V-Flyer

I have been looking at ways to join American friends on a cruise leaving Fort Lauderdale in January 2013.
In doing this I was checking whether to use a USA travel agent and book my own flights or use a UK agent with flights inclusive.
Would you imagine that Virgin flights are as follows;
LHR to Miami premium eco £946 return,
LHR to Miami premium eco £1452 one way!
I've observed previously that one way fares are always more than 50% of return fares.
But surely it is a real rip off to charge 150% more.

My understanding is that one way fares are so expensive because they are always booked in the highest bucket - in this case Y.

Have you tried either a mileage booking or, a cruise specialist travel agent, who will face this issue regularly, and I believe may have access to cheaper one way options?

Nick

Cruiselines often have access to cheaper one way fares (although don't know whether that also applies to premium cabins).

One option is booking a return and not taking the return flight - not strictly allowed, but...

Thanks Nick - yes you are correct the higher single fare is 'fully flexible' - but that does not alter the fact that the cheapest one way fare is 150% higher than the cheapest return.

Thanks as well to Boo Boo you are correct but I am trying to put together two 'back to back' cruises with different cruise lines.

Many thanks for you comments.

P.S. Bearing in mind that the tax etc element of the two fares is the same the increased cost of the 'one way' fare element is in fact much higher than the 150% I mentioned

Your round trip will likely be a K fare that is bnon refundable, changable for a fee, non upgradable and limited number of seats available.

The one way will be a W which is fully flexible in terms of change, refund, upgrade, no advance purchase - you can just not turn up and still get your money back later.
That means VS will be holding a seat for you and you just don't turn up and they still have to give your money back. That kind of flexibility comes at a price.

Fairphil wrote:Thanks Nick - yes you are correct the higher single fare is 'fully flexible' - but that does not alter the fact that the cheapest one way fare is 150% higher than the cheapest return.

The problem is, you are comparing apples to pears.
You can't get a one way "cheapest" ticket, as the fare rules of a K state you must stay one Saturday night. If you are only going one way, that is impossible. So the one way will be a W as that doesn't need a Saturday night stay.

If you compare a one way W to a return w, it should be half the price (roughly)

This only explains the problem, not offering an excuse or solution sorry.

If you have any FC miles spare, then booking a one-way reward flight would be a very cost-effective way of doing this.

What about an open jaw? I assume you will want to return to the UK at some point from somewhere in the US?

Fairphil wrote:Thanks as well to Boo Boo you are correct but I am trying to put together two 'back to back' cruises with different cruise lines.

Hi

What are both cruise start and finish points?

Boo

Not just VA I have been looking at business class from LHR to Dubai. VA & BA APPROX £2200 but I have to start in Alicante where I live. BA from ALC via MAD then picking up the same flight from LHR £1620. so two more flights and a £750 saving (would need to fly to Uk with budget airline under option 1.

Hamster wrote:If you compare a one way W to a return w, it should be half the price (roughly)

Interesting -- I just tried that for a random few dates in June to MIA and the return W fare was much less than twice the W single, and the difference was not explicable in terms of the taxes/surcharges varying depending on the departure country.

clarkeysntfc wrote:If you have any FC miles spare, then booking a one-way reward flight would be a very cost-effective way of doing this.

This is exactly what I was going to say -- even if you have to buy some miles, you may still come out with a total that is less than the cheapest K return.

I'd just book the return ticket. All scheduled carriers have an 'overbooking' policy and this is one of the reasons.