Why are one way airfares more expensive than return airfares?

Question

Can anyone tell me why most major airlines charge nearly twice as much for a transatlantic one way flight than a return? None of the reasons I can think of make any sense, so does anyone know the explanations that the airlines give?

Answer 1

Supply and the kind of demand.

Those who actually buy those one ways are either a) businessmen whose companies are paying for the tickets, so it doesn't matter, or b) those you REALLY don't plan on returning to the US, and thus are probably willing to pay those prices.

In our economy, the price is set according to what the market can bear... the airlines aren't completely insane (most of the time).

Answer 2

always is cheaper to buy an round trip ticket , even if you are going back home! It is just common sense and it is quite obvious when you think about it a little...a O/W fare is more expensive because the airlines are basically agreeing to transport you to your destination without the guarantee that you will return to where you came from or that someone else wants a O/W ticket in the opposite direction. This uncertainty creates an extra responsibility for the airline b/c they have to fill that surplus seat that in the normal case of a R/T ticket would be generating revenue but in this case is not. To make up for this, they charge a premium for the service to make up for being shortchanged on the return segment...

Take a simple example (the absurdity is used to illustrate the point):

If you owned a taxi cab, and were asked to transport someone from New York City to Miami (roughly 1,300 miles one way, 2,600 R/T, a 3-day drive there and back, realistically) would you want to do it considering that there is most likely noone in Miami that wants to go to NYC by cab at or around the particular time you arrive in Miami and drop off your passenger, thus robbing you of the ability to be paid for driving the cab BACK to NYC. Taking into account that taking a cab on such a long trip is enormously expensive and a request such as this is odd and rare enough to guarantee that it would almost always be a one-way trip, you have to look at it from the perspective of "opportunity cost". The cabbie is not only giving up the fare of the return trip (Miami to NYC), but 3-days worth of "normal" cab fare that he would have made otherwise, any additional cost of fuel, lodging, and food resulting from being away from home, the potential for getting lost or off-track, various dangers of travelling long distances, etc etc...take that absurd example and think of a seat on an airplane instead and it is pretty easy to understand

Answer 3

is that the case? when is that? while typing this, i check with my travelling agent website...
return ticket is expensive than one way...but if u buy 2 one way ticket, it will be a lot expensive than return ticket
maybe they are having some sort of special deal or something to promote u on their flight~!!

Answer 4

The airline people are just nutts!!!