 

This all depends on which fares you're being quoted. Different fares have different rules from each other, even in the same direction on the same flight.

 

If you're prepared to post the dates and flights that you're looking at, and the prices that you're being quoted, some of us have access to information that may allow the full fare rules to be retrieved, and then see whether there are any differences in the rules and whether they're significant. But I would expect the most significant to be shown to you during the booking process anyway (refundable / non-refundable; change fee / no change fee; included baggage / no included baggage; etc).

 

And how much effort are you prepared to put in to saving $45, how important is that $45, and how important is knowing exactly what the differences are? After all, if you're booking the cheapest fares, you already know they're going to have pretty restrictive conditions whatever their detail.

[rwethereyet1969]

RE Sun Country, I looked briefly at their website but it seems they have very limited flights on this route only flying certain days of the week.  Am I missing something?  

 

The flight(s) I am looking to book are not completely available so I have been pricing out the same route on earlier dates.  The actual dates and fares I will book are 05/30 - 06/07 non-stop flight Delta MSP-YVR in Comfort Plus seating.  I will not choose the refundable option as I would just take the ecredit if we needed to cancel.

 

The money difference isn't huge as it would only save a total of $90.  What is more enticing is having the flights separate jic we needed to cancel, I would have 2 smaller ecredits per person that would make it easier to work with for future airfare.  (Meaning easier to monkey around with flights to extend ecredit expiration dates.)

[Fairgarth]

12 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

Sun Country also has a 29 inch pitch on its 738 aircraft, whereas DL has a 31 inch pitch on the same 738.

You get what you pay for.

 

Indeed, you do.  Also Sun Country is not daily and a couple of their east-bound are red-eyes.  Just sayin'.

[em-sk]

On 7/4/2024 at 10:47 AM, rwethereyet1969 said:

 Are there any issues I could experience if purchasing via one-way tix?

 

Thanks in advance 🙂

 

I would buy the two one-ways.  The rules for calculating the fares are complex and you should not be surprised to see some minor differences.