Jet2 charge a supplement for one way flights from Spain

rubio4321

I travel frequently to Spain but have only just discovered that when you book a one way flight from Malaga to Manchester the price significantly increases with some airlines in comparison to the advertised price when booked as part of a return. In particular Jet2 and Easyjet. I discovered this last month with Jet2 where the price increased by £80.... outrageous! I messaged and got this response:

"When booking a one way flight there is a supplement incorporated into the flight price to prevent any imbalance between outbound and inbound flights. This is the reason why there is a difference in price between a one way ticket and a return ticket."

I research flights noting outbound and return prices with each airline and then mix and match airlines according to price and times. I also use SkyScanner who also mix and match and quote the GBP price. But then when you go to book the price suddenly increases if booked as a one way flight. Very irritating. Surely the whole point of budget airlines is to be able to book each leg of the journey independently. Also I thought airlines were now bound by law to be transparent with their charges but Jet2 clearly aren't.

I've just been researching again..
Jet2 flight is £127, booked as a one way it’s 153.90 Eur which should be around £136 but if you choose to pay in Sterling the price is £151. £24 more than if booked as part of a return.

Easyjet flight is £117, booked as a one way it’s £137 with no option to pay in euros. £20 more

Monarch flight is £214, booked as a one way it’s 237Euro which is about right.

Norwegian flight is £153 and exactly the same price as a one way, payable in sterling.

Ryanair flight is £189.99 and exactly the same price as a one way, payable in sterling.

So Jet2 is the worst offender and there doesn't seem to be any system that you can work out as to how they calculate the "supplement". £80 increase last time I researched, this time £24. I've no idea what exchange rate they're using either. It could be possible to reduce the excess charge by paying with a credit card or PayPal but I've no idea if their exchange rate would be more favourable.

If anyone else has worked it out please let me know!

jonesMUFCforever

Go on then book Ryanair - hope they decide to actually fly you home when the time comes!

daveyjp

No different to railways.

IAmWales

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

Go on then book Ryanair - hope they decide to actually fly you home when the time comes!

With less than 2% of flights affected, the great likelihood is that the flight will go ahead without a problem. If it doesn't, Ryanair will pick up the cost of rerouting. Win win.

rubio, I get what you're saying that budget airlines used to be point to point airlines, so you could price up the single legs, but over time strategies used by the budgets and the full service airlines have merged a fair bit. For example, full service airlines now charging for food on short haul. Frustrating but at least now you're aware so you can double check the costs of two singles v a return.

rubio4321

@jonesMUFCforever I wouldn't risk booking Ryanair for the minute until things have settled down... don't need the stress!

@daveyjp Yes rail tickets cost more for single journeys than a return but when you search train tickets the price for a single ticket or a return ticket is clearly shown.

@IAmWales Jet2 and Easyjet appear to be the only ones who are doing this and the supplement is hidden, they should be transparent with their charges. When you choose to pay in Sterling you have no way of knowing what portion of the increase is due to the supplement and what portion is due to the exchange rate.

Anyway just thought people should be aware of this.

antenna

Easyjet has a booking fee of 15 euro per booking,.so a one way booking will include a 15 euro charge........booking 2 flights or a return will only include one 15 euro fee........can this be the difference you see?

antenna

When booking a one way flight there is a supplement incorporated into the flight price to prevent any imbalance between outbound and inbound flights. This is the reason why there is a difference in price between a one way ticket and a return ticket." Quote".
If all bookings were for 7 or 14 days then this "could" happen,but when booking "odd" durations this does not make sense.

antenna

Ryanair's Sorry Sale or Welcome Back sale starts soon with amazing bargains..............remember,you read it here first.........maybe.

tacpot12

Surely the whole point of budget airlines is being able to book one leg of the journey independently

No, that was never the point of budget airlines. The point of budget airlines was to strip the service back to its bare minimum. The reason why budget airlines quote their prices as one way fares is that it allows their headline price to be half what it would otherwise be.

The airlines compete with each other, which means they have DIFFERENT pricing models, so it is up to us as consumers to find a model that suits us. If you don't like EasyJet's pricing policy, don't fly with them. Simples

antenna

"When booking a one way flight there is a supplement incorporated into the flight price to prevent any imbalance between outbound and inbound flights. This is the reason why there is a difference in price between a one way ticket and a return ticket."
I thought to correct this "imbalance" that is why Ryanair left the front 6 rows empty!

jpsartre

rubio4321 wrote: »

Jet2 and Easyjet appear to be the only ones who are doing this and the supplement is hidden, they should be transparent with their charges.

It is common across most airlines. In some cases a one-way fare will be more expensive than if you add a return flight to the booking. There is nothing hidden, it's simply a matter of pricing different ticket types differently (or in many cases, booking one-way ticket into higher fare classes).