Fly into one city and home from another and it's called an open-jaw ticket. We compared it against a normal return on three popular routes to see which actually costs less. On two routes the open-jaw was cheaper. On one, the return won. Here's what we found.
Flying home from a different city always skips the backtracking flight, and on two of the three routes it was cheaper too. It comes down to whether your second city is a cheaper place to fly home from.
The same two-week trip (Sat 12 → Sat 26 Sep), priced in US dollars. You see Rome, make your way to Paris, and fly home from there instead of doubling back.
| How you book it | The flight | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| O-J Open-jaw, one booking | $473  Icelandair · New York → Rome, Paris → New York | ✓ $199 cheaper |
| RTN Round trip to Rome | $608 Icelandair · New York ⇄ Rome | Standard return ticket |
| HOP Backtrack to use it | $64  easyJet · Paris → Rome, nonstop | The extra leg you have to add |
| SUM Round trip + backtrack | $672 Return to Rome plus the hop back | $199 more than the open-jaw |
Booked as one ticket (New York → Rome, then Paris → New York), the open-jaw was $473 on Icelandair. A return to Rome was $608, and to use it you'd still pay $64 to fly Paris → Rome first, for $672 in total. The open-jaw was $199 cheaper. It was also $135 cheaper than the return to Rome on its own, because Paris is a cheaper place to fly the Atlantic.
The same two-week trip (Sat 12 → Sat 26 Sep), priced in US dollars. Land in Bangkok, work your way down through the region, fly home from Singapore.
| How you book it | The flight | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| O-J Open-jaw, one booking | $1,041  Korean Air · New York → Bangkok, Singapore → New York | ✓ $81 cheaper |
| RTN Round trip to Bangkok | $991 Korean Air · New York ⇄ Bangkok | Standard return ticket |
| HOP Backtrack to use it | $131  Scoot · Singapore → Bangkok, nonstop | The extra leg you have to add |
| SUM Round trip + backtrack | $1,122 Return to Bangkok plus the hop back | $81 more than the open-jaw |
The open-jaw was $1,041 on Korean Air, only $50 more than the $991 return to Bangkok. But the return flies you home from Bangkok, so you'd add a $131 Scoot hop from Singapore to get back and use it: $1,122 in total, plus a day spent backtracking. The open-jaw was $81 cheaper.
The same two-week trip (Sat 12 → Sat 26 Sep), priced in US dollars. Land in Tokyo, ride the train down to Osaka. This is the route where the open-jaw lost.
| How you book it | The flight | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| RTN Round trip to Tokyo | $929  Cathay Pacific · New York ⇄ Tokyo | Standard return ticket |
| HOP Backtrack to use it | $45  Jetstar · Osaka → Tokyo, nonstop | A cheap domestic hop back |
| SUM Round trip + backtrack | $974 Return to Tokyo plus the hop back | ✓ $154 cheaper here |
| O-J Open-jaw, one booking | $1,128 Cathay Pacific · New York → Tokyo, Osaka → New York | $154 more on this route |
A return to Tokyo was $929, and the flight back from Osaka was almost nothing: a $45 Jetstar hop (a bullet train runs about $86). So the return route came to just $974. The open-jaw home from Osaka was $1,128, because Osaka's US routes price higher than Tokyo's. On this route the return plus a domestic flight was $154 cheaper.
The open-jaw wins when your second city is a cheaper place to fly home from. When it's a pricier gateway like Osaka, and there's a cheap flight back, the return-plus-backtrack comes out ahead. There's no way to know in advance which way it'll go, so it's worth pricing both.