Open Jaws

Save time and see more of Europe by flying in and out of different cities.  You won’t have to do any backtracking if you, for example, arrive in London but don’t trek all the way back there to fly home.  Depart from your furthest destination, such as Paris or Rome or Athens.  The airlines call this an “open jaw” ticket.  It’s really not more expensive to do this, in fact, it may save you money by not having to circle back by train or rental car.  The airlines calculate the price of an open jaw ticket by taking the average of the two roundtrip fares.  The fare will be cheaper if both flights are with the same airline or one of its partners.

When you are surfing for airline tickets on the various travel websites, the trick is to click on the button that says “multi-city” or “multiple destinations” to price your ticket.  If you price your departure and return flights as two one-way segments, the cost will be outrageously more expensive.

Final tip of the day:  Did you know that Tuesdays and Wednesdays are usually the cheapest days to fly?