Airlines.... again.

OK, had a whinge bout this before but...... Mrs C got her visa last Thurs so I went to look for a flight asap. NOW... Why o why are single fares so damn expensive ?? Ended up getting a return from DFW to LHR direct for just over £650 in cattle class on AA. A one way cheapest was £1400 !!!... When booking on AA website, you have to chose your outward first.. £260 ( bargain)... then book your return £390 ( still a bargain if you was going back).. I got her a flight for week after next, & the return about a year later.. IDK as shes not gonna use it ( I hope lolol). Last time I booked her a ticket with about the same time in notice I got it for about £450 this was back in Feb this year. I know taxes have been levied big time on air travel but come on.. & why the HUGE diffrence between a one way & return. Also all the one ways involved stopovers including one in Mexico & one in Paris. After spending an entire afternoon on comparison sites etc etc.. it was ironic I got a better deal via the airline itself.. Is there any cheaper way to go trans Atlantic .... Rant over...

Certa

I hear you on the flight prices - I just booked return flights to Little Rock, AR for 3 weeks' time and the fare was £550 (£200 for the ticket, plus £350 in taxes!). AA was cheaper from Manchester though (£521) but the plane was smaller and older and wouldn't have had screens on the seats or anything.

One-way flights have always been generally more expensive than return tickets. Usually because in general return tickets are more popular and can be offered cheaper. Also, I think a lot of one-way travellers are business people and their companies pay the fares, so there isn't so much competition for fares.

Sometimes you get lucky and find a cheaper one-way, but in general, it's cheaper just to book the return flight and then either not use the second ticket or book it for a later date, when you want to go back for a visit.

Ugh! Its horrible! As someone who used to fly for practically nothing and could fly first class (airline employee) paying an actual fare to sit squished into a seat for 7 hours is horrible! I've had good luck with a one way flight with Cheapoair....every once in awhile. It really is ridiculous sometimes though.

I realize this doesn't help much now, seeing as you've already purchased the tickets, but I've found Oojo has pretty good deals on flights.  I purchased my one-way ticket from them about a month ago when my visa was approved, and am able to fly DFW to LHR via BA for less than $600/£372.  I see they have the same flights now for less than $500/£310 for the second week of November.  ):

Edit:  These prices are for economy tickets, if that makes any difference.

I realize this doesn't help much now, seeing as you've already purchased the tickets, but I've found Oojo has pretty good deals on flights.  I purchased my one-way ticket from them about a month ago when my visa was approved, and am able to fly DFW to LHR via BA for less than $600/£372.  I see they have the same flights now for less than $500/£310 for the second week of November.  ):

Edit:  These prices are for economy tickets, if that makes any difference.

Wow! I just checked out the site.  Fantastic prices.  Thanks so much.  Never heard of it before but I think I will be booking my flight with them

Wow! I just checked out the site.  Fantastic prices.  Thanks so much.  Never heard of it before but I think I will be booking my flight with them

No problem - glad to be of a little help!  In all fairness, I'd never heard of Oojo either, but stumbled across them through a different site that checked prices with X number of other travel sites you choose.  It was on one of those days where I was absolutely determined to find airfare that wasn't going to completely bleed me dry.     Got close enough, I suppose!

Thanks for that Heyjay.. I,ll remember that site.. Ksand.. My Mrs hails from Ft Smith AR & I used to fly into LR or Tulsa.. but found with the lay overs involved & all the hassle of running for a connection.. it was quicker & cheaper to jus go to Dallas & drive up. I can do DFW to Ft Smith in a lil under 5 hrs after listning to her brother & understanding his dirt road short cuts. sometimes a lil local knowledge gos a long way lol.

Certa.

Ohhh another reason I dont like connecting flights in the US is those lil planes scare the crap outa me... & that comes from someone who was regualry shot at while disembarking from an airframe in the past . Just summat about em I dont like lol.

Certa.

Ksand.. My Mrs hails from Ft Smith AR & I used to fly into LR or Tulsa.. but found with the lay overs involved & all the hassle of running for a connection.. it was quicker & cheaper to jus go to Dallas & drive up. I can do DFW to Ft Smith in a lil under 5 hrs after listning to her brother & understanding his dirt road short cuts. sometimes a lil local knowledge gos a long way lol.

My aunt only lives 20 minutes from Little Rock airport, so it's actually easier for me to have a layover in Dallas or wherever (this trip it will be Chicago on the way, Houston on the way back) and then fly into Little Rock and get a lift from there .

I don't mind layovers... but then I've done a lot of them in the past, so they are just a normal part of flying for me (when I lived in the US in 2008, I took 23 flights in 8 months! Several of those were internal flights within the US, flying between Albuquerque and Little Rock (4 flights each trip)).

I'm not sure I'd feel comfortable with oojo.  They are owned by another company that has very mixed reviews.  I'm sure some tickets do come through, but there are lots of reports from the other companies of them coming back and cancelling tickets later saying the airline didn't honour the prices and they would need to pay more.  One of the other main sites asaptickets.com sounds like it regularly offers you really low deals on their website, but then doesn't give you those prices when you go to buy.  Bait and switch never makes me comfortable, even if I can get a cheaper ticket.

I wish I could find some of these "sounds too good to be true" flight websites that I have real confidence in.