An open-jaw flight arrives in one city and departs from another. Important: you’re responsible for getting between the cities on your own!
For example:
- Flight 1 of 2: New York → London
- Train/car/bus/separate flight, etc.: London → Paris
- Flight 2 of 2: Paris → New York
Open-jaw flights are fantastic for seeing two destinations in one trip without backtracking to your initial destination to catch a flight home.
When a deal we send works as an open-jaw, we’ll call that out. Here’s how to book.
Step 1: Click the booking button in the deal email
Every deal email includes a direct link that’s pre-set with all the filters needed to get the fares we’ve found to appear in the search results.
Explore available dates until you find an itinerary you like. Note: you may need to customize your search details, such as dates, trip duration, number of travelers, etc.
Step 2: Switch your flight type to “multi-city”
Look for a dropdown menu where you can select the type of trip and select multi-city flights.
Then take the dates you like from Step 1 and plug them in, along with the cities you want to fly to and from. If the order of the cities doesn’t matter, try running the search both ways to see if it changes the price.
Step 3: Book via the airline or an online travel agency
Scott’s Cheap Flights doesn’t sell flights; all flights must be booked directly through the airline or an online travel agency.
Online travel agencies often have the lowest available prices for our deals. When this occurs, we’ll call it out in the Booking Instructions section of the email. When the price is similar, we recommend booking directly with the airline.
Not only does this give you more flexibility (you can generally cancel or change your flight within 24 hours), it’s also typically easier to resolve any issues when you deal directly with the airline vs a third party.
For detailed instructions on how to use the most common online travel agencies or flight search engines, check out these guides, or read our guide to online travel agencies.
- How to Use Google Flights
- How to Use Kayak
- How to Use Skyscanner
- How to Use Priceline
- How to Book a 2-in-1 Deal
Step 4: Book transport between the two cities
An open-jaw flight flies into one city and out of another, which means it’s up to you to get between those cities, whether that’s by plane, train, bus, car, or ferry.
Rome2rio is an excellent resource for figuring out the best way between two points. It shows you all your transport options along with the duration, cost, and booking details.
Can’t find the fare quoted in the deal alert email?
If you’ve followed the instructions above (use that booking button!) and still can’t find the deal, double check the dates and route (departure and destination airports) in the deal email to make sure the dates you’re searching for are listed. For an open-jaw flight, you can also play around the order of cities. If you still can’t find the deal, it’s most likely no longer available.
If you have a question about a deal, please contact us and we’ll be happy to take a look at what’s going on.
