South America internal flights- one way/return prices
Replies: 5 - Last Post: Sep 7, 2012 3:56 AM Last Post By: Lindsay84
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South America internal flights- one way/return prices
Hi All,Does anywone know why return flights between S.A countries are so much cheaper than one way?
For example... we're hoping to fly from Lima to Rio
One Way price £500
Return £300!!
We only plan on using 1 flight on our 6 month trip, so a pass won't necessarily help.
Is there any reason we can't just use the 1st Leg of a return? Will this cause any problems with Visa's etc?
Thanks in advance
Edited by: Lindsay84
1
"Is there any reason we can't just use the 1st Leg of a return? Will this cause any problems with Visa's etc?i"Clearly NO to both questions.
However, if you buy a return ticket or multi-city ticket, and do not take an earlier leg, the rest of your ticket will probably be cancelled.
Why are return flights sometimes cheaper? Who knows, could just be the combination of dates. But a good indication of why return tickets should always be explored even if interested in one way,not only for price but also for a kind of insurance policy in case unexpected problems arise on the road or at home.
2
My wife did recently the same. First she bought a very economic BA - Cuzco - BA ticket with LAN. Then she had to return earlier and with this ticket it was impossible to do any changes. So she bought another ticket Cuzco - BA, but the one way and return were exactly the same. So she bought the return and could change the not used return leg for an inland flight in Argentina.As said above, as long as you do not use the last legs of a ticket, nothing will happen. But if you have for example a Buenos Aires - Lima - Cuzco - Lima - Buenos Aires ticket and do not use the Cuzco - Lima leg, your Lima - Buenos Aires section will be automatically cancelled except in some cases when they allow you to do skip it
3
No problem with using 1st leg of the journey, it will not work other way around.Bit me, I have no clue my one-way flights are so overprices in this continent....
Good solution is to work around it and instead of flying to Lima fly to eg Rio Branco, transfer overland to Puerto Maldonado and start your Peru travel from there. It will save you lot's of money.
4
Ok, so £500 is about R$1.600,00I just looked at TAM. I'm not sure when your planned dates are but for a random date in October I was getting quoted fares for around R$550,00 return to São Paulo and about $R600 to Rio. That's about a third of what you have been quoted. It will get close to that price if you are flying at peak around Christmas-New Year and during carnaval but should still work out cheaper. One way fares are much more expensive than buying a return.
