← Back to the flight-booking guide Are two one-way tickets cheaper than a return?
The old rule was that one-way tickets were a rip-off, so you always booked a return. That's no longer true on many routes. We priced three nonstop trips on Kayak two ways: the cheapest return on a single airline, then the cheapest pair of one-way tickets booked separately. On all three, two singles came out cheaper, by $45 on one route and loose change on another. Here's the data, and when the second booking is actually worth it.
🔎 ToolKayak, nonstop only
🎫 MethodCheapest return vs two singles
🛫 Routes3 · economy
🗓 Searched8 Jul 2026
🏆 What the test showed
Two singles beat the single-airline return on every route, but by very different amounts. On Singapore → Tokyo, where two budget carriers split the directions, mixing them saved $45. On Bangkok → Singapore it was $10. On London → Athens, a busy route, it was £5, near enough a tie. The takeaway: on budget routes, two one-ways are almost never more than a return, and where several low-cost airlines compete they're often less. Since checking only takes a couple of minutes, it's worth comparing both before you book, then weighing whether the saving is big enough to bother.
Route 1 · economy · two budget carriers, one route
🇸🇬 Singapore → Tokyo 🇯🇵
The same 11-night nonstop trip (Sun 13 → Thu 24 Sep), priced in US dollars. Two budget airlines compete on this route, and neither was cheapest both ways.
| How you book it | The flight | What it means |
| RTN A return, one airline | $388  Scoot · Singapore ⇄ Tokyo | The usual way to book |
| OUT One-way there | $239 Scoot · Singapore → Tokyo | Cheapest outbound |
| BACK One-way back | $104  ZIPAIR · Tokyo → Singapore | Cheapest return leg |
| SUM Both singles together | $343 Scoot out + ZIPAIR back, two tickets | ✓ $45 cheaper than the return |
The math: Scoot is cheapest outbound at $239. Coming back, ZIPAIR undercuts it, $104 against Scoot's own $147. Keep Scoot out, switch to ZIPAIR back, and the two singles come to $343, versus $388 for Scoot both ways. That's $45 saved. For comparison, ANA's cheapest nonstop return was $608.
Every figure is the cheapest nonstop economy fare for this trip, one adult, priced in USD on 8 Jul 2026. One snapshot; fares move, so read the shape, not the cents.
Route 2 · economy · a short regional hop
🇹🇭 Bangkok → Singapore 🇸🇬
The same 7-night nonstop trip (Sun 13 → Sun 20 Sep), priced in US dollars. A full-service carrier out, a budget carrier back.
| How you book it | The flight | What it means |
| RTN A return, one airline | $170  Vietnam Airlines · Bangkok ⇄ Singapore | The usual way to book |
| OUT One-way there | $89 Vietnam Airlines · Bangkok → Singapore | Cheapest outbound |
| BACK One-way back | $71  Thai AirAsia · Singapore → Bangkok | Cheapest return leg |
| SUM Both singles together | $160 Vietnam Airlines out + Thai AirAsia back | ✓ $10 cheaper than the return |
The math: Vietnam Airlines was cheapest out at $89; Thai AirAsia cheapest back at $71, so two singles come to $160 against Vietnam Airlines' $170 return. Two things worth knowing. Thai AirAsia both ways would have cost $178, more than the full-service return, so the saving only appears if you mix the two carriers.
⚠️ Cheaper isn't always better
However, the cheapest option isn't the one we'd book. Vietnam Airlines is full-service, with a meal and a checked bag in that $170; the $10 you save by mixing drops both and adds a second ticket. At this margin we'd take the Vietnam Airlines return and save ourselves the hassle.
Every figure is the cheapest nonstop economy fare for this trip, one adult, priced in USD on 8 Jul 2026. Same snapshot caveat applies.
Route 3 · economy · a mature European route
🇬🇧 London → Athens 🇬🇷
The same 7-night nonstop trip (Sun 13 → Sun 20 Sep), priced in pounds. A busy European route with plenty of competition, so the gap is thin.
| How you book it | The flight | What it means |
| RTN A return, one airline | £149  easyJet · London ⇄ Athens | The usual way to book |
| OUT One-way there | £36  Ryanair · London → Athens | Cheapest outbound |
| BACK One-way back | £108 easyJet · Athens → London | Cheapest return leg |
| SUM Both singles together | £144 Ryanair out + easyJet back, two tickets | ✓ £5 cheaper than the return |
The math: Ryanair had the cheapest way out at £36 (from Stansted); easyJet the cheapest way back at £108 (into Gatwick). Two singles came to £144, £5 under easyJet's £149 return. Barely worth a second booking, and that's the point: where the same airlines fly a route constantly, the prices end up almost identical. The upside is small, but two one-ways still weren't the more expensive option. (London here means all its airports; the cheapest out and back used different ones.)
Every figure is the cheapest nonstop economy fare for this trip, one adult, priced in GBP on 8 Jul 2026. Same snapshot caveat applies.
1
Two singles won every time, but the size of the win is all about competition.
On Singapore to Tokyo, two budget long-haul carriers split the directions, Scoot cheapest out, ZIPAIR cheapest back, so mixing them saved $45. On London to Athens, a busy route worked by the same few airlines, the same trick saved £5. A simple rule of thumb: the more low-cost airlines competing, the more likely no single one is cheapest both ways, and the more two singles pay off. On a route with one dominant carrier, it's usually a dead tie.
2
You're not finding a secret fare. You're mixing airlines.
A return locks you into one airline both ways. But the cheapest flight out and the cheapest flight back are often on two different carriers, and booking them as separate one-ways lets you take the best of each, which is where the saving comes from. There's another advantage: two tickets let you change or cancel one leg without touching the other. The old warning that one-ways are punishingly expensive is mostly a US-legacy hangover now; on the routes above, two singles were never the pricier option.
3
The flip side, so you don't overdo it.
Two singles are almost never
more on budget routes, but this isn't a law of physics. On legacy long-haul, especially across the Atlantic, a single carrier's return is often genuinely cheaper, because a one-way can cost nearly as much as the round trip. And two separate tickets mean the airlines don't know about each other: if the first leg is delayed and you miss the second, nobody owes you a rebooking (the self-transfer trap from
Tip 5). So compare both, take the cheaper when the gap is worth it, but keep a sane connection and don't split a trip to save loose change.
How we'd actually use this
- 1
Search your trip as a return and note the cheapest fare from a single airline.
- 2
Now search each direction on its own as a one-way, and add the two cheapest together. They'll often be on two different airlines.
- 3
Compare. If two singles win by enough to matter, book them separately. If it's a tie, a few dollars, or the return's cheaper, book the return and keep it simple. Either way, it only takes a couple of minutes, and leave a sane connection so a delay on one ticket doesn't cost you the other.
How we tested. We priced three round trips on Kayak on the afternoon of 8 Jul 2026, nonstop only, one adult, economy: Singapore → Tokyo (11 nights, USD), Bangkok → Singapore (7 nights, USD) and London → Athens (7 nights, GBP), each from a nearby point of sale. For each route we took the cheapest return flown by a single airline, then searched each direction separately and took the cheapest one-way, adding the two together. Prices change constantly and these are single snapshots, so don't focus on the exact prices, the point is the pattern: two singles were never more expensive than the return, and were often cheaper where more budget airlines competed.
