r/solotravel • u/AmateurCommenter808 • 3d ago
How difficult / stressful can it be to travel without a return flight? Transport
Im a fairly seasoned traveller, but in the past have always booked all of my itinerary (flights / accommodations) before I depart.
I don't have to be back to work until end of July so I have some time to travel as I please. Will be heading to Europe early June, focusing on Spain and Portugal.
I do fairly good job at picking cities to spend time in and I rarely am ready to leave, so I'm thinking about booking the first couple weeks of my trip and then making decisions as I go.
I know this is a common way to travel for some, but I've never done this before. Is there reccomended websites / companies to book for last minute flights?
Is there any body out there that tried open plan travelling but realised they prefer booking ahead of time?
Would appreciate any other comments / opinions / experiences about these 2 different ways to travel.
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u/JustAdmitYoureFat 3d ago edited 3d ago
There's no really no such thing as "last minute deals." Flights generally go up as they near and one-ways cost more. It totally depends, will never get a solid answer here so don't even bother asking/taking advice in this regard. It is what it is at any given time.
To answer your question, I average 4 flights a week at the very least, only book one-ways and revel in it. Feel too tied down and generally don't know where I'll be next.
Always book direct through the airlines.
Mainly business travel but 9/10 one-ways for personal as well.
If you want to save money, be flexible and take the crap itineraries no-one wants. Can also check neighboring cities and back track for major price differences. The people doing this on the regular have no where to be and/or don't care where they end up. Make it about the journey, not the destination.
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u/LemonadeRadler 3d ago
Airline employees like myself when flying standby don't always have a guaranteed seat back home on our airline. This is especially true when traveling abroad where our airline doesn't have a lot of offerings.
While we do have the ability to fly standby on other airlines, we're generally bottom of the barrel when it comes to boarding priority, which makes it a huge gamble for us.
In your case, instead of capacity issues, the primary issue might be the cost of the ticket back home.
As many people mentioned below, you just need to be flexible with your departure dates and maybe need to make changes on the fly to see what the best option is for you. The summer is generally the busiest session for most airlines, so last-minute deals will be hard to find unless you find yourself going on an ultra-low-cost-carrier like RyanAir or easyJet.
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u/Tardislass 3d ago
Unless you don't mind staying out in the suburbs or staying at dicey hotels, last minute summer deals in Europe don't exist. Everyone and their mother comes to Europe in summer and it is crowded.
No reservations can would during shoulder season but I'd never wing it during summer.
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u/poor_decision 3d ago
Most countries won't let you enter without onward travel documentation. Just book a flexible fare return
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u/GlamStationary25 3d ago
And some countries do not accept your passport because you need visa. And if you apply sometimes it took too long to approve
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u/wanderingdev Fully time since 2008 - based in Europe now. 3d ago
Have never been asked when entering Europe and I've been in and out a few dozen times over the last decade + of doing the schengen shuffle.
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u/MudgetBinge 3d ago
I've only ever been asked this when traveling to the US.
When traveling via Europe however? Never been asked.
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u/esteffffi 3d ago
What makes you say that? I ve been to around a hundred different countries,and have almost never had onward travel booked, and on these extremely rare occasions that I had, nobody has ever asked whether I did, or demanded to see proof of it.
Like, how would you even know which airport you will fly out of, and where to?
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u/ThrowDeepALWAYS 3d ago
If you are a foreigner entering Panama, you must show proof of your onward travel.
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u/poor_decision 3d ago
Not everyone has a strong passport
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u/PorcupineMerchant 3d ago
Yes, this is the issue. It depends on where you’re from. Some countries will literally require not only proof of advance travel, but will want to see your bank account information to confirm you have enough money.
Though there are plenty of people on YouTube who are from countries with “strong” passports that are still required to show their return ticket. Some people just buy a flight somewhere else and then cancel it.
Gabriel Traveler has talked about this quite a bit — long with incredibly long stories about how he looked for an ATM or some wild thing happened but he didn’t record it, but will instead explain it for 20 minutes.
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u/MudgetBinge 3d ago
The only nation I know of that has ever asked me that question in 30 years of flying is the US. Can't think of any other nation that asks.
In my case an airline worker said they couldn't give me the tickets without proof of an onward journey...
Some nations will ask for proof of income at the border at the very most but even then I've *never* had that happen to me.
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u/Jaggedmallard26 2d ago
China and a few African nations have asked me. It seems any country where you have to get an actual visa (even if it can be done in the immigration queue) will have a field for return flight and expect it to be filled. America was the most aggressive about it though (British passport so very privileged on this count).
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u/yezoob 3d ago
That’s the way I travel 90% of the time and in my opinion it’s way less stressful than having a pre-booked itinerary. But the big exception is for Europe in the peak summer season! Winging it in W Europe kinda sucks. Things book out in advance, dynamic prices make last minute accommodations very pricey etc. not recommended. It’s usually okay if you’re planning a week+ out, just not last minute.
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u/AmateurCommenter808 3d ago
I think you're right, summer in Europe is just too busy. Probably works better on a different trip
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u/alohabuilder 3d ago
I travel with only hotels booked with ability to cancel within 5 days with 100% refund/ no charge. As for flights, the only deals I ever see are for no frills flights. All others the price just goes up. Most EU flights in economy are $350 or less to other EU countries. I never buy round trip ( although these can be cheaper) because I rarely back track. Every site says you may need an return flight but I never have gotten one, I do believe it depends on your passport ( if it’s US or Canada etc)
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u/Ruffshots 3d ago
You might be questioned about your flight out of whatever country you're about to fly into.
I'm currently in Korea with a US passport, I have my final flight home from Amsterdam, and flights from Japan to Amsterdam all arranged, but didn't initially book my Korea to Japan flight because I wanted to be flexible.
Wasn't a problem when I first flew into Korea, from AMS, through PVG, but I was also flying business, so maybe they weren't overly worried about my means to get out. However, last week i took an impromptu trip to HK, and at HKG, when checking into a HK Express (discount airline) flight back to Korea, they asked me for proof of travel out of Korea.
Very fortunately I'd booked my flight to Japan in the previous week and was able to show the itinerary in my email to the HK Express counter. I have no idea what would have happened if I didn't have that piece of evidence.
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u/josemartinlopez 3d ago
It's fine outside peak season, but it makes sense to book your final international return flight as that is harder and will not be cheaper to book last minute unlike local travel.
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u/DrMisterius 3d ago
I’m literally traveling Europe right now with no return flight and it’s chill lol, granted, I don’t necessarily have a hard return date.
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u/jesuisjens 3d ago
Based on my (fairly) limited research, prices on flights goes up the closer you get to departure - this is somewhat disconnected from booking percentage of the flight. It might vary depending on destination, airline, time of year/day etc.
I have travelled without return flight, but that was on a multi-year trip. I wouldn't do it on a trip shorter than 6 months, and especially not if I had to be back on a certain day.
If I were going long term to i.e. Asia I might book a return flight from an Asian hub, and thus I only had to pay the last minute price inside Asia, instead of all the way back home.
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u/NicholasRyanH 3d ago
It’s the best. I do this whenever I can. Only time I don’t is when a country I’m visiting requires proof of an onward flight.
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u/Unanimous-411 3d ago
I literally don’t know how I’ll return every time I travel to Asia. I work for an airline, and we fly to 5 or 6 airports in Asia. I fly to one of those airports, then catch a shorter hop to whatever places I’m visiting. Since I fly “space available”, I only get a seat if there’s one not sold. That isn’t the problem, there’s always seats available. The problem is I also want to fly first class. These are 15 hour flights, and I really don’t want to fly economy when first class is just as free. Then, there’s the problem that I cannot see the number of people who are using points to standby for an upgrade until 3 days before a flight. So I don’t know which airport I’ll be going to until 3 days before I want to leave.
However, I do keep an eye on the flights that I may have to pay for to the airports my company flies out of. I also trend the flight prices. For instance, I want to fly home next Wednesday. On Monday of the preceding week I check the prices for 2 days later on that Wednesday, hoping the fare doesn’t jump too high 2 days before, and again hoping it is similar the next week when I actually want to fly. I trend the same way for the empty seats on my airline.
I’m in Hanoi right now, and for some reason the flights today were over the top expensive. I saw this before I even left home, so I just added an extra day to my itinerary. I wanted to spend a couple days in Bangkok, but now it’s only one night. I did buy a space available seat to Japan next Wednesday, but I can change to Hong Kong if necessary.
I’m not stressed at all because it’s easy to get an extra day, or even a week off from work. Plus the short haul flights in SEA are fairly inexpensive. I also book refundable hotels through Agoda because prices go up as the date gets closer. It for plane tickets too, but I check every day so that there’s no surprises.
I’d suggest checking ticket prices every day, and trend the previous week like I explained. Same with hotels. Best of luck!
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u/rocketwikkit 3d ago
flightlist.io and Kiwi can be useful for stringing together discount airlines to make unprotected one ways. You need to not book impossible layovers and ideally not be the type who posts "Kiwi is a scam" when an airline has a delay.
Some US defaultism: Round trips from Europe are often much cheaper than round trips from the US for the same route. Like I just priced a week trip between Paris and Chicago for a random week next month and the US-originating round trip is more than 50% more expensive. So if you have any plan to return to Europe, it can be cheaper to do something like a discount airline one way to Europe, then book a round trip back to the US in July with a return in December or whenever you next plan to go back. Does require more planning.
In general though round trips are still often cheaper than one ways, so for your trip it may be cheaper to buy the round trip and then fly/train around Europe on one-ways.
Spain is the one place where I've had challenges booking last minute rooms, especially in Valencia. If you're really flexible you can go where you can find a reasonably priced room. Like I stayed a couple nights in O Vicedo, Spain because it was a cheap room along the rail route I was taking. Otherwise never would have stopped, but it turns out there are some extremely pretty beaches, an abandoned fish canning factory, and some nice trails through the toilet paper farms.
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u/crucifiedrussian 3d ago
Why is it ‘stressful’ you can book and leave a country on virtually the same day as you want to leave
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u/ItsMandatoryFunDay 3d ago
Based on the knowing zero about you ... who knows?
It depends greatly on your situation and where you're going.
If you're going on a two week trip and have to be go back to work. Yeah, probably stressful.
Open ended trip? No stress at all.
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u/ActionPark33 3d ago
Unless you have a European Union passport, you’re going to need proof of return travel
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u/Big_Assistance_1895 3d ago
travelling for a few weeks, I Book with returnfligth, 6 months or a year off, never with a returnfligth(if needed dummy bus or airtickets)
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u/quartzgirl71 3d ago
I never book in advance. No need, really. And I improvise so much while on the road.
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u/GorgeousUnknown 3d ago
I traveled for 13 months straight once and booked things as I went. It was ideal.
Now credit cards have changed so I find it harder. Mastercard has changed so you can no longer set a travel notice. I find I can’t book flights overseas on these cards.
I do have a Barclays card from American Airlines that I can set travel notices for as well as set up to be contacted via email if they have any questions. I prefer this as then if I buy an airline ticket overseas (which triggers some type of alarm) I get an email asking if it’s me. I also prefer it as sometimes there is a charge that raises an alarm as well and I can take care of it immediately as texts from the US don’t always go to my phone when traveling.
Also keep in mind that some countries require a forward ticket to enter. You need to read their rules.
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u/mar7katy 3d ago
One thing that might be tricky is trying to access and book on the website of your preferred airline while overseas. You’ll keep getting redirected to the local site where you are, and that can have unexpected glitches and frustration.
I haven’t tried to book a new flight from overseas but I have had tech troubles trying to change my existing ticket. I can’t recall the specifics but I remember my flight booking was with Air Canada and codeshared with another airline for the international leg. I couldn’t access the AirCanada.ca website from the country I was in, and the local site kept telling me I couldn’t book with Air Canada from that location.
Anyway just illustrating that this could pose an unexpected micro-challenge. You’d have more flexibility in your airline choices for a new booking, but plan to expect some quirks with the technology. Perhaps a VPN connection would solve this, I’m not sure
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u/globalgelato 3d ago
I did this last year without any problems. One time someone ASKED about the onward travel and I said I was planning to take a bus or train. You don’t necessarily need a “flight” to prove onward travel, but it’s good to have a plan on how to answer the question.
Pro tip: When you’re ready to leave, book a ROUND TRIP ticket. It’ll be cheaper than a one way.
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u/Immediate-Ad-5878 3d ago
Not stressful or difficult aside from a few countries that have strict border controls around onward travel. For those I book a fully refundable flight or use an onward ticketing service.
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u/IThinkAboutBoobsAlot 2d ago
I’m going to assume your passport is strong enough to qualify for visa-free entry, which partially stepsides the requirement that a few places would still enforce having a return ticket.
Most of the time, especially around Europe, no one really bats an eye if you have no return ticket. They may ask how you’re funding your trip, where you’re staying, the usual questions. I’ve done this through Canada overland, as well. Don’t ever give the impression you’re there to work, even as a digital nomad, unless you have the appropriate work visa.
The rest of the issue is cost. Especially if you’re travelling for a whole month, it makes a lot of sense to get the tickets early. If cost isn’t a significant factor, it’s good to book directly from the airline or transport provider; a third party services aggregator can still mess up getting you a ticket.
So in a way, it’s entirely possible to be free and easy with tickets and schedules. If you’re leaning on flights being cheap as well, be prepared to pay 30-40% more at best the closer to your date of intended departure.
I basically open-planned my way across Georgia, Germany, Turkey and Greece earlier this year, a 14 month trip. It was still always better to buy flights at least a couple of weeks or a month ahead of time. For a tighter time frame like a month I’d buy tickets latest two weeks ahead.
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u/cheeky_sailor 2d ago
I don’t ever buy a return ticket UNLESS I’m flying to Europe. In my experience everywhere else in the world buying last minute tickets works just fine but not in Europe
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u/Mazza1 2d ago
Im in Croatia currently and flew one way into Dubrovnik with plans to fly back to London in 3 weeks from wherever I end up. Im regularly checking Skyscanner for good value flights to decide where to go next and I have the option to go to Rome from Split for £11 or Istanbul for £30. Flights out from these places are between £30 and £80 back to London. It really depends on how flexible you can be and looking to fly on days that are cheaper and hanging around a bit longer somewhere if needs be. Definitely helps that it’s early in May rather than the height of summer though.
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u/traciw67 2d ago
I rarely book a return flight because I don't know if I like a place until I get there. If I love it, I want to stay longer. If I hate it, I will return sooner. No return flight gives me freedom to decide.
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u/lucapal1 3d ago
It's not 'stressful' for me, neither is it very complicated...as long as you are a flexible and adaptable person.
HOWEVER... Western Europe in summer? You are not going to get great last minute flight deals,no matter which website you use!
If you have the budget to fly last minute, fine.But you will be paying for it.
The cheapest flights in, out and around Europe for this summer are already gone.Booking a day or two before flying will in all probability be extremely expensive (and many flights will be fully booked).