DFDS Seaways. Using a Return for a Single
 

Anyone know if you can do this without DFDS attempting to charge if you don't turn up for the return? I presume they'd stopped this long ago but thought I'd research first.

The ticket price goes from £29 single to £16 for a return. Stupid I know.

Cheers, Andrew

Read the small print, I read somewhere on the P&O website that they will charge full fare via your c/c if the return portion of the ticket is not used, I recently got a single with them for £20 not knowing when my return time/date would be, when I arrived at Calais to come back(very late evening) I was quoted at the ticket office some €60 to return, a quick call to my wife in the UK and she found the P&O site quoting £50, but she then checked aferry.com and for a return after midnight was £18, I had the ref number texted to me and I proceeded to 'check-in' where I was put on the next available ferry.

I had thought about paying via Paypal and then ensuring the auto-bill feature was disabled to try and stop it happening. :thumbup1:

Ferry pricings can be completely insane. For instance, using Brittany Ferries you can book a return going on one route and returning on another. If you use LD lines they will charge you for two singles. If you don't like the price, go back to the website again and try again, often it will be different on a second viewing ??

To save £13 would be a waste of your precious time that is better spent on more interesting things?
I do realise that in % terms it is a considerable difference, but pricing policy on the ferries is basically logical - in this case that you quote the return fare is very likely to be for a day return to encourage extra traffic on that route which would not otherwise make the journey. An open return ticket price will be much nearer to 2x the price of a single.
All businesses take a similar pricing policy, such as cheap, last minute rates for hotels.

Oh for the days when cash was king and you could turn up at the multitude of ticket offices, walk along the line and negotiate a deal - no longer, with internet bookings, they have us where they want us, and that goes for many forms of business here in the UK.

£13 here, £13 there. For a traveller on a budget it'll add up.

I ended up booking through an agent who accepted Paypal (so no automatic billing) for £15.83. Happy days. :cool4:

Nice deal when shopping around
 

Fair enough.
You do remind me that I used to use "travel agents", in the days before the all pervasive internet! There is a logic in putting an agent between you and the shipping line, thereby having a 3rd party to handle any after-transaction queries.

So which one cut you this deal?
aferry or directferries websites or .............
Just-Ferries, Home - Motorsport Travel Specialist

I used to use these folks:-
http://www.motorsport-travel.com/ but by telephone.
And the MAG still give them credence:-
Ferry Discounts

LD lines are/were selling out to DFDS, for at least some of their crossing routes - seen on my last trip over the short sea route which had a French-crewed boat (the Norman Spirit) flying the LD flag running on the DFDS Calais-Dover route.
A month ago the UK office of fair trading (the what??) was taking comments about views on competition.