Hi All

Well I am buzzing... Just managed to buy a bike in the USA and looking forward to a year over there

Anyone got a decent link to flights web search??

the ones so far are stupidly expensive for one way

Thanks
Geordie aka Will

Can't help with the flights (except to say that one-way flights have usually been overpriced). But you might want to say where you're trying to go--it's a big country.

Plus: if you haven't already done so you'll want to sort visa issues before buying a ticket. On the visa waiver you might need an onward ticket, and you sure can't stay a year. With a visa, you can stay longer (but pay for the privilege in advance fees and inconvenience).

Mark

Sorry Mark,

I have a 10 year visa giving me a 6 months stay, so I intend to stay USA till winter and then head south to SA.... returning in the late spring to head up to Alaska... after that.. who knows lol

I am trying to get anywhere within Florida :-)
cheers
Geordie aka Will

It might be worth looking at holiday company flights to Florida. The Spring Break period has just about finished and prices in Motels and the like are going down. You will probably have to buy a return ticket and just throw away the return bit but as Mark alluded to, returns can be cheaper than singles. Also it gives you on arrival a guaranteed bed and transport from the airport. I'm in Florida, (Pensacola) at the moment and am motel bound due to heavy rain which is due to end Saturday, fortunately it is only costing me US$37.00 a day which for today's US is very cheap and before anyone asks, there are no backpackers in the area. Ride safe.

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Mike
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Mike is riding the twisty road in the sky

Thanks Maja,

thats a good price for a motel, last year I tried to set $45 tops on a motel... most of the time I managed it and in Daytona I managed to get a lovely on for $35 a night... so I had a treat and rested for a few days

Im not sure weather you can buy a return and only use it one way.... something I will have to look into
Thanks

Course you can. I've done it many times, most recently just a month ago. It's what people do in your situation.

Mark

Cheers Mark,

I thought they (the airline) would follow up.... and I dont know.. demand more money lol
cheers
Geordie aka Will

If you're worried (or determined to be a nice guy about it), call the airline before the scheduled return leg and tell them you're going to miss the flight. Don't elaborate.

That sounds like a better plan Mark

You need to check this out especially if you buy the ticket by 'plastic', i read that ferry companies would charge full price to the card if the 'cheap day return' return leg was unused.

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'He who laughs last, was too slow to get the joke'
Never confuse the map with the journey.

A tactic for this would be to cancel the credit card used for the booking; do this by reporting the card as "missing" (lost/stolen) and it should have no more transactions on it, immediately.

As an alternative for the flight, it might be worth checking for full-cost return fares whereby the return ticket can be cancelled, legitimately, straight after arrival on the outward leg, with a full refund for the return element; just a thought.

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Dave

Just thought I would update cause I hate to see threads that have no solution at the end.

I used

Cheap Flights - Compare Airline Tickets with Skyscanner.com

they seem to be the best search engine and got a cheap one way to Florida from Manchester (well that was a month ago).

cheers
Geordie aka Will

I've flown one way from the US to Asia, and booked flights for a friend as well, at a significant lower price than buying a return trip.

Not sure if they will book from the UK though: try www.bt-store.com, or Google Best Travel Store.

From what I can see, they are more of a ticket aggregator than the usual online discount booking service.
You need to book at least 24 hours in advance, and somewhat weird, I have found their prices often get cheaper close to the flight time.

I don't know the USA regulations,, but some countries and airlines demand that you have a return or onward ticket before they will let you enter or board.
I got around that by purchasing a cheap throwaway ticket.

Another source of cheap one way tickets are some of the discount airlines, usually those who are not represented on the booking search engines.

In Asia, some examples are Tiger and Cebu Pacific, you would need to see if there are any flying to the USA.


Sent from my chinaphone, excuse the spelling

As an additional note, it is always good to double check to make sure that you will be able to get in the country on a one way fare.

The travel agent will sell you a one way fare as they have not enough info on your personal details or what your onward plans are, but the immigration rules may state that an onward ticket is required (depends on the country of destination and your nationality of course).

If this is the case, it will be enforced by the airline when you go to check in, which is the first point they see you can can check your documents. The reason for this is that the airline is responsible for making sure the passengers have the necessary documentation as the immigration folks have pushed this back on them. If a traveller gets on the plane without them, the cost is pushed back on the airlines to send the person back and there are fines to the airline involved.

Again, depends on the situation, i.e. nationality of the traveller, rules of the country, but worth double checking. And yes, it did happen to me when I was flying one way to South Africa through Germany and they asked me about my onward ticket as I checked into the transit gate (late as usual). I hadn't thought too much about it previousy for that trip, but was vaguely aware so got on the phone while standing at the gate and bought a full fare one way ticket out of the country in a week (all while the plane was loading) and then cancelled it once I had landed and cleared customs. They held me up until they could see the confirmation email and also made me call into the airline and had them confirm it was a valid ticket.

Anyways, just wanted to comment on one potential thing to be aware of one way tickets that may impact some travellers and destinations and not others. Might be worth a phone call before departure.