Wichita Business Daily

Buying one way tickets from different airlines to complete a trip?

Any downsides to doing this if the prices are good? That is, buying 2 one way tickets from different airlines instead of a round trip ticket for a trip. I am wondering if it makes airport security more of a hassle or any other possible downsides. what is the secondary screening like?

Public Comments

1. No problem.
2. It shouldn't matter for airport security since you do have a return ticket booked. I'd be surprised if you found 2 one-way fares that were cheaper than a same-airline return though, but if you can then great.
3. yes you probably will be chosen for secondary screening because the airline will only see one way and that's usually a security tip off I had a friend who flew jet blue to salt lake (one way) (and yep they had to though secondary screening and for the return they flew southwest home and again they had go though secondary screening with TSA
4. Another downside is each airline will charge their own change fee should you need to change your flight, whereas a single airline will only charge you one fee for the roundtrip ticket.
5. I do it all the time for domestic travel on different days with no stopovers. If you have stopovers I would stay with the same airline for baggage reasons, and so delays become the airline's problem, not yours.