It is cheaper to book two round-trip flights instead of one

Our team discovered a fault in the airline ticket reservation industry: thanks to it, it is possible to book two cheaper roundtrips than if you book one. Explanations.

You certainly have already read on the internet to book cheap flights . They work pretty well, but the savings realized are not huge... The one we’re going to talk about today is relatively secret as we haven’t found any information on the subject elsewhere on the canvas.

This trick works only on round-trip flights reserved for the last minute , or in the last days before the flight date. You will see that in the example given, one realizes a economy of more than 120€ on a round trip Montpellier-Paris!

Without further delay, here are the details (supplied evidence) of this fault that the airlines certainly fear:

Two cheaper round-trip flights than one round-trip flight

You read well: two round-trip flights are cheaper than one round-trip flight . If you have to book a flight at the last minute, tomorrow or in the next two/three days, it may be cheaper to book two round-trip flights instead of one. Explanations in images and 3 steps:

(Warning, we are not talking about the finding that buying a single-way trip is often more expensive than taking a round-trip plane ticket.)

Step 1

Let's imagine that you must take a last minute flight from Montpellier to Paris (adapt the search for your case). You go on a flight comparison like Skyscanner for example, you take a flight to the same day or the next day, and your return two days later. Here’s what we get:

We complete this test on January 22, 2018. We wish to book a flight from Montpellier to Paris with a 23/01 and a return on 25/01. The price is 313€ . We were expecting it, we’re taking it at the last minute!

Step 2

In order not to pay the high price, you must take a round-trip flight with a date to go to 23/01 (the date of the trip must be the right one), and a relatively distant return date, say one month later, on Thursday 22/02. Look at the result:

Step 3

Immediately, the price of the return trip falls to 96€ . But you don’t want to go back in a month... It is therefore necessary to reserve the second round trip to which the city of departure must be that of the destination, in this case Paris. The date to go, it must be your actual return date (the 25/01), while your return date must be again relatively distant, say Friday 23/02. You will understand more easily with this screenshot:

This second round trip will cost you 93€ .

Result : 124€ of economy

If you book your return flight to your actual dates, you will pay here 313€. If you enjoy this fault, you will pay 96€ for your trip (with the first round trip) and 93€ for your return (with the second round trip). Total 189€ . This is 124€ savings compared to the initial price!

You can also use Momondo, Kayak or Liligo.

How does it work?

First, this fault does not work on all flights. To enjoy it, it is important to spend a little time playing with the dates in order to get the best possible price. Here is how to proceed:

Open three tabs of any comparator on your browser. Each tab corresponds to one step:

In which case is the probability of benefiting from this fault the strongest?

Here is the list of cases that we found and in which you have the most chance to find two round-trip flights less expensive than a one-way trip:

• It must be a last minute round-trip flight: you must take your trip the same day, the next day or within 2-3 days, and your flight back must be close to the date of the flight. For example: you leave tomorrow and come back after tomorrow.
• When you found a line on which the fault works, the flights back (those you won't take) must be far away in time. It is up to you to play the dates on flight comparisons to find the lowest price. This can take a little time but the realized economy may be huge
• We need to think online. It is on the most regular and direct flights that the probability that the fault works is the highest
• It would appear that the shorter the flight (or distance) the higher the likelihood that the fault would work.

A particularly cost-effective technique for regular travellers

Not only does this technique allow you to have your return flight cheaper, but it allows you to get a second flight on the same occasion.

So if you travel regularly on the same line, you can use this technique to ensure that book two round trip flights for one price !

Companies that need to manage their employees' business trips could well take advantage of this trick to optimize the journeys and above all achieve significant budgetary savings.

The practice of overbooking partly explained by this technique?

Obviously, you will only take the flights from your two bookings, so it implies that a seat will be empty on the two return routes. Is that why the overbooking appeared?

This sales optimization technique is now widespread and sometimes causes inconvenience to travellers. Indeed, many passengers (retardate or sick) do not appear at the boarding gate (this is what is called a no-show ). Others, such as those who use the technique presented here, even if they know they will not travel, do not cancel their ticket and thus block tickets for sale.

All these no-shows are thus lost places for airlines. Always with the aim of maximizing sales and continuing to offer attractive prices, they decide for some flights to sell more seats than there are available on the aircraft.

Other tips to travel smart

The possibilities of making travel savings are enormous and do not relate only to flights. Did you know, for example, that you could book your activities in advance? By saving money, you organize upstream all your visits and avoid queues in front of the monuments once on site. This is what the Doyoogo site offers.

Main photo credit: Flickr – Tristan Farsac