I travel somewhat frequently to Germany and have noticed that flights booked from there to the US (round trip) are significantly cheaper than the other way around. They are often half the price I pay by booking the round trip starting in the US.
I've tried to think of a way to use this to get cheaper tickets but can't seem to figure out what the best way is.
My first thought was that I book a one-way flight to Germany from the US and then book a round trip flight starting in Germany with a much later return flight. The problem with this is that I would have to know when I wanted to visit Germany next and I would have to keep booking flights like that.
Since airlines don't let you book more than one year in advance, it would force me to visit much more frequently than I am able to at this time.
The other option is similar to option 1 but instead of taking the return flight, I would book the flight as a flex ticket and simply cancel the second leg of my trip once in the US. There is nothing stopping me from doing that is there? As long as I don't do it too frequently I assume.
If that worked then I could fly (one-way) to Germany using miles, book the round trip flight for the return and cancel the flight back to Germany.
Sounds complicated all typed up but seems simple in my head.
Any reason this would be a bad idea or won't work?
Airlines really don't like it when you try to play games to save money. They have complicated algorithms to price their flights based on demand on where you are traveling from.
If you cancel the return often enough on the same airline, they are very likely to just ban you in the future. This is even more likely to happen if you book your flight to Germany through the same airline as the return. It won't happen right away. It might never be an issue for you. But be careful if being banned completely by a major airline would be problematic for you.
I'm assuming this will work similarly to how Skiplagged worked. It'll be frowned upon but not strictly forbidden and they might cancel your milage account if you do it more than once or twice.
That a fair assumption?
Skiplagging is expressly forbidden by airlines and they will absolutely ban you if they realize that's what you are doing. They have even sued the guy who popularized the concept because of how much they hate people doing it.
But yes I am assuming they would treat your plan similarly.
Why don't you just book two one ways?
Two one-way flights are more expensive than round-trip. Don't ask me why. Same reason that the same exact flight from the US is twice the price as it is from Europe.
I have tried all kinds of variations and tricks that used to work to get cheaper flights.
Not always, as I often find very cheap one way tickets when I don't care about my route or time.