Visa received, husband flying to the UK

Hey everyone so as of today my husband got his visa :-). Now we're looking into buying a plane ticket, and after some research here's what I've noticed:

A single ticket from Charleston WV, to London will cost around £1300.

A return journey London to Charleston - Charleston to London will cost around £750 ( a huge difference in price!).

My question is...is it allowed? Could we book the return option in my husbands name to save on money. E.g. We book the ticket in my husbands name, ignore the London to Charleston and then my husband gets on the Charleston to London flight.

Is there any reason why we can't/should not do this?

Of course it's allowed ... in fact, a lot of people end up buying a round trip ticket as it's often much cheaper than a one-way.

You can either just not use the return ticket, or you could use it for a flight back to the US later on.

As long as you use the outbound flight and don't use the return, it's fine (the problem comes if you don't use the outbound and then try to use the return flight, because if you don't get on the first flight, the airline will assume you aren't travelling at all and will cancel the return leg).

Ooooh i see so for my husband to get here on a cheaper deal we instead of what i said earlier we should do:

Him getting on the Charleston to london.
Then miss the return flight london to charleston?

Yes - sorry I misread your original idea and thought the return ticket was starting in Charleston.

So he'll need to book a ticket from Charleston to London and back, then just use the first leg: Charleston to London and either just not get the flight back to Charleston or book it for a date that he might want to go back for a visit.

I ran into the problem of wanting to only use the return ticket before and was told by the airline that if I didn't get on the first flight they would cancel the return.


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Thanks ksand24 il let him know about this! :-)

Or look for cheaper options with connections that will give you a reasonable single one way price at a reasonable price.  Example I have is SFO > LHR is around £900 return and £1400 single.    So by using WOW Air (which starts in June) I can get a flight for around £350 one way.  some saving! 

As an option I just checked for Charleston to Heathrow 1st May one way is £530 with just 1 stop 12:21hour flight which seems ok to me...  BUT this is booking via a FlightNetworks (sourced on skyscanner.com) so if there is a problem it could be difficult to sort out rather then direct bookings with airlines, but its worth shopping around.

Thanks for the info :-). We werent too far off from £530 in the end, when booked the flight last thursday we got it for $915, which works out to be about £630ish i think :-)

Thanks for the info :-). We werent too far off from £530 in the end, when booked the flight last thursday we got it for $915, which works out to be about £630ish i think :-)

Nice one.   for interest how long did your Husbands Settlement Visa take to come ?  MY wife has just sent hers in to Sheffield for moving over here...

Oh good luck! I hope it all goes well :-)
This was our timeline:

Country applying from: USA
Type of visa applied for: Spouse/Settlement (Priority)
Online Application Submitted: March 21, 2016
Biometrics Taken: March 31, 2016
Application Mailed: March 31, 2016
Package Received in Sheffield: April 05, 2016
Email confirming application being prepared for consideration: April 06, 2016
Date Sheffield emailed to confirm decision has been made: April 11, 2016
Visa Arrived: April 14, 2016

Nice one.   for interest how long did your Husbands Settlement Visa take to come ?  MY wife has just sent hers in to Sheffield for moving over here...

Did she purchase priority processing when she applied? Because that will affect the processing time.

Priority applications are put to the front of the waiting line when they arrive in Sheffield, so are assigned to a processing officer faster. Non-priority applications go to the back of the line, so have to wait longer before they are picked up for processing.

wow that was fast.   Although I notice you paid Priority, we didnt do Priority maybe wish we had now.   Sheffield received it about 10 days ago now, so its just a matter of keep checking emails! :-)  I know they do warn it can take upto 3 months though...

wow that was fast.   Although I notice you paid Priority, we didnt do Priority maybe wish we had now.   Sheffield received it about 10 days ago now, so its just a matter of keep checking emails! :-)  I know they do warn it can take upto 3 months though...

Recently, non-priority processing has been taking up to about 1 month, but we're starting to get towards the summer season now, when it tends to get busier and the processing times can increase (last June-August it was taking 2-3 months for non-priority and about 1 month for priority)

The processing times are measured in working days, and 95% of applications processed in February were processed within 30 working days (6 weeks), with 100% processed in 60 working days (12 weeks).
See: https://visa-processingtimes.homeoffice.gov.uk/y/united-states/settlement-visas/settlement

What 'intended travel date' did she put on the visa application?

Oh wow the priority processing time has been bumped up to a month?! We did our visa in good time then! :-S

Oh wow the priority processing time has been bumped up to a month?! We did our visa in good time then! :-S

Oh no, that was a typo - I meant non-proirity processing... as far as I know, priority processing is currently 1-2 weeks, as you experienced.

However, it may start to increase soon as we get into the summer period.

Recently, non-priority processing has been taking up to about 1 month, but we're starting to get towards the summer season now, when it tends to get busier and the processing times can increase (last June-August it was taking 2-3 months for non-priority and about 1 month for priority)

The processing times are measured in working days, and 95% of applications processed in February were processed within 30 working days (6 weeks), with 100% processed in 60 working days (12 weeks).
See: https://visa-processingtimes.homeoffice.gov.uk/y/united-states/settlement-visas/settlement

What 'intended travel date' did she put on the visa application?

Hi we put an intended travel date of Mid June.  I used the information on the Government Web site with it saying 90%+ are done in a month and crossed my finger hoping were one of those! :-)  So we shall see!..