Planning an official trip and sticking to the schedule are crucial for better outcome from business trips. Employees should adhere to the itinerary and avoid last-minute changes. However, it is not always possible to follow the planned schedule. A slight change in the itinerary can impact the whole journey. Though such issues are unavoidable, one can still save on the cancellation of return flight tickets. Open tickets enable travelers to change their return dates as per the requirements and the airliner’s policy.
What is an open air ticket?
Open-end or open-air tickets provide travelers with the flexibility to change the return date on the air ticket. This means that the departure date remains the same but the return date is adjustable as per the needs of the traveler. However, several open-air tickets are valid only for a specific duration and have a validity. If you don’t book within the period, the ticket will be discarded as useless by the airline with zero refund.
Types of open ticket
In general, there are two kinds of open-air tickets – Restricted and Unrestricted. As mentioned, several open tickets have a validity while the others don’t have any restrictions.
1. Restricted open air tickets
As the name suggests, restricted open-air tickets have a window frame to confirm your return after the actual return date has passed. The validity is set by the airlines to avoid inconveniences to other travelers with the last minute booking. The return validity can be found on the print version of the ticket. In the restricted kind of ticket, passengers will be charged highly for changing their return ticket. Additionally, in case your ticket has expired you may succumb to the steep price changes.
2. Unrestricted open air tickets
Unlike restricted tickets, unrestricted open-air tickets don’t have any restrictions on confirming the return journey. Travelers can confirm the return date at their convenience. The ticket still can expire if not used on time. The validity of unrestricted tickets is however more than the restricted ones making them ideal choices for corporate travelers. Further, you must check the restrictions imposed by several countries that may not let you stay even though the validity of the ticket remains. Considering the benefits of unrestricted open-air tickets, they have a slighter higher price.
Advantage of open flight ticket
Evident from the definition of open-air tickets, they provide travelers with the flexibility of extending their stay while not losing out money on flight ticket cancellations. You can easily change your schedule and still not incur any cancellation fees.
Disadvantages of open air ticket
The major disadvantage of an open-air ticket is you get a defined time frame in which you have to confirm your seat, or else the ticket will get canceled. The ticket cost is more than the standard ticket prices. Also, you may have to pay an additional fee to reserve your seat.
Do open air tickets still exist?
Though the concept was popular in the 20th century, the open-air ticket is still relevant. However, flights started losing money on these tickets; hence, they have limited the availability of such tickets to a bare minimum. Due to the rarity of such tickets, the prices of these tickets are much higher than the normal tickets. The most common example where the open ticket is relevant is in the RTW (round-the-world) bookings.
Suggested Read: Why Do Airlines Overbook Or Oversell Flights?
Tips for booking an open-air ticket
1. Check multiple airlines
Various airlines offer a diverse range of open-air tickets. Therefore, it is better to check the prices and amenities offered by numerous airlines for open-air tickets and choose the most suitable one.
2. Be flexible
While choosing the dates, you should be flexible with the travel schedules to crack the best deals. You may get better prices on certain dates than others.
3. Book in advance
To avoid the surge charges or unavailability of such tickets, it is always recommended to book in advance.
4. Search for discounts
As the ticket prices are very high for open-ended airline tickets, it will be beneficial to look out for the discounts, and promotions.
5. Use various platforms
Before making the final decision on one online booking platform, you should ensure to check the prices of the same flights on the different platforms.
6. Read T&C
Most of the open-ended tickets come with numerous terms and conditions set by the flights. Therefore, make sure to read these terms and conditions before purchasing the ticket.
7. Consider travel insurance
Last but not least part, you should ensure that the airline is providing travel insurance. If the journey is not insured, you should purchase a travel insurance for emergency needs.
Open flight tickets are the best ways to curtail your expenditure and spillage on air tickets if the trip schedule is subjected to change. Travelers can make use of the flexibility offered with these tickets and avoid cancellation charges.
Corporate travelers and admins can use online travel booking and management platforms such as Paxes for finding best prices with minimum hassles. Paxes provides corporate rates and trip benefits while booking from a plethora of flights across the globe.
Suggested Read: Everything You Need To Know About Flexible Flights
Open Air Ticket FAQs
What is an Open Air Ticket?
An open-air ticket is an airline ticket that allows travelers to change the return date without changing the departure date.
What are the types of open-air tickets?
There are two types of open-air tickets: restricted and unrestricted. Restricted tickets have a specific validity window for the return journey, while unrestricted tickets do not have any restrictions.
How to use an open ticket?
Open-air tickets provide travelers with flexibility to extend their stay without incurring flight ticket cancellation fees.
