BA Fares: Single costs MUCH more than Return

se999

Hi,

I think Iain Kirk says you get airmiles for the return, even when you use only one leg.

On using only one leg of a return flight, the airlines I use only give miles for the 'legs' you fly. They only allocate the miles after your individual legs, and for claims you normally need boarding card references.

If you have to waste a complete return trip, you don't get any miles at all!!

I know I'm saving money when using only one leg, but I'd still prefer the airlines to give me the miles at least!!

Maybe Iain is lucky with his choice of airline, but don't assume you'll get all the miles.

se999

I think someone mentioned 7 day rule fares, there are also some must stay Saturday fares.

There is a trick if you're doing more than one return flight to the same destination!

e.g. For 2 weeks for mon/fri trips LHR to Amsterdam.

You buy ticket one mon wk1 return fri wk2 - LHR to Amsterdam.

You buy ticket two fri wk1 return mon wk2 - Amsterdam to LHR.

For the Saturday rule, both returns now qualify.
For the 7 day rule, at least one does, and for longer periods of commuting you can vary it slightly and get most to qualify.

Hope this helps someone!!

withabix

se999 wrote:

Hi,

I think Iain Kirk says you get airmiles for the return, even when you use only one leg.

On using only one leg of a return flight, the airlines I use only give miles for the 'legs' you fly. They only allocate the miles after your individual legs, and for claims you normally need boarding card references.

If you have to waste a complete return trip, you don't get any miles at all!!

I know I'm saving money when using only one leg, but I'd still prefer the airlines to give me the miles at least!!

Maybe Iain is lucky with his choice of airline, but don't assume you'll get all the miles.

Nope, you only get the BA miles if you take the flight.

I would normally take both legs, however as I took my car over to Stornoway on CalMac this week, I only needed a one way ticket as I'm taking SWMBO's car over next week.

se999

Hi Iain,

I did say 'I think' you said!

It appears we probably do agree on the way the miles are awarded.

Wasn't trying to 'pick holes' just clarify because I wasn't sure when I read it.

Good luck with saving for New York!!

Midget_Karen

I think they do it because they think people won't check, especially business users whose companies may buy the tickets.

Same as hotels - it's often much cheaper midweek to get a double than a single, becuase they assume the businessmen will just think "one person, can i have a single please" and pay whatever they are quoted.

WiseInvestor_2

Any company will aim to generate the maximum revenue from it's products that it's customers are willing to pay. One-way journies are usually made for a reason and the date/time are often more critical than casual returns. Airlines therefore know that it's customers will pay more and will charge accordingly. There is the also the possibility that the seat may go unsold on the return flight, so the airline may wish to charge more to cover their increased costs - taken to the extreme, an aircraft filled with one-way travellers has to return to base at some point so fuel costs, staffing, landing fees etc are still required and the revenue has to come from somewhere.

As for the hotels, fewer couples travel midweek than at weekends so there will be less demand for larger rooms. Hotels may therefore reduce their rates or upgrade 'good' customers in order to maximise occupancy.