Booking flight with unknown return date

Crispy_Ambulance

My son is going to be travelling to the US in August for a year abroad as part of his degree. He is not planning to come home for Christmas as we have family in the states that he is planning to visit, so he won't be flying home until probably June/July 2024. I was just wondering about the cheapest way to manage the flight booking - my plan is to book with a carrier like BA who will allow changes with a fee, and to book a return flight with the return date being as late (and as cheap) as possible right now. This would seem to be May 2024. Once his post study travel plans are a bit more settled, we will then pay to amend his return date which may also incur an additional cost for the difference in price. 

I couldn't see a more MSE way of doing this - flexible tickets seem to cost considerably more and still have restrictions. Have I missed anything and is there another way to do it?

DullGreyGuy

The only other option, if you had the avios points, would be a reward flight as changes to those are free rather than £50/£80

Two separate one way flights would be much more expensive with a flag carrier like BA. 

tightauldgit

If you dont mind a low cost carrier then Norse Atlantic fly to the US and sell their tickets as one-way tickets so you can simply book the ticket you need when you need it. 

Crispy_Ambulance

DullGreyGuy said:

The only other option, if you had the avios points, would be a reward flight as changes to those are free rather than £50/£80

Two separate one way flights would be much more expensive. 

Alas we don't have the points but that would have been good.

Crispy_Ambulance

tightauldgit said:

If you dont mind a low cost carrier then Norse Atlantic fly to the US and sell their tickets as one-way tickets so you can simply book the ticket you need when you need it. 

Thanks for that - just had a look but they don't take him where he needs to be and once we add on internal flights, we're not saving anything. But I'll bear them in mind for future.

Nebulous2

Have you tried travel firms aimed at students? 

My son once bought a round the world ticket, where he picked the flights, but the only fixed date was the first leg. How long he subsequently spent in each place was up to him.

Crispy_Ambulance

Nebulous2 said:

Have you tried travel firms aimed at students? 

My son once bought a round the world ticket, where he picked the flights, but the only fixed date was the first leg. How long he subsequently spent in each place was up to him.

We did look at these but I am hoping to spend considerably less than that on the flights! He will only be going to the USA and back again. I bet your son had a wonderful time!

tightauldgit

Crispy_Ambulance said:

tightauldgit said:

If you dont mind a low cost carrier then Norse Atlantic fly to the US and sell their tickets as one-way tickets so you can simply book the ticket you need when you need it. 

Thanks for that - just had a look but they don't take him where he needs to be and once we add on internal flights, we're not saving anything. But I'll bear them in mind for future.

In that case the cheapest approach would just be to pick a date after his course finishes and before his visa finishes and then stick to it factoring in whatever travel plans you think might be possible.  Other than that i cant see any way around paying for a flexible/changeable fare.

Nebulous2

Crispy_Ambulance said:

Nebulous2 said:

Have you tried travel firms aimed at students? 

My son once bought a round the world ticket, where he picked the flights, but the only fixed date was the first leg. How long he subsequently spent in each place was up to him.

We did look at these but I am hoping to spend considerably less than that on the flights! He will only be going to the USA and back again. I bet your son had a wonderful time!

You did try agencies specialising in students to see if they could give a price for a flexible return, or you looked at round the world fares? 

I may have caused a diversion there, by linking the two. 

Crispy_Ambulance

Nebulous2 said:

Crispy_Ambulance said:

Nebulous2 said:

Have you tried travel firms aimed at students? 

My son once bought a round the world ticket, where he picked the flights, but the only fixed date was the first leg. How long he subsequently spent in each place was up to him.

We did look at these but I am hoping to spend considerably less than that on the flights! He will only be going to the USA and back again. I bet your son had a wonderful time!

You did try agencies specialising in students to see if they could give a price for a flexible return, or you looked at round the world fares? 

I may have caused a diversion there, by linking the two. 

Ahh. We looked at Round the World tickets but they are quite pricey for what he needs and we have looked for student travel but there isn’t much out there since STA went bust. Plus I’m reluctant to book other than directly with the airline in case of any issues as I don’t want him to be having to try to sort things out with a third party.

it seems as though the host university do a lot for the exchange students once they are there but they don’t get much info from their current Uni before they go. Still, it will be a great experience for him

Westin

Perhaps look into these guys -

https://www.studentuniverse.co.uk/