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Airfare

Open-jaw flights explained

Quick answer

An open-jaw flight is a single ticket that flies into one city and out of a different one (e.g. JFK to Lisbon, Amsterdam to JFK). On 7-day-plus European trips, open-jaw often saves $300–$1,200 vs round-trip pairs.

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Step-by-step

  1. 1. Identify when an open-jaw makes sense

    Open-jaw works when your itinerary plans to land in one city and leave from another — typically a 7-day-plus trip with overland travel between the entry and exit cities. Common examples: fly into Lisbon, train through Spain, fly out from Madrid; or fly into Rome, train through Italy, fly out from Venice.

  2. 2. Price open-jaw vs two round-trips

    Search "multi-city" on Google Flights and enter two segments: home → entry city, exit city → home. Compare the total to two separate round-trips (home ↔ entry city, home ↔ exit city). Open-jaw is usually $300–$1,200 cheaper because it avoids unused return segments.

  3. 3. Pair gateways correctly for the destination

    Open-jaw pricing is sensitive to which two airports you pair. For Europe trips, pairing a secondary entry city (LIS, DUB, BRU) with a primary exit city (FRA, CDG, LHR) is often cheaper than the reverse. The cheapest pairing depends on which carriers serve which routes — try at least 2–3 city orderings.

  4. 4. Watch for connecting-segment availability

    Open-jaw on a single ticket usually requires both segments on the same alliance or carrier. If your entry-city flight is on Lufthansa and your exit-city flight is on a non-Star-Alliance carrier, the multi-city engine may not surface the cheapest combination — calling can help.

  5. 5. Lock in single-ticket protection

    Open-jaw flights priced as a single ticket include missed-connection protection on both segments. If you book the two segments as separate one-ways instead, you save no money typically and lose protection. Always book open-jaw as one ticket.

When online search is enough

For most well-planned open-jaw trips with flexible dates, the OTA multi-city form surfaces the right answer. Google Flights handles open-jaw natively in the multi-city interface — entering two segments produces the open-jaw fare just like any single multi-city ticket.

If you know your entry and exit cities and the dates are flexible, the search result is the right answer. Open-jaw becomes a "search-doesn't-handle-this" problem only when the carrier mix is non-trivial or when you're testing many city orderings.

When calling 1-800-AIRFARE may help

Calling 1-800-AIRFARE may help on open-jaw trips when the entry and exit cities are on different airline alliances, when you want to test 3+ city orderings to find the cheapest pairing, or when an open-jaw is being compared against an alliance multi-stop product (Star Alliance Round-the-World, Oneworld Explorer) that the OTA does not surface.

Agents can also identify open-jaw opportunities the traveler might not see — for example, suggesting "fly into Lisbon, out of Frankfurt" when the traveler had only considered round-trips to Paris. Calling cannot guarantee a lower fare, but on flexible-itinerary trips an open-jaw construction often saves real money.

Real examples

  • Lisbon-to-Amsterdam open-jaw on a Europe family trip

    A family of 4 planning a 12-day European trip wanted to fly into Lisbon and out of Amsterdam after train travel through Spain and France. Round-trip JFK-Lisbon + round-trip JFK-Amsterdam priced at $4,800 (with 4 unused return segments). The same itinerary as a single open-jaw ticket (JFK to Lisbon, Amsterdam to JFK) priced at $3,600 — $1,200 lower.

  • Tokyo-to-Bangkok open-jaw on an Asia trip

    A traveler planning JFK-Tokyo, then Tokyo-Bangkok overland (via Seoul or Hong Kong as positioning legs), then Bangkok-JFK booked as separate one-ways at $2,400 + $480 + $1,200 = $4,080. The same routing booked as an open-jaw on Star Alliance (JFK-Tokyo open, Bangkok-JFK return) priced at $3,400 — $680 lower, plus single-ticket protection on both segments.

Frequently asked questions

What does "open-jaw" mean?
An open-jaw flight is a single airline ticket where you fly into one city and out of a different city, with overland travel between the two on your own. The "open" refers to the gap between the arrival and departure airports — you fly in to one, out from another, leaving an open segment in between.
Is open-jaw the same as multi-city?
Open-jaw is a specific type of multi-city ticket. A general multi-city ticket has 3+ segments (e.g. NYC-Tokyo, Tokyo-Bangkok, Bangkok-NYC). An open-jaw is the simplest multi-city — exactly 2 segments with an "open" gap between them. Most OTA multi-city forms handle both with the same input.
Why is open-jaw often cheaper than two round-trips?
A round-trip ticket from your home to City A includes a return segment that you might not use if your trip ends in City B. An open-jaw avoids paying for that unused return. The savings is usually $300–$1,200 on European trips, less on Asian trips where one-way pricing is closer to half the round-trip range.
Will Google Flights show me the cheapest open-jaw routing?
On the standard pairing yes (e.g. JFK-Lisbon, Amsterdam-JFK). On creative pairings or 3+ city orderings, sometimes no — Google Flights does not test every city order combination. Trying 2–3 different orderings on the multi-city form catches more of the available pricing.
Does open-jaw work for short trips?
Usually no. For trips under 7 days, the overland-travel cost between entry and exit cities often outweighs the open-jaw savings. Open-jaw works best on 10–21 day trips where overland travel is a planned part of the itinerary.