What Are Open Jaw Flights & How Do You Book One?

Open jaw flights have several advantages, but can be tricky to find.

Many airlines offer more flexible ticketing options than just a straightforward one-way or return ticket. The so-called open jaw flight allows travel to/from a different city as part of the same ticket. This gives more flexibility in travel, availability and may even be cheaper.

What is an open jaw flight?

Put most simply, an open jaw flight is when a return flight is booked with a different origin and/or destination city. A simple return flight, for example, could be from London Heathrow to New York. If either of these cities is different on the return leg, then it is classed as an open jaw.

The following are all examples of open jaw based on this example:

• An outbound flight from London to New York JFK, returning from Chicago back to London.
• An outbound flight from London to New York JFK, returning from JFK to Paris instead of London.
• An outbound flight from London to New York and a return from Chicago to Paris. This would be a “double open jaw” flight but could still be part of the same single ticket.

Advantages of open jaw flights

There are several advantages to booking open jaw flights. They may be a bit more complicated to research and ticket, but the effort can be worth it.

• Most obviously, they allow for more flexible travel. Open jaw flights could save time or add more destinations to a trip (for a similar price). If your travels will take you from one place to another, there is no need to have to return to the same airport.
• The ticket may be cheaper. It will be no surprise that airlines price tickets to different cities differently. By selecting a cheaper origin or destination, an open jaw ticket could actually be cheaper than a standard return ticket. There is no guarantee of this, of course, and no set formula (it could also be more expensive), but it is worth experimenting with some options if you want to save money.
• The availability of tickets could be better. As with prices, the availability on different routes can vary significantly. One route may be sold out for the dates you want (or priced highly), but flights from a nearby alternative city may be available. This is particularly the case with busy business routes or peak-time tourist routes.

How to book open jaw flights

Open jaw flights are booked as part of the same single ticket – if not it would just be two one-way flights. Having all flights as part of the same ticket gives protection in case of delays or disruption. If the flights were instead booked as separate one-ways, the airline would likely not offer any assistance, cancelation, or rebooking options, if one of the legs was disrupted. These days, this is more important than ever.

Open jaw flights can often be booked directly with the airline on its website. Look for the option to book “multi-city.” Alternatively, you can use an online travel agent or flight search engine to find flights. Sites such as Expedia, ebookers.com, and Google Flights have good options for searching flights and will usually find more options than an airline search engine. Of course, you can always try to find the same flights direct with an airline when you are ready to book.

Additionally, the search functionality on an airline website may not be as good as with a flight search engine. Good search options can help to find open jaw options. You can often include nearby airports in a search or sometimes search destinations flexibly with a map interface.