Have you heard the term and wondered, what is an open jaw flight? Learn more about open jaw flights and why they’re used in business travel.
When your business trip involves stops in multiple cities, open jaw flights can potentially save both time and money. But if you’ve never heard this industry term before, you might be wondering what is an open jaw flight, and how does it apply to business travel?
While a regular round-trip airline ticket takes you from Point A to Point B and back again, open jaw tickets let you fly into one city and return from another. You might fly from Point A to Point B, travel overland to Point C, then return from Point C back to Point A.
This permits a higher level of flexibility than a traditional round-trip, and open jaw tickets often cost less than purchasing two separate one-way fares.
This scenario is more common than you might think. It’s not uncommon for business trip itineraries to cover multiple cities over several days, whether due to internal site visits or a series of investor meetings. Navigating complex multi-city itineraries like these can be a challenge, but open jaw flights are an efficient strategy to add to your business travel toolkit. In this blog, we’ll share more about the logistics of finding and booking open jaw flights, along with tips to maximise their time-saving potential.
A regular return flight ticket will list the same origin and destination airports in both directions. The term ‘open jaw’ describes any return ticket where the origin or destination differs, and they fall into three main categories, including destination, origin, and double open jaw flights.
The passenger flies from one city to another, then travels to a different city to catch their return flight.
Example: A business traveller takes an outbound flight from London to Florence, then a return flight from Rome to London.
The passenger flies from one city to another, then returns to a different city than their origin.
Example: A business traveller takes an outbound flight from Manchester to Rome, then returns from Rome to London.
When the origin and destination city differ going both directions of a roundtrip itinerary, it’s called a double open jaw ticket.
Example: A business traveller takes an outbound flight from Manchester to Rome, then returns from Florence to London.
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Multi-city flight bookings combine multiple flights on a single reservation.
Imagine that your business is launching a new product, and you need to give presentations in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. You could book a multi-city flight that encompasses the following legs:
This usually comes at a lower fare than booking each leg of the journey as a separate one-way flight.
Open-jaw tickets skip the middle flights of a multi-city fare. For this example, you would take two flights:
You’d either take ground transportation between Chicago and Los Angeles, or book a separate one-way flight not on the open jaw fare.
Another type of multi-city flight is an extended layover or stopover, where you delay your connecting flight by a few days to visit other destinations. Some airlines offer this feature at no extra charge - for example, Iceland Air allows travellers to add a free stopover lasting up to a week. However each carrier has its own stopover rules, so it’s best to contact them directly.
It’s clear from the examples above that open jaw flights come in an array of configurations. But when it comes to business travel, what are the benefits of flying in and out of different cities?
Here are just a few advantages to an open jaw itinerary:
Improved flexibility: With open jaw flights, you can plan multiple site visits or meetings in nearby cities without booking separate flights for each destination. And without the need to return to your original airport, you’ll have more freedom to explore.
Cost efficiency: Without backtracking to the original airport between meetings, business travellers reduce transportation costs. Plus, a single open jaw booking is typically cheaper than multiple one-way tickets. This is because open jaws use the same fare codes as return tickets, giving access to economy discounts. You’ll also save money during the booking process, as you’ll be able to widen your airfare search to nearby cities rather than restricting it to the same origin and destination airports.
Time-saving travel: Blending ground transportation and flights, business travellers can keep moving while reducing time lost to airport layovers and backtracking. Open jaw itineraries accommodate busy business schedules where every minute counts.
You can book open jaw tickets using the same tools as any other flight, whether it’s directly through the airline website or online travel agency. To view the most options, use an SME travel management solution like Tripeden.com for Business that lets you compare flights from hundreds of airlines at once.
Once you’ve picked your booking platform, here are a few tips to find open jaw results that best suit your business needs.
The easiest way to find open jaw flights is by using the multi-city filter on your search tool. This appears in the drop-down box alongside ‘Round-trip flight’ and ‘One-way flight’. You’ll then be able to enter different origin (Leaving From) and destination (Going To) cities, in both directions.
For example, if you wish to travel from Buenos Aires to Santiago, then back from Lima, you will enter Buenos Aires to Santiago for the first flight, then Lima to Buenos Aires for the second flight.
Open your search even wider by ticking the ‘Include Nearby Airports’ box where available. Imagine you’re searching for long-haul flights into New York City. Within NYC, the usual arrival options include LaGuardia Airport (LGA) and John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), with New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International (EWR) a popular third choice.
By opening your search to ‘nearby airports’, you’ll also reveal flights to Albany International Airport (ALB), just 2.5 hours away by train – which may come with cheaper business flight options.
However, you’ll need to consider the cost of transportation to and from each airport, as well as its reliability for business travellers on tight schedules.
Open jaw itineraries require some travel between airports. In the examples we’ve given above, these would be the journey between Santiago and Lima, or Albany and New York City.
Once you’ve booked your open jaw flight, you’ll need to think about the most efficient, cost-effective way to get between these points. Within Europe, this is often by train, while in the United States it may be by business car rental. In some regions, the fastest and easiest option will be to book a separate short, one-way flight.
Multi-city business trips bring added layers of complexity to the travel planning process. With more connection points between cities than the usual roundtrip flight, you’ll need to pay careful attention to travel timings. Open jaw itineraries go beyond Point A to Point B, with multi-stage transitions that may involve car rentals, flights, trains and buses.
Local transportation options vary widely by region and city, and if any leg of the journey is disrupted it can have knock-on effects to future connections. This cascades into rescheduled meetings, missed conferences, and other undesirable impacts to your business.
When creating a multi-city or open jaw itinerary, you’ll need the right tools to maintain full visibility over your schedule at each stage, as well as that of travelling teams. This involves solutions that give real-time travel updates, so that you’ll be able to quickly reschedule cancelled or delayed flights and prevent further downstream disruption.
To anticipate and mitigate the challenges described above, here are a few tips.
When business travellers must navigate multiple airports, modes of transport, and time zones in a single trip, it’s best to centralise your strategy to create a more user-friendly experience.
With Tripeden.com for Business, you’ll be able to book and manage multi-city flights and car rentals from a single dashboard, while storing preferences for a seamless experience across all travel touchpoints.
Using convenient travel management tools, your business will be poised to reap the benefits of open jaw flights. Whether you hire a car, take a ferry or embark on a train, open jaw tickets fly you in and out of the most convenient cities, while giving you plenty of flexibility and freedom in between. That means this type of airline ticket can often save both time and money.
However, each airline has its own rules and stopover policies, and in some cases a series of one-way flights will save more than an open jaw itinerary. As with any booking, it’s important to compare all available options before purchase.
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