Round trip vs. Two one ways

[nothing22387]

I need to take my daughter to meet her dad. She only needs a one way, but I need a round trip. Is there a way to do this without:

• booking me and her one way and than booking me back one way
• making two transactions and trying to get us on the same flight

Thank you.

[TheMiddleSeat · Accepted solution]

There's no way to accomplish what you want in one transaction. I would recommend "booking me and her one way and than booking me back one way". Having the two legs separated also makes it easier to rebook one of the two legs if a fare drops.

--TheMiddleSeat

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[dfwskier]

There is another alternative, but it only works if your daughter plans to fly again within he next 12 months. If she does

You book identical roundtrips for the both of you. Then after your outbound flight is complete, she cancels her return. That gives her travel funds for use on a future trip. Note that future trip would have to be completed within one year of he date the initial trip was purchased.

[DancingDavidE]

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@TheMiddleSeat wrote:

There's no way to accomplish what you want in one transaction. I would recommend "booking me and her one way and than booking me back one way". Having the two legs separated also makes it easier to rebook one of the two legs if a fare drops.

--TheMiddleSeat

Did this or any other comment in the thread answer your question? Please take a moment and click the "Accept as Solution" button on the comments you found most helpful, this will be a big help to any future Community Members who have a similar question!

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The workaround would be booking two RT and her no-showing (canceling up to 10 minutes prior to depature) the trip back 🙂 Since that would needlesly tie up your money in travel funds and potentially delay award points I'd also recommend separate one-ways, although you can book both tickets outbound at the same time/together.

You may be thinking to book RT for yourself and one-way for her - instead book one-way for two people, and one-way for one person which is the better match - there's not much reason for you to have a RT (see other threads on the RT vs one-way topic) as opposed to flying the other guys, so any predisposition to a RT flight in my opinion isn't necessary on Southwest.

[bec102896]

@nothing22387 

You might be able to book both of you as a RT then call the airline and say you need to cancel the one way for your daughter only (within 24 hours and) they should be able to refund the one way since it would be less than 24 hours since booking. 

they might issue you a separate confirmation number for her (then) one way flight but at least it’s all booked in one credit card charge and you will both be on the same flight. 

Hope this helps!

Blake