Multi-City Trips: Open-Jaw Tickets, Two One-Ways and Positioning Flights
A multi-city trip prices best as an open-jaw itinerary when the traveller flies into one city and home from another, because the airline sells it as a single ticket and protects the connection. It prices best as two one-ways when the traveller is moving between continents and the low cost carriers on each side are cheaper than the legacy fares. Positioning flights, where the traveller gets to a cheaper departure airport first, are usually the last resort rather than the first move.
Multi-City Trips: Open-Jaw Tickets, Two One-Ways and Positioning Flights: questions people actually ask
What is an open-jaw ticket?
An open-jaw ticket is a return flight where the arrival city and the departure city are different, with the gap between them covered by ground transport. It is usually priced close to a normal return and saves the traveller the cost of getting back to the first city.
Is it cheaper to book two one-way flights or a return?
For a simple return between two cities in the same region, a return is almost always cheaper because the airline discounts the commitment to both sectors. Two one-ways are better when each direction is served by a different carrier, when the two legs are months apart, or when the traveller needs different conditions on each.
What is a positioning flight and is it worth it?
A positioning flight takes the traveller to a cheaper departure airport before a long haul. It is worth it when the saving exceeds the positioning fare, any hotel night, the extra baggage cost and the risk of missing the long haul. On long haul routes out of competitive hubs the saving can be large, but the risk is a separate ticket.
Can I skip a leg of a multi-city ticket?
No. Multi-city fares are sequenced and a missed sector normally voids the remaining sectors. If a leg is genuinely uncertain, it should be a separate ticket rather than part of the multi-city fare, and the first sector should never depend on a tight connection from another booking.
The four ways to build a multi-city trip
The first way is a return ticket, which works when the trip starts and ends in the same city. It is the cheapest structure in most markets because the airline sells the two sectors as a package, and it is the right choice when the traveller is based in one place and visiting others by land.
The second is an open-jaw ticket, where the traveller flies into one city and out of another. The airline prices it as a return with a gap, and the gap is filled by ground transport. It is often barely more expensive than a return and it saves the traveller the cost of returning to the arrival city, which is frequently the largest single saving in a multi-city plan.
The third is two one-way tickets, one in each direction, booked separately. It is more flexible and usually more expensive on legacy carriers, but it can be cheaper when different airlines dominate each direction or when the traveller needs different dates and cabins on each leg. The cost is the loss of protection at the connection and the loss of the return fare discount.
The fourth is the positioning flight, where the traveller first flies to a cheaper departure city and then takes the long haul from there. It can produce large savings on long haul routes out of competitive hubs, and it adds a separate ticket, a separate baggage allowance and a separate risk. It is a technique rather than a plan, and it should be used when the saving is large enough to pay for a hotel night if the first flight is late.
Open-jaw: the structure most travellers should check first
An open-jaw ticket is priced as a return with one end changed, and the fare is usually calculated from the two long haul sectors rather than from the two short ones. The practical way to search is to enter the arrival city for the outbound and the departure city for the return, which most airline and comparison sites allow through a multi-city option.
The saving comes from the ground leg. A traveller who flies into one city and out of another avoids the return journey to the first city, which in a large country can be a flight, a train or a long drive. The open-jaw fare is frequently within a small margin of the return fare, and the ground leg is then a pure saving.
The structure also improves the trip. A route that moves in one direction through a region produces more of the journey and less backtracking, and it usually spreads the traveller across more of the destination. The itinerary that returns to the arrival city for the flight home spends its last day travelling rather than seeing anything.
The condition to check is the baggage allowance on each sector. An open-jaw fare sold as one ticket usually carries one allowance for the whole journey, which is a real advantage over two one-way tickets where the allowance is set separately. The traveller who needs two checked bags should compare the allowances before comparing the fares.
When two one-ways are the better structure
Two one-ways win when the two directions are served by different airlines with different strengths. A low cost carrier that dominates one direction and a full service carrier that dominates the other can produce a total that no single airline can match, and the traveller keeps the freedom to choose the cabin and the dates separately.
They also win when the trip is genuinely one way in each leg, for example a move between two countries with a period in each. A return ticket has to be used in sequence and within its validity, while two one-ways can be months apart and can be changed independently, which matters for a traveller who does not know when the return will be.
They lose on protection. Two separate tickets mean no rebooking help when the first flight is late, no through baggage, and no single point of contact when something goes wrong. A traveller who chooses two one-ways should build in a buffer on the ground, or accept that a missed second flight is a new ticket.
They also lose on price in the most common case. On a simple return between two cities in the same region, the return fare is almost always cheaper than two one-ways on the same carrier, and the difference is the discount for committing to both sectors. The two one-way structure is a tool for specific trips rather than a default.
Positioning flights: the honest arithmetic
A positioning flight exists because the fare from a competitive hub can be several hundred cheaper than the fare from a smaller airport, and the difference can exceed the cost of the connection. The traveller buys a short flight to the hub and a long haul from there, and the saving is the difference between the two long haul prices minus the positioning cost.
The arithmetic should include the hotel and the risk. A positioning flight that arrives the evening before a morning departure requires a hotel night, which consumes part of the saving. A positioning flight on the same day requires a connection that can fail, and a failure means a new long haul ticket. The saving should be large enough to survive both.
The baggage is the second problem. Two separate tickets usually mean two separate allowances, and the long haul allowance does not cover the positioning flight. A traveller with a checked bag should price the bag on both tickets, and the total frequently erases the saving on the short leg.
The third problem is the return. A positioning strategy usually needs to work in both directions, and the return positioning flight can be the unreliable one. A traveller who positions on the outbound and books a direct return home has chosen a compromise rather than a strategy, and the compromise should be deliberate rather than accidental.
Dates, cabins and the sequencing rules
Multi-city fares have sequencing rules. The sectors must be flown in order, and a traveller who misses one sector voids the rest of the ticket in most cases. That is the single most important thing to know about a multi-city itinerary, and it is why the first sector should never be a tight connection from a separate ticket.
The fare also has a maximum stay, usually a year and often shorter on discounted fares. A traveller planning a long trip across several continents should check the validity limit before assuming the ticket will cover the whole journey, because a fare that expires in three months will not carry a nine month trip.
The cabin and the date can usually vary by sector on a multi-city ticket, which is useful for a trip that starts with a work week in business class and continues with a holiday in economy. The fare is calculated on the combination, and the total can be better than two separate tickets in the same cabins, though not always.
The stops are the last variable. Some fares allow a stopover at no extra cost and some charge for it, and a stopover is frequently the cheapest way to add a city to a long haul trip. A traveller who wants to see a hub city for two days should check whether the fare permits a stopover before booking a separate ticket.
How to price a multi-city trip in practice
Start with the route shape rather than the dates. Draw the trip as a line with the cities in order and note which legs are by air and which are by ground. The shape determines whether the trip is a return, an open-jaw, two one-ways or a series of separate tickets.
Then price the two or three most likely structures. Search the return first for a baseline, then the open-jaw, then the one-ways. The differences are usually larger than the differences between airlines, and the baseline return tells the traveller what the trip would cost if it were simple.
Then check the conditions: the baggage on each sector, the change rules, the sequencing and the maximum stay. A structure that saves a hundred and loses a bag allowance is not a saving, and a structure that saves two hundred and cannot be changed may be a saving or a trap depending on the trip.
Finally, buy the whole trip in one transaction where the structure allows it. A multi-city ticket bought in one transaction carries one protection and one baggage rule, and the traveller has one reference to manage. The itinerary that was assembled from four separate bookings is the itinerary that costs the most when the first flight is cancelled. A useful habit for a complex trip is to keep a single document with every sector, its booking reference, its baggage allowance and its connection time, and to check it the night before each flight. Multi-city trips fail in the details rather than in the plan, and the details are the ones a traveller can write down in advance.