Open-Jaw Ticket
A return trip where you fly into one city but depart home from a different one — great for multi-city trips.
What is an open-jaw ticket?
An open-jaw is a type of return ticket where the outbound and inbound legs do not share the same city. You fly from London to Rome, then travel overland or by other means to Milan, and fly home from Milan. The "jaw" is the gap between your arrival city and your departure city on the return leg.
Airlines price open-jaw tickets the same way they price normal returns: as a round trip using the two individual one-way fares and dividing the round-trip fare between the two legs. In many cases an open-jaw is no more expensive than a straight return — and can even be cheaper because you can pick the most competitive fare for each leg independently.
Types of open-jaw
A single open-jaw has one gap — either at the destination or at the origin. A double open-jaw has gaps at both ends: fly London to Rome, return Barcelona to Manchester. This is ideal for travellers touring a region without backtracking to the same airport.
The surface sector — the gap you cover by train, bus, ferry, or another flight booked separately — is not included in the ticket price. Airlines simply ignore it for pricing purposes. This makes open-jaws a powerful tool for anyone who wants to explore multiple cities on a single trip without paying for two separate one-way tickets.
How to book an open-jaw
Most flight search engines support open-jaw searches under a "multi-city" or "complex itinerary" option. Google Flights, ITA Matrix, and Skyscanner all handle them. Search your outbound city → destination, then your departure city (for the return) → home. The combined price is usually competitive.
Frequent flyer miles can also be redeemed on open-jaw awards, often at the same mileage rate as a straight return. This makes them excellent value when you want to explore a region without the cost of positioning back to your original entry point.