tripcombi
2 min readAug 21, 2015

How to save >40% on one way flights

Most of us are still used to the airline pricing systems of traditional carriers that require the booking of a return flight rather than two individual flights if you do not want to pay excessive amounts of money.

The rising presence of low cost carriers (“LCC”) have decoupled the linking of flights over the last decade. LCCs usually price flight legs independently so that return flights are not necessarily cheaper to book. Rather, if lucky, the possibility arises to postpone the booking of the returning flight as airline prices are constantly changing.

This is great news for travel hackers, world travelers, exchange students and undecided travelers that very often prefer to book just a one way flight and then decide later where to go next or when to return.

So how can you save best on one way flights?

→ Connect unconnected flights from rival airlines (see screenshot below)

→ Get a cool/ free stopover and save a lot of money

On a flight from London to Chicago the directly requested routes (“Original Search”) returns a price of 728€. Link here.

Original Route London -Chicago for 728€

The alternative is to include a stopover in New York and land in Milwaukee. This type of routing can generate savings of up to 90%.

Hacked Route London — Chicago for 441€

Now while there is no interlinking between the two airlines Norwegian and Delta, there is sufficient time in between these flights. Even better, savvy travelers gain a whole night to spend in New York. The price difference of almost 300€ between the “hacked” route and the original route more than suffices to pay for accommodation.

Some travelers may still prefer the fastest and most direct routes, others do not mind landing in Milwaukee. Not everyone’s final destination is necessarily Chicago, so that an alternative airport might come in quite handy for some.