Fare hack: risk of booking a same-day multi-city ticket vs. through one-way ticket
I'm looking at a one-way plane ticket on Spirit Airlines. The itinerary requires a stop, and playing around with their website I discovered routing the connection as a single Multi-city booking on the same exact flights is cheaper than booking a through one-way ticket.
Further, the passenger usage fee, which I intend to avoid, is also higher on the multi-city option meaning I could save even more using this option (price minus usage fee):
I understand that additional fees, like for baggage, might be levied for each segment on the multi-city ticket, but I don't plan to require those services.
The connection time is very short. Spirit does not have the most generous customer service and rebooking policies even in normal cases. If I misconnect is there a disadvantage to being booked on a multi-city itinerary? Is it similar to being booked on two one-way tickets, where I'm at fault if I don't show up on time for my second flight, or is it like a single through one-way ticket where the airline is at fault and responsible for accommodating me?
Best Answer
Considering that the two segments of the multi-city flight you show are on the same plane and flight number, a delay would with high probabilty just delay the second segment too. So although in general multi-city brings some risk, in your case, there is little difference to the direct booking.
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Are roundtrips cheaper than one way?
When traveling within the U.S., airlines typically price one-way flights at exactly half the cost of a round-trip. There certainly are exceptions, especially for those that fly out of smaller, regional airports.Is it cheaper to do multi-city flights?
A multi-city flight combines flights between several cities into one reservation, saving you the time of booking several one-way tickets between each location. Often, it's a lot cheaper than booking a series of one-way tickets.Why does the best fare fluctuate for tickets on the same route?
Because there are hundreds of travel sites (not to mention the airlines' own sites) which all offer the same seats for sale at the same time, at any given moment there are thousands of seats being purchased and each purchase might bump up the fare for the next purchase on the same flight.Which is the best ticket to book? One-way, round trip and multi tickets explained - FAQ Fridays
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Answer 2
If you book with two different bookings, then the airline responsibility won't be the same as if you had one single booking with multiple flights.
The maximum protection comes with one single booking. In that case, if you miss the connection, then the airline will have to find another flight for you. They accepted the contract with the two flights and the limited connection time so they have to make it happen. If for some reasons, they can't, then they have to offer a solution to you.
If you have two separate bookings, it is your responsibility to show up in time and it will mostly be goodwill from the company to offer a solution with another flight if you miss the second one.
Companies perfectly knows the tricks to pay less for tickets. So in this situation, don't expect too much goodwill from them. They will see that you had 2 different bookings...
Then, the delay circumstances might help you. If this was clearly an issue with the company like a damaged plane, they might be more helpful than if it was due to fog or something outside of their control. Same if you are loyal customer, it will help as well.
The special case of a multicity booking within the same booking session should result in one booking number. So you should be more protected than if you had two separate bookings but less than if the airline made the connection delay decision for you. With a multicity booking, you are bypassing the minimum delay required by the airline to make the connection so they can easily claim that they wouldn't have allowed or backed this. Still you have one booking so they are more liable than if you had 2 bookings.
I would suggest to get this confirmed by the airline customer service as different airlines might have different policies in this situation.
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