<p>My oldest son is looking for an inexpensive one way flight to Europe after Christmas, say January 13th or so. He’s thinking of bumming around for a few months and says he doesn’t mind the cold weather, and the better airline deals are winter. We found some tickler airfares at travelzoo.com but I thought I would come here for any tips.</p>
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<p>This is always an idea.</p>
<p>When I first read the thread title, all I could think of was “swim!!” :D</p>
<p>Why is the ticket one way? Is he ever coming back? </p>
<p>I don’t have good advice other than watching the fares on sites that let you compare many sites at one time. Come to think of it, our D needs to book a flight there too after the holidays as she is there now and is coming home for the holidays (return flight of first roundtrip) and so will have to book a second roundtrip after the holidays until early summer. If you find anything good, give a holler. I haven’t looked yet as I wasn’t thinking about it yet, but probably should soon. Taking it one step at a time as she is moving from one country where she has been all summer to another country on Monday.</p>
<p>I will say that when we booked her early June flight until late December, we watched a site called <a href=“http://www.vayama.com%5B/url%5D”>www.vayama.com</a> which compared every site and kept watching it and got the lowest fares that way.</p>
<p>07Dad, Thanks for the courier suggestion. I remember reading about that idea a few years ago and completely forgot about it. I’ll have him look into that. The carry-on only thing might be a problem.</p>
<p>Soozie, the reason for the one-way is because he doesn’t know when or more importantly where he’s going to leave from to go home. A friend of his did couch surfing a couple of years ago for several months in Europe and that seems to appeal to my unemployed boy. I’ll check out vayama. We’ve got some time to figure it out.</p>
<p>Courier jobs don’t exist any more.</p>
<p>It’s hard to find cheap one-way international fares.</p>
<p>Any frequent flier miles in the family…those allow for changes on the return…not sure if you can vary the place, however. Good luck to the traveler (and parents)!</p>
<p>Some suggestions:
Try [Matrix</a> - ITA Software](<a href=“http://matrix.itasoftware.com/]Matrix”>http://matrix.itasoftware.com/) for a whole spectrum of ways to search. You don’t buy through them, so ignore the “sales city.” As you can see, it’s a little early for bargains in January, but I have flown to Europe many times and find that deals pop up, especially at that time of year.</p>
<p>Fly midweek or on Saturday.</p>
<p>Try some of the cheaper cities and airports. I’ve gotten great deals into Dublin, Amsterdam Frankfurt and London-Gatwick. Once in Europe, there are very cheap flights from country to country.</p>
<p>Keep an eye on the FF mile market, if that’s a possible option. Several of the major airlines offered flights for discounted mileage in the last year. Tickets to Europe on AA are as low as 20,000 miles off-peak. That’s easy for a family to amass in less than a year using a mileage credit card.</p>
<p>if he’s a student with an email .edu address he can use student universe. definitely lower prices. my son just booked his one way flight to london that way.</p>
<p>Just check student universe with other options. In our experience, it was NEVER the least expensive option…not one time. I know others have had better experiences, but we never found the best airfare through them. In fact, theirs were often at the higher end when we were comparing options.</p>
<p>Some countries will not let you in without a return ticket. It may be 6 months out, but there has to be a ticket. Even then, there are stay rules for the Schengen countries, so ‘many months’ may not be possible if he sticks with those. Planning is half the fun of the trip, though.</p>
<p>Well, I LOVE to plan a trip. Alas, son does not share my feelings. He is a college grad, so no student universe for him, although I still get the updates in my e-mail. Need to fix that. I actually told son about how some countries would need to see a return ticket and I very much like your idea Lorelei, about using FF miles if we can indeed change the return. We happen to have quite a few miles on our Capital one card so I think I will look into that further. </p>
<p>ITA midwesterner, will look up that site. I don’t know if I’ve heard of it before.</p>
<p>Why isn’t your son planning the trip himself? Why are you still doing these things for him?</p>
<p>Not planning the trip at all, just trying to give him some low cost travel options. Why are you asking? Need some help? :)</p>
<p>Kathiep already mentioned that she enjoyed travel planning. If she isn’t going to go herself, what harm is there in her doing research on behalf of her son?</p>
<p>I ask my son’s advice about electronics and autos. I imagine he will continue to ask my advice on things that interest me.</p>
<p>Exactly mafool!</p>
<p>Son found a great site through travelzoo and I thought I would share - <a href=“http://www.flysas.com/en/us/[/url]”>http://www.flysas.com/en/us/</a> A unique feature is that the price you see includes the taxes and add-ons! No two hundred dollar surprise, after you find what you think is a bargain fare. We found a flight that’s about $650 RT EWR to Stockholm.</p>
<p>United Airlines has one-way award trips for half the miles they require for a round trip award. I think it is about 27,500 miles for a one-way trip to Europe, but you need to book way ahead of time to get your choice of dates.</p>