round trip vs one way

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Two One-Way Flights or One Round-Trip: Which Is Better?

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Booking a flight involves navigating a maze of decisions. Is it better to fly with a budget airline or full-service one? How about basic economy versus regular economy ? And would you prefer pretzels or a cookie? 

Choosing between a single round-trip or two one-way tickets is the most basic decision and — you might be surprised to learn — one of the more nuanced. 

The cost between the two is usually the same for domestic flights but can vary significantly for international routes (assuming you're booking with cash rather than points and miles ).

Given that airfare was 26% more expensive in January 2023 than January 2022, according to the latest consumer price index data, budget travelers need to save every penny they can. 

In general, it can be more convenient to book a round-trip flight for a trip with specific start and end dates, but other considerations, such as cancellation policies and pricing, could make booking one-ways more appealing in some cases. And everything works differently for flights booked with miles. 

Let’s break it down.

Domestic flights

For flights within the United States on the same airline, round-trip tickets almost always cost the same as two one-ways.

There’s one caveat here: Booking two one-way tickets between separate destination or arrival airports can, in some cases, save money (or cost more). 

“Fares don’t have to be booked as returns,” says Laura Lindsay, travel trends expert at SkyScanner, a travel booking platform. “Look at flying out with one airline and back with another, or out of one airport and back into another to save money.”

Many online travel tools will automatically compare prices for these mismatched airline or airport itineraries and automatically include them in search results.

But it might be worth checking manually, especially for plans that involve different local airports or for airlines that don’t appear in search results , such as Southwest.

All that said, for domestic flights, the difference is almost always a wash. 

International flights

For international tickets, the logic changes completely. Round-trip tickets are usually cheaper than one-ways, sometimes significantly so.

NerdWallet compared fares across multiple international routes and found that, typically, buying two one-way tickets costs 20% more than a single roundtrip. 

To determine these differences, we compared routes between four U.S. airports and two airports in each destination region.

The effect is more pronounced when flying to some regions, such as Africa and Asia. That said, for flights between the U.S. and every region we looked at, it costs more to book two one-ways than a single round-trip. 

In some circumstances, such as open-ended trips where you don’t know when you’ll be returning, one-way flights might still make the most sense. But for most international travel, round-trip fares are the clear winner. 

Cards for booking flights with cash

If you plan to pay the cash fare for your ticket, consider booking with a card that will earn you points on travel purchases. Here are some options:

on Chase's website

on American Express' website

• 5 points per dollar spent on travel (including flights) booked through Chase's travel portal.

• 2 points per dollar on other travel (including flights).

Annual fee: $95 .

• 10 points per dollar on hotel stays and car rentals purchased through Chase's travel portal.

• 5 points per dollar on air travel purchased through Chase's travel portal.

• 3 points per dollar spent on travel and dining not booked with Chase.

Annual fee: $550 .

• 2 miles per $1 on purchases made directly with Delta.

Annual fee: $0 intro for the first year, then $150 .

Terms apply.

• 4 miles per $1 spent on United purchases.

Annual fee: $250 .

Are round-trip or one-way flights cheaper if booking with points?

What about the cost difference between one-way and round-trip fares when using points or miles ?

Generally, airlines break these fares into one-way sections, meaning there is no meaningful difference between the two, in terms of cost. Yet a few caveats apply: 

Taxes on award flights can be higher when booking two one-ways. Delta Air Lines, for example, tends to charge more fees for flights originating in Europe.

Some airlines, such as ANA, do not allow one-way award flights, period. 

Flights booked with credit card points using a travel portal (i.e. not transferred to an airline partner) follow the same rules as cash fares. 

on Citibank's application

• 5 points per $1 on flights booked directly with airlines or with American Express Travel, on up to $500,000 spent per year.

• 5 points per $1 on prepaid hotels booked with American Express Travel.

• 1 point per $1 on other eligible purchases.

• 10 ThankYou® points per $1 spent on hotels, car rentals and attractions booked through the Citi Travel site.

• 3 points per $1 on air travel and other hotel purchases.

• 3 points per $1 on supermarkets.

• 3 points per $1 on gas stations and EV charging stations.

• 3 points per $1 on restaurants.

• 1 point per $1 on all other purchases.

• 4 points per $1 at restaurants worldwide (on up to $50,000 in purchases per year).

• 4 points per $1 at U.S. supermarkets (on up to $25,000 in purchases per year).

• 3 points per $1 on flights booked directly with airlines or with American Express Travel.

• 2 points per $1 on prepaid hotels and other eligible purchases made through American Express Travel.

• 10 miles per $1 on eligible car rentals and hotels booked through AA.

• 4 miles per $1 on eligible American Airlines purchases, up to $150,000 spent per calendar year (5 miles per $1 spent thereafter for the remainder of the calendar year).

• 1 mile per $1 on everything else.

• 1 Loyalty Point per 1 eligible AAdvantage® mile earned from purchases.

Other considerations

It’s also worth considering the impact of changes and cancellations on the two options.

Most airlines have eliminated change fees , making it easier to change and cancel both kinds of tickets. But canceling one leg of a round-trip ticket can sometimes be more complicated than canceling a one-way ticket.

In some cases, you might need to call customer service, instead of canceling online, to make sure the change doesn’t cancel your other flight segments as well.

And finally, there’s the question of simplicity.

Is the simplicity of having a single itinerary, managed by one round-trip confirmation code, worth these other trade-offs? This simplicity, paired with the fact that round-trip tickets are almost never more expensive than two one-ways, means that these fares make sense for most travelers.

How to maximize your rewards

You want a travel credit card that prioritizes what’s important to you. Here are some of the best travel credit cards of 2024 :

Flexibility, point transfers and a large bonus: Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

No annual fee: Wells Fargo Autograph℠ Card

Flat-rate travel rewards: Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

Bonus travel rewards and high-end perks: Chase Sapphire Reserve®

Luxury perks: The Platinum Card® from American Express

Business travelers: Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card

1x-5x 5x on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, 3x on dining, select streaming services and online groceries, 2x on all other travel purchases, 1x on all other purchases.

60,000 Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $750 when you redeem through Chase Travel℠.

1.5%-5% Enjoy 5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, 3% cash back on drugstore purchases and dining at restaurants, including takeout and eligible delivery service, and unlimited 1.5% cash back on all other purchases.

Up to $300 Earn an additional 1.5% cash back on everything you buy (on up to $20,000 spent in the first year) - worth up to $300 cash back!

on Capital One's website

2x-5x Earn unlimited 2X miles on every purchase, every day. Earn 5X miles on hotels, vacation rentals and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel, where you'll get Capital One's best prices on thousands of trip options

75,000 Enjoy $250 to use on Capital One Travel in your first cardholder year, plus earn 75,000 bonus miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening - that’s equal to $1,000 in travel.

Pros and cons of two one-way tickets vs one round-trip (and a warning)

One of the most important things that I’ve learned as a frequent flyer is the value of two one-way tickets vs a round-trip. There are a ton of advantages for purchasing one-way tickets, such as:

• Being able to build a complex itinerary to match your exact schedule 
• Being able to take advantage of special deals or discounts for individual flights that might not otherwise be available with a round-trip purchase
• Being able to build and maintain status on multiple airlines
• Being able to try airlines and airports that you might not have had the chance to in the past

That said, there are a lot that can go wrong when you string together in itinerary built on one-way tickets.  I’ll explain all of that (with specific examples) below…

Pros and cons of two one-way tickets vs round-trip

For the most part, it’s usually advantageous to purchase one-way tickets. You’ll have far fewer restrictions than you would purchasing a round-trip ticket, and it’s a lot easier to build the exact itinerary that you want (for the price you’re willing to pay).

The easiest way to explain all of these differences is to give you a big fat list of all the pros and cons:

• More flexibility! Instead of being at the mercy of one airline and their limited flight schedules, you’ll have far more options flying multiple airlines.
• Contrary to what you’ve heard from your grandparents, buying one-way tickets isn’t always more expensive than buying a single round-trip ticket. The existence of ultra low cost carriers is keeping prices down (in general) for all airlines.
• Airlines often have special deals or discounts for specific routes (one direction only). It’s a lot easier to take advantage of these good deals by purchasing one-way tickets.
• It can help you maintain status on multiple airlines. For example, if you have frequent flyer status on both United Airlines and American Airlines (and you want to keep said status), flying one airline on the outbound portion of the trip and the other airline on the inbound portion is a good way to help you maintain / reach your goals.
• Even if you don’t care about status, it’s just more fun flying different airlines. I know people who fly one airline for a majority of their life, and quite frankly, that sounds really boring. Trying new-to-you airlines and connecting in airports you’ve never been to before keeps travel fun!

• Despite what I just said about one-way tickets not always being more expensive than a single round-trip ticket, don’t be surprised if you discover that it’s sometimes more expensive. It all depends on your specific itinerary and the particular demand for the dates you want to fly.
• Your connecting flight will NOT be protected if you miss your flight because of a delay or cancellation. For example, let’s say you’re flying San Diego to Chicago on two one-way tickets (San Diego to Denver on Frontier, and Denver to Chicago on United). If Frontier doesn’t get you to Denver in time to make United connection to Chicago, you’re out of luck.
• Sometimes, it’s just more convenient to have everything on one itinerary. Having to juggle schedules and flight information for a handful of one-way tickets vs a single round-trip ticket it isn’t recommended if you’re even the slightest bit disorganized.
• It’ll take longer to book a trip built on multiple one way tickets than it will by booking a single round-trip ticket.
• If you’re flying internationally, one-way tickets might draw suspicion from airline personnel and immigration officers. Basically, they will often require proof that you’re not attempting to illegally immigrate to another country. An onward ticket (in the form of an email confirmation or boarding pass) is enough to satisfy them.
• Some airlines frown upon buying two one-way tickets instead of a single round-trip. Even though they make it easy to do on their own websites and apps, they can flag you for “gaming the system” if you consistently buy one-way tickets to build round trip itineraries. It’s stupid, but it is what it is.

Warning! 3 examples of how purchasing one-way tickets instead of a single round-trip went horribly wrong:

I fly on one-way tickets most of the time, and generally, it’s a lot more convenient than flying on a round-trip ticket. I will admit that I wasn’t fully aware of the risks when I first started doing it, but overall, it has proven to be a very convenient way to travel.

That said, here are 3 examples where it completely fell apart on me (or at least gave me a good scare):

Example 1: The delayed arrival

Back in 2016, there was a special Thanksgiving weekend Delta Air Lines 747 flight from Atlanta to Seattle that I really wanted to try. To get the rest of the way home to San Diego, I bought a separate ticket on Alaska Airlines. It was just cheaper that way.

Long story short, the 747 flight was canceled . Delta held up their end of the bargain by getting me to Seattle as promised (in Delta One on the A330-300 ), but I arrived too late to make my originally-planned connecting flight to San Diego on Alaska Airlines.

Because these were two separate nonrefundable one-way tickets, I had to scramble to get on the phone with Alaska Airlines and cancel that ticket to prevent losing the full value of it. But I still had to purchase another last-minute one-way ticket to San Diego instead. Ouch.

Example 2: The concerned airline agent

Because I really wanted to do a LOT Polish Airlines 787–8 economy review (weird, I know), I purchased a one-way ticket from Los Angeles to Warsaw. For the return, I purchased another one-way ticket on a different airline just to have some variety in my airline reviews .

I checked in online prior to leaving for LAX. Upon arrival, I went straight for the security checkpoint since I already had a boarding pass.  The TSA scanner at the security checkpoint rejected my boarding pass for no rhyme or reason , and I was told to go back to the LOT ticketing counter.

I explained the situation to the friendly LOT employee at the check-in desk, and she got to work trying to figure out what the problem was. The concerned look on her face wasn’t comforting. At all.

It turned out that I needed to show proof that I wasn’t planning on staying permanently in Poland (because my one-way ticket looked suspicious).  Showing her my itinerary for my departure out of Poland the following day on another airline was sufficient.

Even though everything worked out in the end, it added about an extra hour of confusion and frustration that day.

Example 3: My own stupidity

Prior to flying Starlux Airlines A321neo business class for the first time, I needed to get to Taipei. To do so, I booked to one-way tickets:

• San Diego to Tokyo Narita on Japan Airlines
• Tokyo Narita to Taipei on Scoot

Prior to leaving San Diego, I noticed that Scoot uses the same terminal as Japan Airlines at NRT. I figured that I’d just get my Scoot boarding pass from the gate agent when I arrived.

It turned out that the gate agent couldn’t do that. I had exit security, legally enter Japan, and stand in line at the Scoot Airlines ticket counter to get a boarding pass. I had to do all of this within 35 minutes of the flight departure to Taipei. Talk about stressful!

Somehow I didn’t miss that flight, but it was a strong reminder of how naïve I was to think that two separate one-way tickets would be easier.

4 reasons why I usually always purchase two one-way tickets instead of one round-trip

Despite some very expensive (and stressful) experiences with purchasing one-way tickets instead of round-trip over the years, I still prefer the flexibility of building my own itinerary with separate tickets. this is because:

• The airlines can be stupid sometimes. For example, I recently flew to Mexico City and back on AeroMexico. For some reason or another, their website wouldn’t let me pick the exact flights that I wanted when trying to book a round-trip itinerary. I had to book 2 separate one-way tickets instead in order to get the exact flights that I wanted.
• I’ve found that it’s sometimes a cheaper way of flying business class. For example, on a recent trip to Florida and back, I took advantage of a good deal I found for American Airlines 777-200 business class from Dallas to Miami. For the return to San Diego, I booked a super-cheap (and more reasonable) one-way ticket on Allegiant Air. Although I didn’t get to fly business class round-trip, doing it one-way was enough to satisfy the itch.
• Booking one-way tickets instead of round-trip is a great way to avoid airports that I don’t like. For example, if I’m flying to Florida to visit family on Delta, it almost certainly means a connection in Atlanta. That’s fine – as long as it’s not a chaotic holiday weekend. If it is, on the return, I might choose to fly Frontier or United through Denver instead (since DEN is usually a lot less gnarly than ATL on busy holiday weekends).
• As an airline reviewer, I need / want to fly as many different airlines as possible. Airlines make it very easy to book one-way tickets vs round-trip tickets, so as long as they allow me to do it, I will continue to do so.

Other stuff you might like:

How long does it take to get through customs at LAX?

Short layover in Minneapolis? Better grab the antacid…

Amtrak Pacific Surfliner business class Los Angeles to San Diego

Comments (28).

Quite an interesting read! I usually book round-trip, but I have flown on 2 one-way tickets occasionally. Usually, it’s outbound on one airline and inbound on another, which maybe isn’t as exciting as 2 different airlines in one day, but it’s a nice way to compare airlines on a similar route.

Scott (SANspotter)

Thanks! You bring up a good point that I didn’t mention in the article. Comparing two airlines on the same route (on the same trip) is another really good reason to fly on one way tickets.

Remy Godwin

New reader to your blog, nice work and keep it up.

My family and I recently did 2 one ways from Utila to San Pedro Sula, then onward to El Salvador. The UII-SAP is serviced by CM Airlines, a very small regional carrier that connects the bay islands. Upon arrival we had to wait for our bags because they were to large to fit under seats on this Embraer 110. (Bigger Osprey bags, I’ve read your backpack post and am now contemplating getting one of those)

There’s no feeling quite like hearing your family’s name over the PA system in a foreign airport while running through security checkpoints.

Thanks Remy – welcome to the blog! Anyway, yes, it gets tricky flying on one-way tickets sometimes. I’ve heard my name on the PA (as I’m running to catch a flight) more times than I care to admit and it’s always a scary experience!

Hi! I just stumbled across your site! I typically do round trip because it seems easier haha but recently have an opportunity come up to visit my sister in California . I’m in Kentucky so I’ve been tracking flights on momondo for round trips but I was curious if in this case just doing a 1 way to California and a 1 way back to Kentucky would be better? Thanks for any tips!!

Hey Kaitlin! If you can find a really good deal on a round trip (with a convenient schedule), then it’s probably not worth searching for two 1 way segments. I only do it if I can get a better deal, or if I don’t like the limitations of the round trip schedule. Have a good time in California!

This is great information, thank you! I’m out here trying to plan a family vacation to Europe and found that booking a multi-city ticket for arrival and departure (only one flight there and one back to the US from a different city) was about $1K more than booking two separate arrival/departure tickets FROM THE SAME AIRLINE. I was looking for any reason not to purchase two one-way tickets… but, it doesn’t seem to be that big of a deal as long as we plan well and have all of our docs available. About to research landing in one country, departing from another… surely there is a reasonable way to do this! Great blog post! Looking forward to more!

Thanks Dena – glad you found it useful! Purchasing one way tickets instead of a single round trip has it’s advantages for sure (it’s how I book most of my trips these days).

The only thing you really need to be careful about is giving yourself enough time to make connections. If your inbound flight is late, which causes you to miss your connecting flight, you’re basically out of luck. Even if it’s the same airline, they won’t compensate you for the missed flight.

Hope you have a great trip!

Great article and it provides me a great option for my trip to New Zealand next year. Question – I’m looking at award flight bookings for outbound LAX-AKL. And then inbound ZQN-AKL-LAX. With my current research, looks the miles/fees are the same round trip vs. 2-one ways. If all else equal, would you just recommend the 2-one ways since its advantage is more flexibility?

Thanks Jonathan! Honestly I don’t see any advantage of booking two one-way tickets in this instance. Maybe if you think there’s a chance that you’ll want to change your return somehow (once you’re in New Zealand), then yes – having that added flexibility will be nice.

But if the details of the trip are set in stone and it’s the same cost either way, a single round-trip itinerary will be easier to manage. Have a great trip!

New to the blog, good insight here. I’m interested to see your thoughts on my below itinerary/plan.

My wife and I are planning to travel to Italy this fall. We have enough points to book one-way JFK->Milan on American. We plan to navigate from Milan to Rome on our trip, and return to the NYC area from Rome (FCO). For that return flight, I have enough points to book a ticket on United, and will need to purchase my wife’s ticket. Interestingly, United is pricing the one-way FOC->EWR at around $1,100, but if I book a roundtrip FCO->EWR (booking the direct flight to get home and then cheapest “return flight” currently via Brussels), I can get it for about $650. My plan would be to ONLY get on the FCO->EWR leg, and just no-show (or cancel) the EWR->FCO return leg.

This feels like a comfortable no-risk plan. But wondering if you see any issues or have experienced any issues in the past with something like this?

Hi Rob! Good question. Doing it once isn’t going to cause any problems. However, if you start making a habit of it, you run the risk of being banned from flying United ever again. Airlines have been known to ban people for doing this, so you need to tread carefully.

I’m going to Oaxaca for 4 months but want my return date flexible. Is it better to book one way or round trip?

Definitely book a one-way ticket! You’ll most likely have to pay change fees on a round-trip ticket if you decide to move the return date.

Hi, just found your blog. It’s very helpful. I’m looking at options for a trip that includes 3 weeks in Thailand to visit an old friend, with a stop on the return in Taiwan to visit another friend for a few days. Want to do SFO/BKK/TPE/SFO. The cash price on United was $15K per person. Yikes! EVA offers the same itinerary for $6,656 pp. Because EVA is a United partner, I will earn credit for miles with United MP even if I book through EVA (although maybe less, but I’m not concerned about that). Does it sound reasonable to purchase the ticket through EVA? Should I research other alternatives to get a better price? (I only have 155K miles in MP and my husband has 58K, not enough to score a free seat. Using Mileage Upgrade Awards, we would be waitlisted for Business Class, not an option.)

Hi Linda – wow! $15,000 per person is insane. I hope that’s business class, because anything less seems like absolute robbery to me. The EVA option is probably your best bet if you want to earn United MileagePlus credits. That’s what I would do.

If you don’t care so much about that, I highly recommend checking out Zipair from SFO to NRT (and then flying a low-cost carrier such as Scoot down to BKK). For example, I just booked a lie-flat business class seat for myself on Zipair from LAX to NRT for $1350 (one way). There are no video screens in those seats (and onboard service is limited), but it’s still a heck of a deal IMHO.

Just something to think about…

I’m not wearing your shoes but a question she asked isn’t a thing. Visiting they think without a return date is to nosey to me. I would have plead the fifth. You weren’t under oath.

They are legally required to ask for proof that you’re not going to stay in the country that you’re flying to. All airlines will ask if they don’t see either a connecting flight or a return flight as part of your itinerary.

Do you do this with checked luggage? Do you have to go to baggage claim and get your luggage and go through security again or are they able to check it through? Thank you for the insight!

Hi Michala! Yes, you can do it with checked luggage. The only caveat is that you’ll have to retrieve your luggage (and then go through security) between flights. It would definitely be nice if the airlines could check your luggage through to your final destination on two separate tickets, but that isn’t possible.

Julie Buckley

I would like to fly to one destination in Germany, and return to my same home airport from a different airport in the same country (Germany). What could be a problem.? I need to use Delta – can I use their frequent flyer miles for that? Thanks

Hi Julie – sure, that’s not a problem at all. As a matter of fact, I do that sort of thing all the time without any issues. And yes, you can use frequent flyer miles. You’ll just need to book each segment separately, that’s all.

For SEA and SFO to Italy (two people flying from two starting destinations), we are considering non-stop flights on Virgin Atlantic to LON and then booking a regional flight to Rome (and then from Brindisi Italy back to LON on the return). With a 4+ hour connection, would you recommend this route; two separate tickets each way? It would save 1000-1500 on the ticket. Also, is Economy Delight on VA similar to Comfort+ on Delta? That is the cabin choice for the US to LON flights. Thank you!

Hi Jana – absolutely, if it saves you that much money, then booking two separate tickets is the way to go. I’d do that without batting an eye.

In regards to Economy Delight: it’s essentially a standard economy class seat with a bit more legroom. Premium economy offers a much larger (wider) seat with more legroom and recline than Economy Delight. I’d definitely go with that if you can swing it.

I have a question..or two. My husband and I want to use our United miles (separate accounts) to book an award flight (hopefully biz) RDU to FRA. But we probably each would need to do the Money + Miles option. He also has Lufthansa miles in Miles & More. Would it be possible and a good idea to each book one way tickets on United, then he could use the Lufthansa miles to purchase his ticket one way back home from maybe MUC to RDU? Or I could purchase a RT for myself, and he could do the two one ways, one on United and one on Lufthansa? Thanks for your help!

Hi Gina – everything you suggested is a valid possibility. It sounds like you only have enough in your UA account to go one way? This would require purchasing a one way ticket for one leg of the trip – which could potentially end up cost more than purchasing a round trip instead.

If so, I’d probably recommend purchasing a round trip for yourself (and earn miles for future use) and have your husband redeem points for his entire round trip.

You’ll just have to do the math and figure out what makes the most financial sense.

But that’s the thing that makes booking one way tickets so nice – it gives you so much more flexibility!

okay okay! looking at a flight from london to jfk then jfk to san jose costa rica, if i book together its almost $900 if i book one way to jfk and one way to san jose its $600 for the same flight, the only thing is there’s only 2 hours before flight, same as it would be if i book together… do you think i should try booking single flights?! thanks in advance

Good question Amanda! Personally, I would do it if I didn’t have checked luggage. Going carry-on only is the only way you’re gonna make it IMHO.

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Is It Better To Book Airline Tickets Roundtrip Or One-Way?

by Gary Leff on April 11, 2023

Fares aren’t usually cheaper when you book roundtrip the way they used to be. And, outside of basic economy fares, there usually aren’t change fees anymore – so buying one way tickets won’t ‘double the change fees’ if you have to cancel a trip the way that they used to. So much of the time you can take advantage of the flexibility that separate tickets offered.

The elimination of change fees on most itineraries change the calculus on one way versus roundtrip. It used to be that if you cancelled an itinerary you’d hope to be on a roundtrip ticket so you only paid the change fee once. Two one-ways meant double the change fees. So the elimination of change fees makes one-ways easier to book.

Bear in mind that basic economy tickets don’t have the same ‘no change fees’

One way tickets can make it easier to combine different airlines on a trip. Airlines generally don’t sell non-partner carriers (though there are exceptions) so if you wanted to fly American one way and United the other you may need to book them separately, or book through an agent, whether brick-and-mortar or online.

Using separate tickets as part of a one way journey can be more problematic. If you misconnect due to a flight cancellation or delay, your second ticket may be useless. Your original airline has to get you to your ticketed destination only, no where you’re trying to go.

I’ll often buy positioning flights. Maybe my award ticket originates in New York and I’m in DC, so I buy a ticket up to New York (no award space was available or I couldn’t include it in the award). But I’ll give myself plenty of time to get there, with backup flight options available.

Bags are another issue on separate tickets. American Airlines won’t through-check bags on separate tickets (unless one ticket is an award and both tickets are booked in the same reservation on oneworld airlines). As of the last time I checked they would still, however, protect you if you misconnect on separate oneworld tickets .

I generally book one way tickets. The lack of change fees gives me that flexibility (since I no longer have two change fees with two one ways instead of a single change fee on a roundtrip). However I’ll compare the price of a roundtrip versus two ways before I do. When plans for your outbound change, a roundtrip ticket means repricing the whole thing not just the first one way.

I often don’t book both directions of travel at the same time, I might lock in my outbound because I know exactly when I need to be somewhere or because I can confirm upgrade availability. And I might wait on the return, perhaps because of price or lack of upgrade space or because I just haven’t figured out plans yet. Booking one ways suits my planning style and no longer has the downsides that it used to.

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About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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@Gary: Also, with award bookings, many airline sites are opaque as to how they arrive at mileage required. Booking one-way awards often gets a lower cost or allows using differnet airlines for each direction.

My travel is constantly changing due to persnickety clients, travel disruptions, and a somewhat ineffective travel department that think business travel only occurs M-F 9-5. I book everything one way (and refundable) so that I can quickly rework travel in the moment, as needed.

Though generally true, I’ve noticed recently that on United, the upcharge from BE to regular economy is less if you book a RT vs a one-way.

I think the savings isnt enough for me to give up the flexibility of changing just one direction though, unless the fare I see is one that I know is really good.

As mentioned in the article, it is wise to compare RT vs one-way pricing before purchasing. While it is often the same per leg, I have found several instances where RT is significantly cheaper.

Actually BA is still cheaper by booking RT….i checked this the last time i booked to LHR….

Delta is notably cheaper on RT F domestic, at least the time I checked.

Agree. Very often (but not always!) we purchase our outbound & return flights separately, be they on the same airline or different ones.

In an era when Saturday night stays are no longer required (hallelujah!) & discounted fares are no longer “each way based on roundtrip purchase” (domestic & select international markets), plus as Gary notes, there are no penalty fees assessed for changes or cancellations for most fares (except ULCCs & basic economy), very often it makes sense to book flights separately.

We do it for most of our domestic trips, but also did it for a trip to Singapore late last year.

For us, it provides added flexibility overall, but also because one of the travel dates is usually more certain than the other, so this allows us to begin planning the trip around the date we have confidence will hold, while filling in the rest as everything else becomes clearer.

Or sometimes it’s because roundtrip fares are much higher than when purchased as separate, one-way itineraries.

Such is the reality of algorithms and dynamic pricing, where the desired fares on the dates you need/prefer (at the times you want to travel!), in the direction you’re heading, are often found on different airlines.

Or as is common, too, the desired fares may be found on the same airline, just on vastly different flights/fares search dates (or when notified using fare tracking apps!), & one needs to be willing to trade-off “one-stop shopping” with a little bit of added time & patience to book their trips over a period of time as they wait for fares to become available at their desired price point*.

*the term “desired” fare/price point is used instead of the lowest fare because others’ needs/preferences vary, so we search for fares based on our needs, which usually includes advanced seat selection, a checked bag & extra legroom row seating, especially for flights longer than 2-3 hours.

Yes, this may take additional time & effort to execute (or undo if the entire trip needs to be changed/canceled), but additional savings vs. “convenience” of purchasing roundtrip airfares via one-stop shopping may be a trade-off worth taking for some!

Gary, one thing that you left out is that most airlines use “marriage segment” logic. So if you book roundtrip and you change either the outbound or return trips, the airline will reprice your ticket based on the current price of the round trip. It is better to book two one-ways.

To clarify:

“Vastly different flights/fares search dates” in the above means searches done separately at separate times and/or dates for travel on the same date as would be for the roundtrip itinerary.

Apologies for any confusion.

@Steve: Are you assuming repricing goes up more than down?

AA used to be pretty consistent with pricing between one-way and round trip, but that’s seemed to have changed in recent months. Have booked several domestic trips since January where RT pricing was $60-120 cheaper than booking two one-ways on the same flights. As someone who always books one-ways for flexibility, this has been yet another unpleasant development with AA

Recently our friends at AA have been charging more taxes for a r/t award than the two one ways. Isn’t that nice them?

Good advice. I learned the hard way about the advantage (and disadvantage) of booking separate one-way tickets instead of a single round trip ticket or forward connecting tickets.

I’d booked a round trip business-class award ticket on SQ from SIN to BKK and back. Then when Hong Kong relaxed its pandemic rules to allow visitors in, I decided that instead of my original

SIN => BKK => SIN => EWR

itinerary, I would instead visit Hong Kong where I’d been every year before the pandemic, but had not been during the 2+ years of the pandemic. So, I decided to change my original itinerary to:

SIN => BKK => HKG => SIN => EWR

I searched for flights to do new BKK=> HKG => SIN itinerary and easily found ‘cheap’ business award tickets for BKK => HKG on ET, and for HKG => SIN on SQ. I booked the tickets for the new segments before canceling the ticket for the original return BKK => SIN segment.

I was still in the US when I was making these changes. After securing my new itinerary, I contacted SQ’s NYC support team by phone to cancel the now obsolete BKK => SIN return ticket, but was told that they could “cancel” it, but won’t refund any miles. I said, what? SQ does allow award tickets to be cancelled, with perhaps a redeposit fee, so why would I not get refunded the miles for this particular award ticket? I got no explanation other than that is the way it was. I called back a few times and got nowhere, so I decided that when I arrived in SIN I would take the matter in-person to SQ support at their offices in the ION building on Orchard, a mere 10-min walk from Hilton Singapore Orchard where I’d booked a 5-night award stay.

At the ION, I found out why no one at NYC phone support could help. In order to alter my original round trip SIN => BKK => SIN award ticket, the entire reservation had to be canceled and then just the desired SIN => BKK segment rebooked, without the return BKK => SIN segment that I wanted canceled. At the time of my phone cancellation request, there were no longer business-class award tickets for SIN => BKK. So, the NYC agents’ solution was simply to do nothing, i.e., keep the original reservation that would get me to BKK in business, but then simply leave the return ticket unused. The result was that I would lose the associated 24K miles !

Of course, the folks at the ION could do whatever they wanted and were able to cancel the original reservation, “force” the availability a SIN => BKK business award ticket, cancel the return BKK => SIN segment I no longer desired, and refund me the miles. At the same time, they were able to “marry” by new HKG => SIN with my original SIN => EWR segments to enable my checked baggage to go straight from HKG to EWR.

None the ‘gymnastics’ would have been necessary if I had originally booked the SIN => BKK and BKK => SIN flights as separate one-way business-class award tickets !

My original SIN => BKK flight was actually preceded by a separate MLE => SIN award flight with a 2h layover in SIN, so I took the opportunity that I was at the ION to also request that they “marry” my MLE => SIN with the SIN => BKK segments to enable my checked baggage to go straight from MLE to BKK.

So, while booking one-way revenue or award tickets offers more flexibility, if there are forward connecting one-way tickets, one has to be sure to allow enough connection for checked bags to be routed through to the final destination. You book one-way reservations, you are responsible for making sure that any bags that you check in will make it to wherever you will end up.

Amex Platinum trip delay coverage terms state “if you purchase round-trip…”

I find one way often makes sense for domestic paid flights and award flights, but for paid international flights, RT is almost always much cheaper.

Actually I have to agree. For a number of years you were correct, I would price both ways and there was no benefit to buying a RT vs 2 one-ways. But the past several months things have changed back. Every time I have priced both ways it is at less to do the RT. I’d say at least $100 less. (Note only United, Delta and Alaska fly to my city so almost all my experience is with them.)

I’ve been wondering what flexibility you have if you book a RT and want to change only the return.

I’ve been wondering what flexibility you have if you book a RT and want to change only the return.

As I found out with a SQ RT award ticket (see above), it might not be flexible because a RT reservation needs to be canceled and then rebooked to change a segment. If alternatives to flights that one wishes to retain or change are available then there may be no problem, although the cost may go up (or down) on rebooking.

For award tickets, booking separate one-way rather RT as I did makes more sense because the cost in points should be the same.

This article described me.

Nine times out of 10, it’s better to book ALL award tickets and ALL domestic flights as one-ways. It just gives you more flexibility at no additional cost. With more tickets refundable these days, the advantage is even greater for making changes. But there will always be weird exceptions.

Just last month I was travelling abroad to a county that required proof of a roundtrip ticket. My award ticket on UA was one way. I had another award ticket on UA for the return. I was required to check in at the airport (for a 6 am flight!), instead of online, to show proof of a return flight. Nobody at UA reservations could fix this otherwise. So it’s worth checking a country’s entry requirements.

If you’re travelling to a Muslim country, you might also want to put your return on the same ticket as Homeland Security has been known to SSSS travellers without roundtrips. Getting this status (which subjects you to extremely rigorous airport screening for many months) is a traveller’s worst nightmare, so you don’t want to mess with that.

@ Gary — Generally, domestic one-way, international round-trip.

Airline matters. JetBlue gives bonus points at 3, 7, and 10 round trips per year

If you’re using miles for an award ticker on UA, many forget about the Excursionist perk. So two 1-ways and you won’t get it.

The perk allows for a flight within the same region for 0 miles.

Ex: NYC-Bkk then BKK-DPS for free and DPS-NYC as a round-trip reward redemption.

Not mentioned – and perhaps off-topic to the article, but I’ll go there anyway – are the price advantages sometimes available for multi-point reservations, over both r/t AND two o/w tickets. This is especially worth looking at where there are multiple airports in a metropolitan area serviced by the same airline.

Just a word of caution on international travel. Depending on how far out you book your one way, and to where, you could be TDA shortlisted with SSSS on future flights…

Another factor is convenience of schedule. Normally use RT, but have used one airline in and another for return , especially to garner non-stop service which is more important to me.

From past experiences, in South East Asia and East Asia, one way fare will be 70% or even the same as the Return Trip fare. So if you are booking 2 one way trips, you will end up paying 140-200% of the Return Trip fare.

The main focus here is commercial booking (paid fare) of full service airline (e.g. SQ, MH, CX, GA, etc.). Single trip in LCC is close to 50% of return trip fare.

For data point, CGK-HKG return trip using CX on 28 June-5 July is roughly USD 400 on 1 April (no, not an April Mop). Single trip from CGK-HKG using CX on 28 June is around USD 350. Haven’t checked HKG-CGK single trip though.

@ Gary. On what site do you find 2 one way tickets (in J) cheaper than a round trip ticket. Certainly not on AA website. I’ve searched for years using miles one way and purchasing a one way ticket for the other and it’s ALWAYS near the round trip price to buy a one way ticket on international flights.. The exception being SWA as they show prices one way.

I fly often to Europe and it’s always significantly cheaper to book RT. I used to fly low cost with Norwegian, or WOW, but over the past few years I’ve flown Turkish and Qatar Airlines, both are slightly more expensive than low cost, but service is way better. And I no longer have to switch airports, book additional flights because I landed in a different country.

It always pays to check the rt vs one way prices. For AC domestic trips are usually the same. International can have small differences in Y and are often double in J if booking only one way!

Comments are closed.

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Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Points Programs

Hotel programs, best credit cards, back to guides, one-way vs. round-trip flights: which should you book.

There are pros and cons to booking one-way and round-trip flights, but you can take advantage of both to save points and money.

Written by T.J. Dunn

On August 31, 2022

Read time 13 mins

A question that often comes up during Points Consulting calls is whether it’s better to book one-way or round-trip flights. Of course, it differs with each individual situation, but there are some general principles to go by.

In many cases, booking one-way flights offers greater flexibility and customization. This isn’t always the case, though, and you’ll want to think about the cost, routing rules, cancellation fees, and the use of vouchers when making a decision to book a one-way or round-trip booking.

Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of booking one-way and round-trip flights.

Generally Speaking, Book One-Ways

For my personal bookings, and in most cases during consulting calls, I almost always book one-way flights. Sure, it adds another booking reference to keep track of, but I find that it works best for me.

One of the reasons why I book one-way flights is that my travels don’t tend to be simple and linear. For example, for an upcoming trip to Australia this fall, I have the following flights booked:

• Toronto to Brisbane via Vancouver ( Aeroplan )
• Gold Coast to Sydney (Virgin Australia)
• Sydney to Canberra (Virgin Australia)
• Canberra to Hobart via Melbourne ( Avios )
• Hobart to Melbourne (Avios)
• Albury to Sydney (Qantas)
• Sydney to Victoria (Aeroplan)

In total, I have a mix of one-way bookings with two different loyalty programs and the rest with cash booked directly with the airlines. 

I was able to score deals using eUpgrades on both of my long-haul flights, and since I’ll be coming from The Travel Summit in Toronto and returning to my home on Vancouver Island, it made more sense for me to book two one-way flights.

Within Australia, I plan to visit with friends and family in a few different places, so booking a variety of one-way flights will allow me to maximize my time in each destination during a shorter trip. 

If I need to change or cancel any of my points bookings, having them booked as two one-ways will allow me to avoid repricing the entire round-trip, which could result in a massive increase in Aeroplan points under dynamic pricing . This way, I can keep one of the bargains that I found, without having to worry about losing it to repricing.

Even if your travel tends to be less dynamic than a trip like the above, I still would argue that one-ways are the way to go for most bookings.

Sometimes, plans change, and missing any flights on a round-trip itinerary invalidates the rest of the itinerary. Having a trip booked on two separate one-way itineraries allows for maximum flexibility, in that you won’t lose out on the rest of your flight if your plans change and you miss a connection.

If you’re savvy, you might compare the cost of each one-way flight with points and cash prior to booking. You may encounter an excellent price for one direction, only to find that the other way is much more expensive.

In this case, you could book the cheaper price with cash, and then use points to cover the cost of the other direction, which helps to squeeze more value out of your points. Of course, this doesn’t usually work for international bookings, where one-way cash tickets are often nearly as much as a round-trip, which we’ll discuss below.

Book Round-Trip Flights with Vouchers

There are some compelling reasons to book round-trips in place of one-ways, though, so one-way flights won’t always be the most ideal way to go about booking a trip.

One of the main reasons for booking round-trip flights is any time you have a voucher to redeem. This could be in the form of a companion voucher from a credit card , such as the Air Canada Buddy Pass , the WestJet annual companion voucher, or the Air Canada Annual Worldwide Companion Pass . 

You can squeeze more value out of a companion voucher by booking a round-trip fare instead of a one-way. This is simply because you usually stand to save more on two or more flights instead of just one.

The savings can be enough to justify the annual fee on a premium credit card, so it’s best to consider using them for high value cash bookings, such as for last minute travel or travel during peak periods.

Other types of vouchers, such as Priority Rewards earned by travellers with Aeroplan Elite Status , also are more valuable when redeemed for round-trip flights instead of one-ways. 

For example, a Priority Reward redeemed by a Super Elite is good for 50% off of a round-trip business class booking with any Aeroplan partner anywhere in the world.

A round-trip flight from Toronto to Bangkok via Abu Dhabi on Etihad Airways regularly costs 87,500 points each direction, but a Priority Reward knocks down the cost to 87,500 points for a round-trip.

Sure, you could use a Priority Reward for a one-way flight to Asia and still save a handsome amount of points, but since you have to spend money to earn Priority Rewards, you’re best suited to using them on a round-trip booking for the best value.

Book Round-Trip Flights to Lower Costs

Another factor to consider when choosing between round-trip and one-way bookings is the cost. 

For domestic and transborder flights, airlines tend to price out fares as the sum of two one-ways.

For example, a one-way flight from Toronto to Vancouver might cost $200 in one direction and $150 in the other. It makes no difference if you book as a round-trip or two one-ways – you’ll wind up paying $350 either way.

The same isn’t usually true for international flights. This is due to the way fares are constructed, and it’s almost always a much better deal to book a round-trip cash fare for international flights versus one-ways.

For example, a one-way flight from Vancouver to Paris costs $875 with Air France, and from Paris to Vancouver, a one-way flight costs $1,956.

Those same flights booked as a round-trip price out at only $983, which results in a massive $1,848 in savings.

One advantage of booking flights with points is that you usually aren’t subject to the same differences in one-way versus round-trip pricing. With fixed-cost programs, the pricing generally doesn’t change at all between round-trips and one-ways – you’ll pay the same whether you book one round-trip or two one-ways.

For programs that use dynamic pricing that is tied to the actual cost of flights, you’ll want to ensure that you look at the cost per direction to make sure it’s not cheaper to book a round-trip than two one-ways. 

Another cost factor to consider is that the taxes and fees are calculated by the originating airport on a booking. 

For example, if you book a round-trip flight to Toronto out of Edmonton, you’ll be charged 5% GST, as that is the current tax rate in Alberta. If you were to book two one-ways, you’d be charged 5% GST for the ticket from Edmonton, and then 13% HST on the flight from Toronto.

While the difference is negligible for award bookings, the costs can add up if you are paying cash for flights. On business class fares, the difference in booking a round-trip instead of two one-ways could result in hundreds of dollars in savings.

Book Round-Trips to Save on Cancellation Fees

As airlines return to normal-ish operations, the regular change or cancellation fees are also being reimplemented. During the pandemic, passengers enjoyed flexibility with low-to-no cost changes or cancellations, which was a great gesture during a difficult period.

If you’re unsure of whether or not you’ll actually go on a trip, you’ll want to make sure that you can recover your costs. For award bookings, you’d only be on the hook for one cancellation fee if you make a round-trip booking, versus having two cancellation fees for two one-ways.

Let’s use Aeroplan as an example, as the program has recently returned to its regular change and cancellation fees . Cancelling a single round-trip booking online would cost $150, while cancelling two one-way bookings online would be double at $300.

Of course, one method to avoid this is to book a flexible fare to begin with, but you’ll incur a greater cost in points by doing so. 

You’ll want to check the cancellation policies for the points program you’re booking with, as some, such as Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan and American Airlines AAdvantage, continue to offer free cancellation on rewards bookings.

Book Round-Trips for Extra Stopovers

Lastly, you’ll want to consider the routing and stopover rules before deciding on a one-way or a round-trip booking. This largely applies to award bookings, but it can also affect cash fares if the fare rules allow for extra stops on a round-trip booking.

Some programs, such as Aeroplan and Alaska Mileage Plan, allow stopovers on one-way bookings. Indeed, this is a great perk with both programs, and one that can be quite beneficial to travellers.

Other programs, such as Cathay Pacific Asia Miles , ANA Mileage Club, or Saver awards on Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, only allow stopovers on round-trip bookings.

So, if you want to stretch the value of your points with redemptions in these programs, you’ll want to book a round-trip over a two one-way bookings.

In the majority of cases, booking one-ways allows for greater flexibility with complex routings and also allows you to optimize the use of points and cash. In most cases, it’s best to book two one-ways over a round-trip.

There are exceptions to this, though, and in some cases, it’s much better to make a round-trip booking than two one-way bookings. These situations can include using vouchers, booking international flights with cash, considering the various costs, and taking advantage of routing and stopover rules.

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How To Decide If 2 One-Ways Are Better Than A Round-Trip Flight

Senior Reporter, HuffPost Life

When you book air travel, the airline offers many ways to filter your search results ― price limits, preferred times of day, nonstop flights versus flights with layovers, and of course, round-trip versus one-way.

As the names suggest, a round-trip journey includes both a flight from your starting point to your destination and a flight back to your origin, whereas a one-way only covers one of those segments. While the former is generally the simplest way to book a trip, some people prefer to buy two separate one-way tickets when they travel.

But are there good reasons to choose one over the other? We asked a few travel experts to share their advice on whether it’s better to book two one-ways or a round-trip reservation for your next air travel excursion.

International travel tends to incentivize round-trip bookings.

“When you’re booking international flights, it almost always pays off to book as a round-trip, since airlines typically price one-ways at much more than half the cost of the round-trip fare,” said Zach Griff, senior reporter at The Points Guy .

Indeed, a cursory search on Google Flights while writing this piece found a round-trip flight option from New York to Paris for $522. But if you were to purchase the same two flights separately ― New York to Paris, then Paris back to New York ― the combined cost would be $1,670, more than three times the cost of the round-trip booking. The price discrepancy can get even more egregious when premium cabin fares are involved.

“In general, round-trip tickets tend to be cheaper than two one-way tickets, particularly if you intend on flying with a single carrier or alliance,” said Willis Orlando, senior product operations specialist at Scott’s Cheap Flights .

So if you’re all about airline loyalty, you’ll likely find better pricing options booking a round-trip journey for your international travels.

But domestic flights have better one-way pricing.

While airline pricing tends to incentivize round-trip bookings for international flights, there isn’t as much of a disparity with domestic air travel.

“When traveling within the U.S., airlines typically price one-way flights at exactly half the cost of a round-trip,” reporter Chris Dong wrote for The Points Guy in September. “There certainly are exceptions, especially for those that fly out of smaller, regional airports.”

Thus, if you’re flying domestically out of a major hub, you have better odds of finding good deals on separate one-way tickets.

Booking separate legs allows you to combine airlines.

Once you’ve determined you won’t lose money booking separate legs for your air travel, consider why you want to do it this way.

“Booking a round-trip itinerary as two one-way segments can make sense in some cases,” Griff said. “For one, it gives you the flexibility to choose between more than one airline in your searches. Sometimes, you can save money by combining flights on different airlines.”

Perhaps you have rewards points with two different airlines that service your destination and want to cash them in during one trip. Booking separately allows you to do that. You might even find a good deal for the outbound part of your journey with one airline and for the return flight with a different carrier.

“That said, you’ll need to pay attention to different fare rules when combining two airlines on one trip,” Griff noted. “For instance, if your outbound flight is delayed or canceled, you’d only be entitled to a refund for that portion of the itinerary, if you booked as one-ways.”

One-ways also offer more flexibility with return dates.

Another factor you may want to consider when booking round-trip or one-way is how sure you are of your dates.

Good one-way rates “can be useful if you’re not quite sure when you’ll be returning from your trip, which is particularly relevant in the age of remote work and extended AirBnB stays,” Orlando said.

So if you aren’t exactly sure when you’ll be ending your stay, you can make the process easier by simply booking a one-way ticket there. Then you don’t have to book your return until you’re ready, and you won’t have to spend time changing it to a later date over and over again.

Orlando said he’s even had some luck booking one-ways internationally with certain carriers, like TAP Air Portugal.

“I frequently travel to Europe for weeks, if not months, at a time, and try to make sure I end my trip in a city served by TAP, because I know I’ll be able to find myself a cheap one-way ticket home,” he noted.

Booking separate legs might help with a complicated itinerary.

Sometimes your travels might take you to multiple places and via different transit methods. For example, you might fly from Miami to New York and then take the train down to Washington, D.C. In this case, you’d want to fly back home from a different city than the one you flew into.

“In many cases, it will be possible to book an open-jaw ticket, coupling the two itineraries into a single ‘round-trip’ ticket, but occasionally that’s not possible,” Orlando said. “In that case, it can be worthwhile to look into one-way prices to see if they offer a competitive price, or favorable routing.”

When you have a more complex itinerary, it might feel simpler to break it up into one-way flights. Just make sure to compare the prices, and be prepared to manage the different airline bookings in your inbox.

As with most aspects of travel, there’s no one magic way to do things when you’re deciding whether to book two one-ways or a round-trip journey. But with research and experience, you can get better at figuring out what works best for your budget, itinerary and overall comfort level.

Before You Go

From our partner, huffpost shopping’s best finds, more in life.

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Which is the Better Air Ticket: Round Trip or One Way?

One-way ticket vs. round trip ticket.

If you’ve ever looked into one-way foreign tickets like flights to india from USA , you’ve undoubtedly discovered that two one-way flights cost more than a round-trip flight. However, this isn’t always the case, especially when utilizing points and miles to buy tickets. On many travels, loyalty programs charge half the price of a round-trip award airfare for one-way award flights.

When comparing round-trip vs. One-way flights, there are other factors to consider apart from pricing. Travelers may be startled to learn that buying a round-trip award airfare may cause problems if their plans alter mid-trip.

Here are some things to think about when buying round-trip vs. One-way flights, as well as answers to some commonly asked questions.

What Is a One-Way Ticket?

A one-way trip allows passengers to go just to their destination and not return—They can book direct flights from the United States to India or through another country or city.

The benefits

If you’re on a long vacation with a predetermined itinerary, a one-way is preferable over a round trip. If you get one-way cheap international flight tickets , you may enjoy your vacation abroad without having to worry about returning home. Flexible timings enable you to obtain the cheapest return tickets and discounts.

Is It Possible to Buy a Roundtrip Ticket?

If a person has a round trip ticket, they can go from one area to another and return to the same starting point. For example, you may purchase a ticket for flights to India from USA and return through another country or location.

If you have a defined departure and arrival time, this is a better option than booking two separate one-way tickets. Round-trip tickets are frequently less costly than two one-way tickets. Buying a round-trip ticket saves you the trouble of attempting to find a second flight that fits your budget on the day of your departure because everything is taken care of in advance.

When buying revenue prices, choose between round-trip and one-way flights.

When it comes to paid flights, our suggestion is simple: pick the lowest option for your vacation. There’s no reason to book two one-way flights if a round-trip journey is less expensive.

If two one-way flights cost the same as a round-trip flight, it makes more sense to book the round-trip flight. After all, with many airlines no longer charging change fees, it’s easy to modify — or even cancel — the return leg of the round trip.

Let’s look at the main differences between one-way and round-trip tickets now that they know what they represent. Choosing between a one-way and round-trip ticket may be easier.

The Ultimate Guide to Buying Cheap Air Tickets

Travelers looking for one-way or round-trip plane tickets at a reasonable price can use the information given below.

To obtain a better deal on your USA to India flight tickets , try to purchase them during the week rather than on the weekend. Customers can save money by being flexible with their trip dates when booking a one-way aircraft ticket.

Flyustravels can help you find the lowest one-way or round-trip tickets.

To avoid price hikes, always search for one-way and round-trip flights in incognito mode.

Booking a month or two in advance is the greatest technique for receiving the lowest airfare.

To avoid expenditures, consider booking a red-eye flight .

Fly on a low-cost airline rather than a huge airline to save money.

Use your points and miles to get the best deals on flights.

We feel that all of the details stated in this post concerning round-trip versus one-way flights are important for every traveler to be aware of. Before you book a flight, you must consider your preferences, requirements, and budget. It is generally prudent to schedule flights in accordance with your anticipated itinerary.

You may always visit the Flyopedia website for additional information on international air travel and to obtain inexpensive flight tickets. We also provide our customers with the greatest rates on flights from USA to India .

Also read: Cheap Flights From USA to India With Cheapest And Best Airlines

Q1. What exactly is an outward flight?

Ans: An outgoing flight is simply one that is departing or is about to depart for another destination.

Q2. What exactly is an incoming flight?

Ans: An incoming flight is just one that arrives from somewhere else.

Q3. Is it necessary to pay a double cancellation charge if you cancel a round-trip flight?

No, you will not be required to pay the cancellation charge twice or double the amount if you booked a circular journey.

Q4: What is a throwaway ticket, and how is it used?

Ans: A throwaway ticket is issued when a traveler purchases a ticket to a certain location, but only wants to go for a portion of the journey. It generally occurs when a person purchases a round-trip ticket rather than a one-way ticket since the former is less expensive.

Q5. Which major airlines operate from the United States to India?

Ans: The primary airlines that connect the United States to India include Air India, United Airlines, Emirates, Etihad, Qatar Airways, and Jet Airways.

Q6. To which Indian places, may I fly straight from the United States?

Simple Flying

Is it cheaper to buy one way flights or return tickets.

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• Returns are generally cheaper per flight.
• One-way tickets are better for point redemptions.
• Round-trip tickets are cheaper for non-domestic flights.

Fare pricing is one of those mercurial black boxes that consumers find difficult to get a read on - sometimes you stumble upon a fantastic deal, but when you try to replicate the strategy, you can't find such a bargain ever again.

Even with scores of third-party ticketing websites scouring the web to find the cheapest deals, there are still certain methods customers can utilize to get the lowest prices. When considering how airfare pricing algorithms have so many changing variables, formulas, frequent flyer redemptions, and more, the water seems rather muddy.

But fret not, as not all hope is lost - there are still things to learn that could help passengers save money where needed. One of these is whether to purchase a single round-trip ticket, or to book your journey as two separate one-way flights.

Returns are generally cheaper per flight

While not a rule set in stone, there are often savings to be made by buying a return ticket instead of two one-legged tickets. This is because airlines want to encourage passengers to fly both legs of their journey with the same carrier, rather than having them book one leg with a competitor.

The savings may be small, but definitely add up for those who travel a lot, or are booking a more expensive long-haul flight. Let's put this to the test on booking website Skyscanner by searching for a return flight (in this example, Atlanta-Los Angeles with American Airlines), then checking the cost of booking the two exact same legs separately.

At $350 for a return, a search for the same fares individually works out at $360 in total, amounting to a modest $10 in savings. Speaking from experience, long-haul flights generally offer larger savings when booking returns given the higher base price of each fare.

When are one-way tickets cheaper?

Although it's not always the case, one-way tickets are more often than not favorable when using frequent flyer or credit card point redemptions. Since point redemptions or bookings are strategically quoted within a fixed range of prices, passengers often grab the opportunity to book two one-way tickets instead of a single round-trip since the number of points required would not necessarily change.

While this advantage does not make any of the two one-way tickets any cheaper, passengers tend to save on additional fees that would incur. One-way tickets provide much more flexibility - such as not being at the mercy of single scheduled flight days and timings and factoring in the possible accommodation, transport, and insurance costs typically incurred if return-ticket trippers wish to adjust their schedule.

5 Top Tips To Help You Find The Cheapest Flights

From error fares to building up credits, travelers use a lot of hacks to find the cheapest flights.

One-way tickets are also considered the cheaper alternative for passengers who prefer to travel with multiple airlines along the same trip, albeit mainly for domestic flights. To further entice this type of passenger, airlines like low-cost carriers offer special deals or discounts specifically for one-way tickets on selected routes, making the ticket type cheaper than buying a return ticket for the same period and same route.

Want to know more? Check out Simple Flying's guide on when to book long-haul vs short-haul for the biggest savings

The primary hassles in these cases would be for passengers to keep track of two or more separate reservations and airline schedules and hope that there are little to no flight delays during the entire journey.

Want answers to more critical questions in aviation? Explore the rest of our guides here !

What about round-trip tickets?

Much like cheaper one-way flight tickets on select routes, airlines also offer cheaper round-trip flight tickets depending on the route and carrier. As mentioned previously, this is primarily done to encourage passengers to fly the outbound and inbound sectors with the same airline.

Round-trip tickets are also typically cheaper when bought through airline and travel consolidators, since these businesses purchase tickets in bulk from the airlines and get to resell them to passengers or third-party travel agencies at a heavily discounted rate. In fact, the discounts are sometimes heavier than the discounts offered by the airlines themselves, saving passengers quite a sum of money.

Another option where round-trip tickets are considered the less expensive alternative is when passengers book an open-jaw flight - whereby the airlines allow passengers to book a flight to one destination and a flight back from another destination in a different direction but on the same ticket/reservation. So, instead of pricing these two flights as two one-way trips, the airline mainly prices them quite similarly to a round-trip.

What is the final verdict?

After all that back and forth, the conclusion on the cheaper ticket type depends on the passengers' travel situation. If the passenger is booking a trip without using any mileage redemption and considering a non-domestic flight, round-trip tickets are often the cheaper alternative, particularly for long-haul journeys.

How To Use Google Flights' 'Search Anywhere' Tool To Find Cheap Fares

Easily search across multiple origins and destination combinations to find the cheapest fare.

But suppose the passenger plans to fly domestically using mileage redemptions or has significantly flexible timings and itineraries, one-way tickets may be the way to go. You will probably find that the savings are minimal when booking two separate one-way flights, but sometimes you can find valuable bargains.

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Round Trip Vs. One Way Ticket – A Detailed Comparison

Rather than jumping directly on the discussion of which can be a better option, booking a round trip or two one-way tickets, let us first talk about what these two terms exactly mean. We need to ensure we are on the same page by defining these terms. To have a clear comparison of round trip Vs. one-way ticket , it is important to get the basics clearly.

Table of Contents

What is a round trip flight?

Round trip flight allows you to travel from one destination say Los Angeles to another destination say New Delhi and return back to your origin place Los Angeles. Both the inbound and outbound flight details are on the same air ticket. A round trip ticket is also referred as ‘circle ticket’ or ‘return air ticket’ as you depart from a certain location A to reach a destination B and get back to location A after spending a few days at your travel destination B. This completes a circle and thus called circle ticket.

What does one-way mean for a flight?

A one way flight or one way ticket allows you to fly to the destination and not return back to the origin destination. So, you need to book two one-ways to complete the circle.

Now, the question arises which of these is better economically, like is it cheaper to fly one way or round trip? This considers various factors that are discussed in this blog.

Round-trip Tickets Vs. One-Way Tickets   

An analysis of recent travel booking trends by the Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC) found notable patterns. In the USA, bookings for 24.12 million passenger journeys had been made online and through travel agencies as of May 2023, a 6% increase from the previous year. Although round-trip tickets continue to be the most popular, one-way tickets have become increasingly popular, and now 42% of all bookings are for air travel. The primary force behind this change is business and vacation travelers, who consider one-way tickets as more affordable and adaptable because the difference in price between one-way and round-trip flights is getting less.

The average cost of round-trip tickets has also significantly decreased, according to the survey, with an 11% decrease as of May 2023 over the previous year. This decrease, along with higher seat capacity, has resulted in a record-breaking summer travel season with major increase in both domestic and international travel. These patterns highlight how public tastes are changing and how crucial it is for platforms to offer competitive prices and flexible booking options to maximize trip schedules and financial constraints.

How to find which is better – Round Trip Tickets or One Way Tickets?

To decide a better deal among the two types of air travel booking, we have taken into consideration the following factors for a decent comparison:

Is it a domestic or international flight deal?

According to travel experts, booking a one-way flight is a more economic option for domestic travel and round trips are a good deal for international travel. However, it might vary depending on the destinations, airlines, time of booking and other significant parameters.

Many airlines do not cover this policy of cheaper round-trip flights or one-way flights, so claiming its authenticity is difficult. If you want to book cheap flights from USA to India , IndianEagle can help you get the best deals. You can compare one-way and round trips on our official website and block the most suitable flight deal.

Look for airlines with ongoing sales

Like any other shopping brand, airlines also offer sales several times in a year and booking flights during this period is undoubtedly beneficial for travelers. If you are planning a trip to the United States, keep an eye on both one-way and round trip routes from your origin destination. To get regular updates, subscribe to IndianEagle newsletter and we will notify you with the cheapest air fare deals of the preferred route.

Several airlines offer discounts round-trip tickets and some on one-way tickets. However, you must read each word of the deal properly. Reading the terms and conditions might bring into your notice the little details of the deal, like any hidden charges with the discounted deal. We do not charge you with any hidden fees.

Is there any chance of cancellation of tickets or missing the flight?

This is an important point to consider when deciding between one-way tickets and round-trip tickets. If there is a slightest chance that you might have to cancel the outbound ticket or you missed the flight, booking one-way flight is better as a cancelled round trip ticket means you will have to book the new outbound and return tickets again. On booking two one way tickets, you can have your return ticket safe even in case of cancellation of the outbound flight.

What if there is a change in plan?

In this case, booking one-way flight can get you in trouble as you will have to pay the change and cancellation fees twice for both the tickets (Elite status is an exception). When you cancel a round trip, you will be charged with only one cancellation, change or mileage redeposit fees, even on changing both outbound and return flights.

Are there any nearby airports you can fly to?

Suppose you are flying to a destination with several neighboring airports like New York City and you are not getting a god return flight, you can look for one-way fares for Newark. Considering nearby airports increases your chances of finding a cheaper one-way air ticket deal. The same applies for regions such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, London, etc.

At IndianEagle, we provide Nearby Airport deals , which show the list of neighboring airports from the destination you are traveling to. You can then choose the cheapest flight deal. If round-trip ticket suits you economically, you can book that too.

Round Trip vs One Way Ticket – A Detailed Comparison

Is round-trip or one-way expensive? 

Logically, a round-trip ticket must be more expensive than a one-way ticket as the itinerary for the former covers both onward and return journeys. However, a one-way flight on an international route is costlier than a round-trip ticket most times. The airfare of one-way tickets can also change drastically depending on your departure date, route, airline, and other factors. 

What happens if you only use one way of a round-trip ticket? 

Not showing up for the return portion of a round-trip flight ticket, usually referred to as throwaway ticketing, is against the terms of service of most airlines. Certain airlines may also charge their passengers the standard fare of a one-way ticket for the route you actually flew or cancel mileage points when a passenger is found to have not checked in for a leg of their journey after booking a cheap round-trip ticket only to avoid paying more for a one-way ticket.

Now that you are aware of the parameters that help choosing a better deal between one-way tickets and round tickets, you can save more on air travel.

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Fly Deal Fare Blog

Why Does a One Way Ticket Cost More Than a Round Trip Ticket?

What is a one way ticket.

A one way ticket is a type of ticket that allows the respective passenger to travel to their destination only and it does not consider the returning. In simple words, it considers the one-way travel either it is on an aircraft, a train, a bus, or any other mode of travel without a return trip.

What Is A Round Trip Ticket?

On the other side, a round trip ticket is that type of ticket which allows a person to travel to a place or destination and also consider the return back to the place which the traveler left. Hence this ticket considers the whole journey i.e. going to a place and the returning too (usually over the same route). It is quite profitable for the passengers as compared to one way airline ticket.

Difference Between A One Way Trip And A Round Trip:

Well, it is always difficult to predict the airfares, but some loosely defined rules have made it a little easier to make travel plans. But on comparing round trip vs one way tickets, it can be understood that why are one way flights more expensive ! If you are getting two flights for less than the price of one, then airlines must have relatively solid reasons for pricing flights this way. And some of those reasons are discussed below:

• Business Travelers Pay More:

It is a fact that the business travelers’ airfare is round-trip most of the time as they almost always purchased by a corporate travel department. They generally focused to avail the most convenient flying times each way rather than the lowest cost. Airlines have little incentive to offer lower round-trip prices as long as it is for the non-discount round-trip airfare.

• One-Way Airfare is Inconvenient for Airlines Too:

Airlines have a more convenient for their scheduling system when the travelers fly round-trip or book round trip tickets. In case of one-way flights where the passengers need to purchase another ticket for the return journey, the airlines find it quite difficult to make airplane staffing decisions and set flight schedules ahead of time.

• One-Way Airfare Eliminates The Scheduling Problems:

Passengers with the one-way ticket can easily take advantage of the lower round-trip fares by simply discarding the unused ticket portion. Although, this thing is against airline ticketing rules yet it is quite common among passengers and they almost never punished.

On the part of the airline, they can easily adjust flight schedules without losing money whether the passenger decides to book a one-way return or not. They do so by managing the situation when a passenger purchases a one-way ticket at a higher price than the cost of half of the same round-trip journey.

• One-Way Airfare is More Convenient for Passengers:

In case, the passenger is not sure about his/her returning, then purchasing a one way ticket is more appropriate. Since the airline can’t be sure about using these for the return trip of the passengers, that’s why their one-way tickets are more expensive in order to recoup the potential losses of you as a return passenger. Passengers just end up by paying more for the convenience of deciding at your leisure exactly.

How To Buy Cheap Tickets OR Tips To Buy Cheap Tickets:

To avail perfect airfares in your budget, you just need to follow the few tips regarding booking cheapest air tickets . It will help you to know how to buy cheap tickets . This includes stuff like

• Keep your searches top secret
• Use the best flight search engines
• Identify the cheapest day to fly out
• Befriend budget airlines

All You Need to Know While Buying One-Way Airline Tickets:

There are times when you fly to somewhere and have no exact idea when you will be coming back. In such a case, if you buy one-way airfare, then will be the most stupid thing. After all, there is always an option to purchase a return ticket later.

Do take into account the growing popularity of discount airlines and airfares and the increased competition between legacy carriers. This is the reason why round-trip airfare is frequently cheaper than a one-way ticket. There are a few drawbacks which the passenger must be aware of. Following are some of them:

• Role Of Your Destination:

In case, you are purchasing a ticket to a domestic destination (No Return):

For this, the one-way ticket is almost always cheaper. Passengers can easily get the advantage from US-based discount airlines like Southwest Airlines and JetBlue which offer one-way fares for under $100.

On the other side, for Europe or Asia, it is often cheaper to buy a round-trip ticket, especially if you prefer to fly with the major US carriers.

• Airlines Encourage Round-Trip:

It is a fact that one-way bookings are a headache for the airline too as these disrupt the overall flying schedules. Hence, the airline itself discourages passengers from booking for one way. That’s also one of the reasons that the one-way flights are almost always significantly more expensive. The prices for one-way tickets are always high because these are frequently purchased by business class travelers on multi-leg trips.

• Throwaway Ticketing:

Throwaway Ticketing : It is a type of practice in which passengers used to purchase a round-trip ticket and throw away the unneeded portion to get a one-way trip at a round-trip price. Eventually, it proves much cheaper and is very common among frequent flyers.

Airline ticketing rules do prohibit the act of throwaway ticketing. In case, a passenger fails to use the first portion and show up only for the return flight, then the airline changes huge penalties from the respective passenger. It can also deny boarding.

• Try To Be Flexible:

Being flexible will help the passengers keep the price down in case of purchasing the one-way ticket.

For an instant, a one-way flight leaving at 10 am will be more expensive than the first flight of the day flying at 4 or 5 am. Managing the days can also prove helpful like if you fly on Tuesdays and Wednesdays; you can save more.

Searching of multiple travel sites can be helpful but keep in mind that most travel sites do not post fares for discount carriers, so visit those sites individually.

Steps For Using a Roundtrip Ticket to Go One Way:

It is the most common activity among the passengers to purchase the less expensive round-trip fare and simply do not use the return portion. Doing so can be easy but it contains certain restrictions that can add considerable complications to the process.

HOW TO DO SO?

• STEP 1: Contact the Airline (before arrival)

First of all, contact the airline before the day of the flight and do modify the round-trip ticket for one-way usage. Most of the airlines modify a round-trip fare to allow one-way use but some airlines may charge a penalty or fee for this service.

• STEP 2: Use the ticket for the outbound flight

Your flight accommodation will not change as it is based on the one-way or round-trip status of your ticket. Hence you can check-in at the airport and board the plane under normal flight procedures on the day of flight arrival.

• STEP 3: Contact the Airline (after reaching your destination)

If you get failed to negotiate with the airline in Step 1, then contact the airline later and ask for a change to your return date is a good option. You can ask for a refund on the unused portion of your ticket. You can disregard this step in the case; you are unconcerned with a refund or change to your return-trip ticket.

• STEP 4: Contact the Airline (ready to return)

In case, you negotiate a change to the return portion of your ticket with the airline, then verify the change and check-in at the airport for your updated return flight. But you may need to purchase a new ticket for your return flight if you are not able to negotiate a change.

• ← United Airlines Will Soon Introduce ‘The New Auction System’ For overbooking Flights!
• American Airlines Web Check In Policy: Terms And Conditions →

Is It Better to Book a Round-Trip or Two One-Way Award Flights?

"Reader Questions" are answered twice a week by TPG Associate Editor Brendan Dorsey .

Booking award flights can be a complicated process. TPG reader Ashley wants to know if there's any benefit when booking two one-way awards...

[pullquote source="TPG Reader Ashley"]Assuming the number of miles is the same, is there any reason not to book two one-way award tickets vs a round-trip award ticket.[/pullquote]

One-way flights purchased with cash can sometimes be prohibitively expensive compared to round-trip itineraries — making the option of booking two one-ways with miles more attractive if the situation calls for it.

But what are the pros and cons of booking two separate one-way award flights vs. one round-trip itinerary? We've laid out a few reasons why you might want to consider one or the other.

One of the biggest benefits to booking two one-ways is that you can use two different mileage currencies when planning your travel. That added flexibility can help a lot when planning a trip. You might only be able to find award availability on the outbound leg using American miles, while the only way to get home would be using United miles. Holding flexible points currencies like Amex Membership Rewards and Chase Ultimate Rewards can help in these situations, since you aren't locked into a single program. You can instead transfer points to a variety of carriers that let you book across any airline alliance or even with non-alliance partners.

Another positive for two one-ways may come up if you miss the outbound flight, as you'd run the risk of the remainder of a round-trip ticket getting cancelled at that point. This would force you to find a new outbound and return flight. If you book two one-ways, you won't have to worry about that.

Some mileage programs actually penalize you for one-way flights — Delta, for one, charges a Europe origination surcharge when booking award flights starting in Europe with SkyMiles. This fee can be avoided if you book a round-trip award.

Another issue with two one-way flights comes up if you need to change the dates of your travel or even cancel the trip entirely. You'll likely be stuck with double the amount of change and cancellation fees if you have two one-way flights (unless you have elite status that waives or discounts these fees). A round-trip award will only come with one change, cancellation or mileage redeposit fee, even if you change both the outbound and the return flights.

Family travelers with babies who are flying as "infant-in-arms" may also want to avoid booking two one-way awards. Most mileage programs will charge lap infants 10% of the price of the paid ticket on international awards, and because one-way flights are usually more expensive than round-trip ones (especially to Europe), you'd potentially be looking at hundreds of dollars in additional fees for bringing your little one.

Bear in mind too that some programs won't even allow one-way awards at all. For instance, you can fly in ANA business class from the mainland US to Japan for just 90,000 Virgin Atlantic miles round-trip , but the Flying Club award chart doesn't allow for one-way awards on the Japanese carrier. And ANA itself only allows you to book round-trip award travel as well. You can fly during off-peak dates from the US to Tokyo using ANA miles in business class for an incredible 75,000 miles round-trip, but you wouldn't be able to book that as two one-ways — even though that rate is even cheaper than if you booked a partner award through United's MileagePlus program.

Bottom Line

As you can see, there are positives and negatives to booking both one-way and round-trip award travel. If you don't think your plans will change, it can definitely make sense to book with two one-ways — especially if you need the added flexibility of booking through two different loyalty programs. Just be sure to consider the risks before locking in those award tickets.

Thanks for the question, Ashley, and if you're a TPG reader who'd like us to answer a question of your own, tweet us at @thepointsguy , message us on Facebook or email us at [email protected] .

What is Round Trip Time - RTT vs TTFB vs Latency

Round Trip Time (RTT) is a metric that measures the time taken by a network packet to travel from sender to receiver and then back from receiver to sender.

RTT = Latency (Client to Server) + Server Processing Time + Latency (Server to Client)

RTT is a great metric to evaluate network performance but not the best at measuring how well the website is served to the end users. TTFB is a better metric for understanding server performance. Nevertheless, RTT directly influences TTFB and hence we must ensure that our website has a low RTT.

Here's a quick illustration of Round Trip Time.

In the above illustration, you can see that the time period between the Request sent from the client to the Response received by the client is the Round Trip Time. Apart from the latency, it might also include a little server processing delay.

When measuring RTT, we ideally send a request such as ping that involves minimal processing and resources. This ensures that we can minimize the server processing and our RTT value mainly comprises of latency at both ends.

How to Measure Round Trip Time ​

To measure Round Trip Time, you can either open Terminal on Mac or Linux or open Command Prompt/Powershell on Windows. Use the ping command for any domain name or IP.

Here's an example showing the ping command for google.com.

You can use -c to limit the number of requests you want to send. Once the process is done, you'll get a summary of the RTT. It will list the minimum, average, maximum, and standard deviation values for the RTT. The farther you are from the physical server (or CDN's point of presence), the higher will be the RTT value.

What Factors Affect Round Trip Time ​

1) physical distance ​.

The longer the physical distance between the client and the server, the higher will be RTT. This applies to latency and TTFB as well.

2) Network Traffic ​

If any part of the network is congested due to high usage, there will be delays as the packets have to wait in a queue.

3) Network Hops Count ​

The more routers or servers a packet has to travel through, the higher will be the RTT. This is because each device will take some time to process it.

4) Server Response Time ​

Since Round Trip Time consists of the time when a request is sent by the client and the time when it is received back by the client, it adds some delay as the server needs to process the request in order to respond back. While measuring RTT, we try to minimize this time by using a simple request such as ping. However, for more complex requests, the server processing time is high and adds to the RTT value.

5) Transmission Medium ​

Optical Fiber offers the lowest RTT followed by other Wired connections such as Copper Cables. Wireless networks such as Wi-Fi, 5G, 4G, and Satellite Internet such as Starlink will have higher RTT.

6) Routing Paths ​

If the packet takes a more complex path over the internet, it could lead to a higher RTT. Some CDN Providers offer services that optimize the network paths.

7) Packet Size ​

The lower the size of the packet, the faster it can be transmitted.

RTT vs TTFB vs Latency ​

It is easy to get confused between these three as they all are very similar. To understand their difference better, let's start with the easiest one, i.e., latency.

Latency is only a one-way delay. It is the time taken by a network packet to travel from sender to receiver (or from receiver to sender).

RTT (Round Trip Time) is the two-way delay. It is the time taken by a network packet to travel from sender to receiver and then back to sender from the receiver.

TTFB (Time to First Byte) is a metric that is quite similar to Round Trip Time but it is measured for an HTTP request and includes the server processing delay along with the round trip time. SpeedVitals also offers a TTFB Test that you could check out.

RTT & Web Performance ​

Round Trip Time is an important metric for Web Performance as it directly influences TTFB which in turn affects various Web Vitals including Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) and Interaction to Next Paint (INP). Let us discuss how RTT affects Core Web Vitals and how to measure RTT for real users.

Impact on Core Web Vitals ​

Time to First Byte (TTFB) metric consists of Round Trip Time as well as Server Processing Time. It plays an important in the calculation of First Contentful Paint (FCP) and Largest Contentful Paint (LCP). Even if your website has a fast backend/server and your Frontend is well-optimized, you can still have a poor LCP score if the Round Trip Time is high.

Since a high RTT value increases TTFB, this results in a delay until all the critical resources are loaded and the website becomes interactive. This can also result in slower event handling and higher input latency. All of these factors can increase INP (Interaction to Next Paint), which is a new Core Web Vitals metric.

The only metric RTT doesn't have a direct impact on is Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS). Nevertheless, RTT has a direct impact on 2/3rd of Core Web Vitals.

We also have a free tool to check out your Core Web Vitals score. You can check it out on Core Web Vitals Checker .

Check RTT using CrUX API ​

The Chrome User Experience Report (CrUX) has recently started including the RTT values. You can learn more about the same on the metrics page of CrUX API Documentation .

However, this RTT value is measured for an HTTP request and not for a simpler request like ping. This would be ideal in the context of Web Performance but it could differ from measuring RTT via ping, and also because it is being measured for real users.

How to Reduce Round Trip Time ​

Our article on reducing TTFB covers both aspects (Reducing Server Response Time and latency). Some of the suggestions in that article will be applicable to reducing RTT as well.

Here are some suggestions that can help reduce the RTT of your website.

1) Use a CDN ​

As discussed earlier, using a CDN can dramatically reduce both RTT and TTFB as it makes copies of your website resources in multiple locations. When a user requests your website, the CDN serves the user through its closest Point of Presence.

You can refer to our article to find out the best CDN .

2) Consider using a Load Balancer ​

A load balancer can distribute the traffic to your origin server to multiple nodes and helps prevent network congestion during traffic spikes. Moreover, having multiple servers across the globe can reduce network delay as the content gets served from the node closest to the user (in case of no CDN, dynamic content, or Cache Miss).

3) Optimize Network Paths ​

Some CDNs offer features or add-on services that can optimize network paths by smart routine. Some of the popular services include:

• Cloudflare's Argo Smart Routing
• Fastly's Dynamic Site Acceleration
• Akamai's Adaptive Media Delivery
• How to Measure Round Trip Time
• 1) Physical Distance
• 2) Network Traffic
• 3) Network Hops Count
• 4) Server Response Time
• 5) Transmission Medium
• 6) Routing Paths
• 7) Packet Size
• RTT vs TTFB vs Latency
• Impact on Core Web Vitals
• Check RTT using CrUX API
• 1) Use a CDN
• 2) Consider using a Load Balancer
• 3) Optimize Network Paths

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Flights to Yekaterinburg (SVX)

Koltsovo international airport - airport code: svx, non-stop flights to yekaterinburg (svx).

Koltsovo International Airport is the third largest airport in Russia. It is an international airport. In total there are 86 airports around the world that have direct flights to Yekaterinburg, spread around 78 cities in 15 countries. Currently, there are 58 domestic flights to Yekaterinburg.

Yekaterinburg is mainly known for sightseeing & culture and its nature.

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This month, there are 2,711 flights arriving at Yekaterinburg Airport, which are 90 flights per day or 4 flights per hour. On an average day, there is at least 1 flight arriving every 15 minutes.

The most frequently departed flights to Yekaterinburg are routes from Moscow Sheremetyevo (SVO) in Russia and Sochi (AER), also in Russia. These two routes together are operated 647 times this month, and make up for 24% of all monthly arrivals at Koltsovo International Airport.

The longest flight to Yekaterinburg SVX is departing from Nha Trang (CXR). This non-stop flight takes around 10 hours and 45 minutes and covers a distance of 2,489 miles (4,005 km).

List of all direct flights to Yekaterinburg

Below you can find a list of all cities and countries that have direct flights to Yekaterinburg, ordered by popularity.

Top 200 flights with a stopover

This list contains the 200 most popular airports from which flights depart that require just one stopover to get to Yekaterinburg.

Airlines flying to Yekaterinburg

Currently, there are 26 airlines that fly to Yekaterinburg. Most flights to Yekaterinburg are operated by Red Wings, as they connect 26 airports to SVX. Below you can find a list of airlines that operate most SVX flights:

Business class flights to Yekaterinburg

There are 34 airports that have flights to Yekaterinburg in Business Class. All airports that offer business class flights to SVX are listed below:

Intercontinental flights to Yekaterinburg

These are all non-stop intercontinental flights to Koltsovo International Airport (SVX), as of August 2024:

* Please note that there are no direct services from the United States, Canada, Southern America, Central America, the Caribbean, Southern Asia, Japan, Eastern Asia or Oceania.

Non-stop flights from Africa to Yekaterinburg

Non-stop flights from the middle-east / western asia to yekaterinburg.

Non-stop flights from China to Yekaterinburg

Non-stop flights from south-east asia to yekaterinburg.

Non-stop flights from Central Asia to Yekaterinburg

International flights to Yekaterinburg

Flights from armenia to yekaterinburg.

Yerevan is the only city in Armenia with direct flights to Yekaterinburg. From Yerevan , you can fly non-stop with Aeroflot or Ural Airlines.

Flights from Azerbaijan to Yekaterinburg

In Azerbaijan, the only airport that has a direct connection to Yekaterinburg is Baku. From Baku , you can fly non-stop with Azerbaijan or Ural Airlines.

Flights from Belarus to Yekaterinburg

There is 1 airport in Belarus that has a direct connection to Yekaterinburg, which is Minsk. From Minsk , direct flights are offered by Belavia.

Flights from China to Yekaterinburg

In China, the only airport that has a direct connection to Yekaterinburg is Beijing Daxing. From Beijing Daxing , direct flights are offered by Ural Airlines.

Flights from Egypt to Yekaterinburg

There are 2 airports in Egypt that have non-stop flights to Yekaterinburg.

From Hurghada , direct flights are offered by Aeroflot. From Sharm el-Sheikh , you can fly non-stop with Aeroflot or Azur Air.

Flights from Georgia to Yekaterinburg

If you are looking for a direct flight from Georgia to Yekaterinburg, there are 2 airports to choose from.

From Batumi and Tbilisi , you can fly with Red Wings.

Flights from India to Yekaterinburg

Mopa is the only city in India with direct flights to Yekaterinburg. From Mopa , direct flights are offered by Aeroflot. This is a seasonal route that starts in October and ends in March.

Flights from Kazakhstan to Yekaterinburg

In Kazakhstan, there are 2 airports that have direct flights to Yekaterinburg.

From Almaty , direct flights are offered by Red Wings. This is a seasonal route that starts in August and ends in October. From Astana , you can fly non-stop with Qazaq Air or Red Wings. This is a seasonal route that starts in August and ends in October.

Flights from Kyrgyzstan to Yekaterinburg

If you are looking for a direct flight from Kyrgyzstan to Yekaterinburg, there are 2 airports to choose from.

From Bishkek , direct flights are offered by Ural Airlines. From Osh , you can fly non-stop with Avia Traffic or Ural Airlines.

Flights from Tajikistan to Yekaterinburg

There are 2 airports in Tajikistan that have non-stop flights to Yekaterinburg.

From Dushanbe , you can fly non-stop with Somon Air or Ural Airlines. From Khujand , the only airline with direct flights is Ural Airlines. This is a seasonal route that starts in August and ends in October.

Flights from Thailand to Yekaterinburg

In Thailand, there are 2 airports that have direct flights to Yekaterinburg.

From Bangkok and Phuket , you can fly with Aeroflot.

Flights from Turkey to Yekaterinburg

There are 3 airports in Turkey that have non-stop flights to Yekaterinburg.

From Antalya , direct flights are offered by Aeroflot, Azur Air and Southwind Airlines. This is a seasonal route that starts in August and ends in November. From Dalaman , the only airline with direct flights is Azur Air. This is a seasonal route that starts in August and ends in October. From Istanbul , you can fly non-stop with Aeroflot or Ural Airlines.

Flights from United Arab Emirates to Yekaterinburg

If you are looking for a direct flight from United Arab Emirates to Yekaterinburg, there are 3 airports to choose from.

From Dubai , direct flights are offered by Flydubai. From Dubai (Jebel Ali) , the only airline with direct flights is Ural Airlines. This route is not operational yet but will start in September. From Dubai (Sharjah) , you can fly non-stop to Yekaterinburg with Air Arabia.

Flights from Uzbekistan to Yekaterinburg

In Uzbekistan, there are 4 airports that have direct flights to Yekaterinburg.

From Bukhara , direct flights are offered by Red Wings. This is a seasonal route that starts in August and ends in October. From Namangan , you can fly non-stop with Ural Airlines or Uzbekistan Airways. From Samarkand , you can fly non-stop to Yekaterinburg with Ural Airlines. From Tashkent , you can fly non-stop with Ural Airlines or Uzbekistan Airways.

Flights from Vietnam to Yekaterinburg

There is 1 airport in Vietnam that has a direct connection to Yekaterinburg, which is Nha Trang. From Nha Trang , direct flights are offered by Scat Air. This is a seasonal route that starts in August and ends in October.

Domestic flights to Yekaterinburg

Flights from russia to yekaterinburg.

There are lots of domestic flights to Yekaterinburg (SVX). 58 airports in Russia have direct flights to the airport.

From Arkhangelsk , Astrakhan and Barnaul , all direct flights to Yekaterinburg are operated by Red Wings. From Beloyarsky , the only airline with direct flights is RusLine. From Blagoveshchensk , direct flights are offered by Ural Airlines. From Cherepovets , you can fly non-stop to Yekaterinburg with Severstal. From Chita , direct flights are offered by Ural Airlines. From Gorno-Altaysk , you can fly non-stop with Red Wings or RusLine. From Irkutsk , you can fly non-stop with S7 Airlines (Oneworld) or Ural Airlines. From Izhevsk , the only airline with direct flights is Izhavia. This is a seasonal route that starts in August and ends in October. From Kaliningrad , direct flights are offered by Ural Airlines. From Kaluga , you can fly non-stop with RusLine or UVT Aero. From Kazan , you can fly non-stop with Red Wings or RusLine. From Kemerovo , the only airline with direct flights is Red Wings. This is a seasonal route that starts in August and ends in October. From Khabarovsk , you can fly non-stop to Yekaterinburg with Ural Airlines. From Khanty-Mansiysk , the only airline with direct flights is UTair. From Krasnoyarsk , you can fly non-stop with Aeroflot or Ural Airlines. From Lipetsk , you can fly non-stop to Yekaterinburg with RusLine. From Magnitogorsk , direct flights are offered by Azimuth. This is a seasonal route that starts in August and ends in October. From Makhachkala , direct flights are offered by NordStar, Nordwind and Ural Airlines. This is a seasonal route that starts in August and ends in October. From Mineralnye Vody , you can fly non-stop with Aeroflot or Ural Airlines. From Moscow Domodedovo , the only airline with direct flights is Ural Airlines. From Moscow Sheremetyevo , you can fly non-stop with Aeroflot or Nordavia. From Moscow Vnukovo , you can fly non-stop to Yekaterinburg with Aeroflot. This is a seasonal route that starts in August and ends in September. From Moscow Zhukovsky , direct flights are offered by Red Wings. This is a seasonal route that starts in August and ends in October. From Nadym , you can fly non-stop with RusLine or Yamal Airlines. From Naryan-Mar , you can fly non-stop to Yekaterinburg with RusLine. From Nizhnevartovsk , you can fly non-stop with Red Wings or UTair. From Nizhny Novgorod , direct flights are offered by Red Wings. This is a seasonal route that starts in August and ends in October. From Norilsk , you can fly non-stop to Yekaterinburg with NordStar. From Novokuznetsk , direct flights are offered by Red Wings. This is a seasonal route that starts in August and ends in October. From Novosibirsk , the only airline with direct flights is S7 Airlines (Oneworld). From Novy Urengoy , direct flights are offered by Red Wings, RusLine and Yamal Airlines. From Noyabrsk , you can fly non-stop with RusLine or Yamal Airlines. From Nyagan , direct flights are offered by UTair. From Omsk and Orenburg , you can fly with Red Wings. From Penza , the only airline with direct flights is Aeroflot. From Petrozavodsk , you can fly non-stop to Yekaterinburg with Severstal. From Remezov , the only airline with direct flights is UVT Aero. This is a seasonal route that starts in August and ends in October. From Saint Petersburg , there are 4 airlines that have direct services to Yekaterinburg, which are Aeroflot, Nordavia, Ural Airlines and Yakutia. From Salekhard , you can fly non-stop to Yekaterinburg with Yamal Airlines. This is a seasonal route that starts in August and ends in October. From Samara , you can fly non-stop with Red Wings or UTair. From Saratov , the only airline with direct flights is Red Wings. This is a seasonal route that starts in August and ends in October. From Sochi , there are 4 airlines that have direct services to Yekaterinburg, which are Aeroflot, Nordavia, Nordwind and Ural Airlines. From Sovetsky , the only airline with direct flights is UTair. From Stavropol , direct flights are offered by Red Wings. This is a seasonal route that starts in August and ends in October. From Surgut , you can fly non-stop with Red Wings or UTair. From Syktyvkar , direct flights are offered by RusLine. From Tomsk , you can fly non-stop with Red Wings or RusLine. From Tyumen , you can fly non-stop to Yekaterinburg with UTair. From Ufa , you can fly non-stop with Red Wings or UTair. From Ulyanovsk , direct flights are offered by Red Wings. This is a seasonal route that starts in August and ends in October. From Uray , you can fly non-stop to Yekaterinburg with UTair. From Vladikavkaz , direct flights are offered by Red Wings. This is a seasonal route that starts in August and ends in October. From Vladivostok , the only airline with direct flights is Ural Airlines. From Volgograd , you can fly non-stop to Yekaterinburg with NordStar. From Yakutsk , the only airline with direct flights is Yakutia.

Alternative airports near Yekaterinburg

Flying to an alternative airport near Yekaterinburg could give you other options to reach your destination. For example, the possibility to fly with a different airline or alliance, or finding a cheaper airfare. The only alternative airport to Yekaterinburg (SVX) within a range of 125 miles (200 km) is Chelyabinsk (CEK).

Frequently asked questions - FAQ

How many airports are there in yekaterinburg.

There is 1 airport in Yekaterinburg: Koltsovo International Airport (SVX).

What is the best airport to fly into Yekaterinburg?

The most convenient airport to fly into Yekaterinburg is Koltsovo International Airport (SVX).

How many airlines fly to Yekaterinburg?

There are 26 airlines flying to Yekaterinburg from 86 airports around the world, as of August 2024.

Which airlines fly to Yekaterinburg?

Red Wings, Ural Airlines and Aeroflot operate most flights to Yekaterinburg. To get a full overview of all operating airlines, please use the airline filter.

Which alliances are flying to Yekaterinburg?

Oneworld is currently the only alliance flying to Yekaterinburg.

How many nonstop flights are there to Yekaterinburg?

There are roughly 2,711 flights arriving at Yekaterinburg every month (or 630 flights each week), from a total of 86 airports worldwide.

What is the official name of Yekaterinburg Airport?

The official name of Yekaterinburg Airport is Koltsovo International Airport.

What is the airport code of Yekaterinburg Airport?

The airport code of Yekaterinburg Airport is SVX .

What are the most popular flights to Yekaterinburg?

Moscow Sheremetyevo, Sochi and Saint Petersburg are the 3 most popular routes to Yekaterinburg. For a complete overview of all flight routes to Yekaterinburg, please use our flight map.

How long is the flight to Yekaterinburg?

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