Does Delta Open Ended Ticket?
Does Delta Air Lines provide open-end tickets?
When one is booking a flight, one may encounter the term ‘open-ended ticket’ and wonder whether or not Delta Air Lines provides for this kind of ticket. But what is an open-ended ticket, and does Delta offer them?
An open-ended ticket is what?
An open-ended ticket, also known as an open-jaw Delta Airlines Ticket, is a flight plan that permits flyers to start their journey from one city and return from another city. For instance, it would be possible to fly from Los Angeles to Paris and then return to Los Angeles from Rome. Outbound flights are different from inbound flights as the cities on them are different.
These tickets are perfect for those intending to travel to many cities or even countries within a single trip. Rather than having a ticket that is labeled a round trip to one location, this option allows you to fly in one place and out of another. By doing so, even a traveler can organize a trip with one or more stopovers without having to purchase a new ticket.
Are There Other Airlines That Provide Open-Ended Tickets?
It is important to note that many of the leading global airline companies do provide open-ended fares as one of their routine ticket options. Many airlines, such as British Airways, KLM, Emirates, Cathay Pacific, and many others, offer open-ended tickets to their customers when purchasing tickets.
This provides the flying international tourists with considerable freedom in designing very special connecting journeys. The ability to start the trip in one city and finish in another is very tempting for tourists who wish to spend as much time as possible in different locations within a country.
The catch is that while open-ended tickets may permit varied arrival and departure cities, the itinerary must correspond to the current airline route network and fares. These are not arbitrary city combinations that you can select at your own will. However, within the stipulated parameters, some round-the-world adventures can be fun on an open-ended ticket.
But what about Delta Air Lines?
Well, to conclude and to respond to the main question that has been raised, is it possible to purchase flexible flights with Delta Air Lines? Unfortunately, Delta does not have open-ended fares as part of its regular ticket menu for passengers. Every one of the round-trip and one-way fares that Delta has in place means that any traveler must use the same city they began the journey in to conclude the trip.
If you purchase a round-trip flight from Los Angeles – to Paris on Delta Airlines, you will be required to use the second flight to return to Los Angeles from Paris. Their fares and ticketing systems do not allow for arriving in one European city but departing from another. It is also important to note that the numbers of inbound and outbound destinations must be equal.
Why doesn’t Delta have open-ended tickets?
As to why Delta does not offer any open-jaw or open-ended tickets, it is slightly unclear. Being one of the largest legacy carriers in the United States, many people anticipate that Delta should provide the same open-ticket policies as its counterparts.
However, it appears that Delta has intentionally avoided offering midweek-only, one-way fares which can only be bought with matching arrival and departure airports. This more rigid ticket structure seems strange and is different from the other global airlines offering multi-city itineraries.
Of course, there are considerable amounts of routing for travelers when they choose to book a flight with Delta and take an open-jaw ticket, where the traveler flies into one city and out of another for the price of a single flight ticket. You may fly into Amsterdam and then fly back from Rome to New York for instance. However, when it comes to making a complete, open-ended, multi-stop journey across multiple tickets, one cannot have it with Delta.
Workarounds When Booking Delta
When trying to spoof Delta and mimic the open-ended style of its itineraries, flight hackers have found some workarounds. One way is to use the two-way booking technique, where someone buys a one-way Delta ticket going to the first European city of choice and a return ticket from another city at a later date.
Another strategy is to buy a ticket with one airline but break the journey with long layovers in interesting destinations. You arrive at one location and spend one to two weeks there before proceeding to the next location on the same travel ticket. The home-bound journey is then out of your last city. This results in a form of near-open-ended routing by utilizing liberal allowances for stopovers.
The problems with these solutions are also closely connected with costs as well as problems associated with carrying a lot of baggage. It is quite costly to purchase two one-way tickets while traveling. But planning such multiple-leg journeys can come with very finite allowances on the number of pieces and weight of luggage allowed to be checked in based on the rules of the fare. Thus, in most cases, such approaches turn into a problem rather than an effective solution.
Dialing In to inquire About the Open-Ended Tickets
If the strategy of the extended stopover method on a single ticket appears plausible, another tactic is to try to call Delta regarding the open-ended fares. It is a mere possibility that a telephone agent might be able to reconstruct a unique reservation that would permit the arrivals into different European cities.
It does not harm to humbly ask them if their booking systems allow for an unlimited number of stops on an undefined number of days. The chances of success are extremely low but maybe a specially trained agent could bypass limitations to book open-jaw complex fares. Having flexible, refundable tickets also helps increase the chances of getting a booked flight.
Which Airlines Have Open-Ended Tickets?
For travelers who desire open-ended flight arrangements, you’ll have better success booking with these other major carriers: For travelers who desire open-ended flight arrangements, you’ll have better success booking with these other major carriers:
Other airlines that allow open jaws are the Flying Blue program and Air France/KLM. Lufthansa-Miles and More frequent flyer program allow open jaw. In the British Airlines Executive Club program, there is freedom to join or leave from other cities. Cathay Pacific-Asia Miles program allows booking of open-ended awards Emirates Airline's Skywards program gives open-jaws
Well, as for the present moment, Delta Air Lines does not offer what can be described as true open-ended one-way international fares, whereas other worldwide carriers do. When planning for multi-stop travel, flyers who desire more freedom of choice should consider those foreign carrier options. Stay away from Delta when it comes to open-ended tickets. However, their long stays might provide some compromise options.
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