Is it wise to book one-way flight, London to southern France, and book return when ready?

[grumpygit]

I have had a few health and work problems this past week and am now planning and rushing to get ready for a Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port start on May 8th and have given myself 35 days to get to Santiago though I do not want to put myself under any pressure at all on this pilgrimage.
I am flying from London to Biarritz and will book the flight in the next couple of days.
I was thinking of getting a return but do not want to put myself under pressure of making sure I am ready to return on my flight date.

Is just getting a single flight out there the best idea and just book a flight home from Spain when I am ready to come back?

 

[Vacajoe]

Flying from Spain to London can be very inexpensive and last minute flights at cheap prices can be found. If you are okay with gambling a higher cost of a flight for more freedom, do it. Over the last two months, I’ve booked several flights between London and various Spanish cities and was pleased that even with only a few days notice, they were under 50£.

I would keep your options open, but keep looking at flights as you approach the end of your Camino to see what the prices are running. I found that they vary wildly day-to-day, so having the freedom of choosing which day to fly will save you a lot of money.

 

[markie6]

I've done both. My 1st Camino I didnt know how long it would take. Was expensive sorting out return trips at short notice.

2nd Camino I had a better Idea and booked train tickets for approx date of return, overslept and then it became expensive again

My most recent camino.. I booked in advance my flight home from Santiago, allowing plenty of time and knowing If I arrived in Santiago too soon I would add on Fisterra and Muxia .. or an extra day in Santiago etc

Last minute can be expensive. Check prices for days you might finish, make sure they arent holidays / half terms etc

 

[Arctic_Alex]

I was exactly in that situation 2019 and wanted to stay flexible as I had no idea how long I would need for the Camino Francés and how long I would want to be walking and if I maybe wanted to extend to Fisterra.
So I booked the flight to Biarritz, took the shared taxi to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port and started walking .. open end! This felt great as you have no pressure. Does not mean you will walk more slowly, but you have the choice.
Best decision ever! I booked the flight when I arrived in Santiago, then walked the 3 days to Fisterra, stayed there one extra day and then took the bus back to Santiago, stayed there one more night and finally hopped in the plane early morning. So booked the flight back 6 days in advance.

 

[Roland49]

I booked my flight back home from the Albergue in Sarria.
As I didn't know exactly if I would make it to SdC.

 

[Former member 107885]

I

I have had a few health and work problems this past week and am now planning and rushing to get ready for a Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port start on May 8th and have given myself 35 days to get to Santiago though I do not want to put myself under any pressure at all on this pilgrimage.
I am flying from London to Biarritz and will book the flight in the next couple of days.
I was thinking of getting a return but do not want to put myself under pressure of making sure I am ready to return on my flight date.

Is just getting a single flight out there the best idea and just book a flight home from Spain when I am ready to come back?Not l

I think you are fine. There are so many flights between Spain and UK it’s hard not to find a cheap one. You can always search on Skyscanner, from Spain to UK and see what it throws up. Maybe if a super deal is available from an airport a little away from where you are, you can take a bus there!

I guess we are edging into ‘shoulder season’ so busier than winter but cheaper than the summer.

School Holidays end of May so work around that if you can!

 

[Madis]

My last Camino, I had a return flight booked for the first time. Worst mistake I have made so far.

I ended up finishing the Camino in record time, but physically and mentally was exhausted after reaching Muxia and Finisterre.

Was sitting for 5 days near the ocean doing nothing while waiting for my return flight. Missed an important birthday party.

My suggestion stands that around 7 days before you estimate to reach Santiago, you buy flights tickets back home. Its especially easy finding flights to London as is your case.

I have flown back from Santiago, Porto and Madrid. It was a long overnight bus ride to reach Madrid and then straight to the airport, but ticket prices were good. Getting to Porto is very smooth and simple. You will need to ve flexible about which airport you fly out of, but there will be cheap options

 

[alexwalker]

I have done quite a few Caminos. 2 times I had prebooked a return ticket. Borh times I had to throw it away, just because life happened to me. Never again any pre-booking for me. Anything can (and will) happen while you are on the Camino.

 

[Former member 107885]

I have done quite a few Caminos. 2 times I had prebooked a return ticket. Borh times I had to throw it away, just because life happened to me. Never again any pre-booking for me. Anything can (and will) happen while you are on the Camino.

Yes and I think the mental ‘value’ of being not constrained to a return date is very nice!!

 

[grumpygit]

Thanks all, great advice and I am just booking a single flight out there and start thinking about return flights several days before I finish

I want my head empty and no feelings of deadlines etc

 

[Former member 107885]

Thanks all, great advice and I am just booking a single flight out there and start thinking about return flights several days before I finish

I want my head empty and no feelings of deadlines etc

Great! If you need any help on skyscanner or any ground transport to connect just shout! As mentioned you can search on Portugal to UK too!

 

[alexwalker]

Yes and I think the mental ‘value’ of being not constrained to a return date is very nice!!

Also:

"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans"...

John Lennon/Allen Saunders

 

[Dani7]

I did not book a return flight to Canada. Glad I did. No pressure now. Saved a bit extra for return flight if applicable.

 

[Curly Cath]

Totally! I don't book my returns any more (also am from the UK)

I was walking in march 2020 and obvs had to buy a second return ticket home as fast as possible! I wanted to return in 2022 to 'finish' that camino

I booked to go in late march but it was -6 and loads of snow so I decided to delay and rebooked for April

In April I got covid again so I had to delay and rebooked for may

In May I got shingles

I finally left in June.

I decided to return via ferry, it was ace I booked it when I felt my Camino was finished about 4/5 days before I left

Absolutely loved the freedom of it

 

[T0M]

Thanks all, great advice and I am just booking a single flight out there and start thinking about return flights several days before I finish

I want my head empty and no feelings of deadlines etc

I think you made a good decision.

 

[André Walker]

I agree with most of the other posts.

I've never booked a return flight in advance when walking a camino. Most of the time did so 3-4 days before getting to Santiago (or Finisterre/Muxía). For flights from Santiago to most European cities that'll do.

If not, there's always the possibility to fly home from A Coruña or Vigo. Both airports well within reach from Santiago.

 

[Richmond Gardner]

Inter European flights aren't so hard to schedule at a minimal upcharge or even price savings! Trans Atlantic or further, is a completely different ballgame... I usually just add a cushion, so that I don't feel rushed and am able to make other plans- should something irresistible come up. I like to arrive in Santiago with time to unwind and have plenty of time to get to the point of embarkation (Madrid, Barcelona or Paris etc...) and those places offer plenty to explore. So... in this way, I don't feel particularly constrained by a date on the calendar.

 

[alexwalker]

I think you made a good decision.

Totally agree.

"Good decisions come from experience. Experience comes from bad decisions".

 

[Vince Rollason]

I have had a few health and work problems this past week and am now planning and rushing to get ready for a Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port start on May 8th and have given myself 35 days to get to Santiago though I do not want to put myself under any pressure at all on this pilgrimage.
I am flying from London to Biarritz and will book the flight in the next couple of days.
I was thinking of getting a return but do not want to put myself under pressure of making sure I am ready to return on my flight date.

Is just getting a single flight out there the best idea and just book a flight home from Spain when I am ready to come back?

Hi.
I have walked 5 times and never booked a return flight. Like you I have never wanted to put myself under pressure to make SDC for a certain time. On my second Camino I got very sick in Pamplona and needed to return to the UK from there. However I was able to return 3 weeks later and finish off. Ryanair fly from SDC to London Stansted and I have always been able to book a flight back on arrival in SDC. I enjoy spending a few days around SDC before heading for home.
Buen Camino
Vince.

 

[trecile]

If I lived in Europe I wouldn't book my return flight in advance, but coming from N America it's much more expensive to buy two one way tickets, especially at the last minute.

 

[Former member 92300]

It varies. Sometimes it has been cheaper for me to get one way tickets in the past. Recent years that seems to not be the case so much anymore. There are 2 potential problems with not buying that return ticket in advance

1- the cost may be considerably higher. If cost isn't an issue - then no reason not to wait until you know when you want to return home

2 - most of the time customs doesn't check to see if we have return tickets on arrival. That said - they can deny entry if they chose to, for anyone who doesn't meet entry requirements and sometimes they make having a return ticket part of the requirements. I do think that is rare -


I avoid the stress of being on a deadline by buying round trip or multi-stop tickets in advance - but for the return trip - I add in several "buffer" days at the end of my trip. Then - if I want to take extra rest days or walk shorter days I have the time to do it. If I don't need to do either - I use the extra days at the end to sight see in the area. My tickets are often non-refundable - but you can usually exchange at least once and pay the difference in cost - but for me the difference in cost is usually more than it would cost me to just stay a few extra days.

 

[C clearly]

Trans Atlantic or further, is a completely different ballgame...

coming from N America it's much more expensive to buy two one way tickets, especially at the last minute.

100% agree.

If you are talking about a flight home from Spain to North America, please inform yourself about your options, and don't rely on the enthusiastic responses here on the forum. While different flights may be available to some very large cities in North America, as far as I know, no major airlines offer any reasonably priced one-way flights to my home airport of Vancouver.

 

[BennyB]

If I lived in Europe I wouldn't book my return flight in advance, but coming from N America it's much more expensive to buy two one way tickets, especially at the last minute.

Please elaborate on your experience, Trecile, and C Clearly. I’m coming from Dallas. Until I read your post I was ready to cancel my return ticket based on all the previous posts. After your post I’m not so sure. We will be flying back out of Porto-Madrid-DFW. Based on your post I’m thinking of keeping my return trip as is. We start on May 4th PC and return on the 23rd.

 

[Bradypus]

Please elaborate on your experience, Trecile, and C Clearly. I’m coming from Dallas. Until I read your post I was ready to cancel my return ticket based on all the previous posts.

In a thread earlier this year someone posted that Iberia would not allow them to board a flight from the USA without evidence of a return flight booking. Theoretically Spanish authorities could also bar Brits like myself from entering the country without booked onward or return travel but I have not heard of that actually being enforced.

Post in thread 'Flights home after Camino' https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/flights-home-after-camino.79224/post-1115250

 

[trecile]

Please elaborate on your experience, Trecile, and C Clearly. I’m coming from Dallas. Until I read your post I was ready to cancel my return ticket based on all the previous posts

First of all, unless you purchased fully refundable tickets, canceling your return flight would be a big mistake! Depending on the class of ticket you may be able to change the date of the flight, but if the flights on the new date are higher when you make the change you will be charged the difference.

I have found that a round trip or multi-city flight to Europe is not much more expensive than a single one way ticket.

Play around with different searches (round trip, one way, multi-city) on Google Flights. And take a look at what the price is for one way tickets next week, to get an idea of the cost of "last minute" tickets.
I'm fortunate to have accrued enough miles to be able to book my next Camino trip with miles, but my return flight from Europe in July cost me a lot more miles than my outbound flight in May.

 

[alexwalker]

Please elaborate on your experience, Trecile, and C Clearly. I’m coming from Dallas. Until I read your post I was ready to cancel my return ticket based on all the previous posts. After your post I’m not so sure. We will be flying back out of Porto-Madrid-DFW. Based on your post I’m thinking of keeping my return trip as is. We start on May 4th PC and return on the 23rd.

You have a very valid point, as have @trecile and @C clearly, and you should do solid investigation on one-way prices. I was speaking as an EU citizen (Norway), which gives us much more flexibilty, but I have no knowledge about air fares to/from USA/Canada/other continents.

 

[hieudovan]

If I lived in Europe I wouldn't book my return flight in advance, but coming from N America it's much more expensive to buy two one way tickets, especially at the last minute.

I live in California. Very expensive 1-way tickets to Europe. I've walked 4 Caminos and had always bought 2-way tickets. Much cheaper. Once I was able to get roundtrip tickets for less than $US500 due to a sale. I overestimate my walk by a couple of days. If I made good times, I slowed down. No problem. If I was slower than expected, I had a cushion. So far so good for me and my pocket. I plan/hope to walk the Le Puy in the fall, buying roundtrip tickets again. Bon Chemin.

 

[Former member 92300]

I have found that a round trip or multi-city flight to Europe is not much more expensive than a single one way ticket.

I used to get most of my tickets as one way tickets because that used to be cheaper for me (from US) than round trip or multi-city. But since COVID - I am finding the opposite to be true in my searches.


As Trecile said though - play around with google flights with one way, round trip, and multi-city tickets to see what is cheapest. But also - if you have some flexibility - look at different departure and arrival cities for both directions. I do this and am quite often surprised with what flights are cheaper. Example - I can fly out of Tucson or Phoenix or LAX (with a separate ticket to LAX). LAX with that separate ticket to LAX used to always be cheapest for me. Lately - I find flying from Phoenix to London was more expensive than flying from Tucson to Phoenix to London ( on the same Phoenix-London flight) was cheaper. And both options are cheaper than flying from LAX with that separate ticket to LAX.

And flying into Paris used to be cheapest for me, but now Madrid is often cheaper.

Anyhow - all the old cheap travel trick I used to be able to follow aren't proving to be true anymore.

 

[C clearly]

In a thread earlier this year someone posted that Iberia would not allow them to board a flight from the USA without evidence of a return flight booking. Theoretically Spanish authorities could also bar Brits like myself from entering the country without booked onward or return travel but I have not heard of that actually being enforced.

This is a completely separate issue, but an important one. Perhaps that discussion can continue on this other thread about requirements for entry into Europe.

Let's keep this thread on the logistics of ticket purchase.

 

[C clearly]

Please elaborate on your experience, Trecile, and C Clearly.

You can see for yourself. Don't just look at the cost of a one-way ticket from home to Spain, a couple of months in advance. To simulate the experience that you are proposing (buying the ticket home only after you know what date you really want to travel), you need to go online, and see what a one-way ticket will cost for the flight home in, say 1 week from today. Then add in the factor that your last-minute return will actually be at a higher price because by that point, you will be into a higher fare season.

 

[trecile]

- I can fly out of Tucson or Phoenix or LAX (with a separate ticket to LAX). LAX with that separate ticket to LAX used to always be cheapest for me.

"Connecting" with separate tickets can be very risky. If you miss the second flight due to flight delays or reactor either flight you will have to buy a new ticket at last minute prices, since it's not a "protected" connection. If I were to do this I would want to have many hours, or preferably overnight between flights.

 

[robert hailwood]

I have had a few health and work problems this past week and am now planning and rushing to get ready for a Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port start on May 8th and have given myself 35 days to get to Santiago though I do not want to put myself under any pressure at all on this pilgrimage.
I am flying from London to Biarritz and will book the flight in the next couple of days.
I was thinking of getting a return but do not want to put myself under pressure of making sure I am ready to return on my flight date.

Is just getting a single flight out there the best idea and just book a flight home from Spain when I am ready to come back?

Depending on how deeply yourcamino experience is, I would recommend that you leave and see. In my experience deep things require space time and not sharing immediately on your return. What you experience may be deep and precious and rushing back into the daily grind is probably damaging to the potential that you have just opened up. I to

 

[Former member 92300]

"Connecting" with separate tickets can be very risky. If you miss the second flight due to flight delays or reactor either flight you will have to buy a new ticket at last minute prices, since it's not a "protected" connection. If I were to do this I would want to have many hours, or preferably overnight between flights.

That is true. I give myself plenty of connection time for all flights, but most especially those which are booked on separate tickets. Sometimes the cost savings is so great that it is the way to go.

 

[Vacajoe]

Let’s be clear: the OP was in the UK asking about THEIR ability to find a cheap flight home without pre-booking. While all the comments about flying to/from North America are valid, it is NOT what the OP asked about! I know posts take threads away from the original intent, but THIS thread was about buying one way tickets from Spain to the UK with only a few days notice. To those American and Canadian posters who argue that some posts are incorrect about the availability of cheap flights, I want to point out that this is true for YOU but not for the OP who asked.

But let me add one more thing: I can fly from Barcelona to San Francisco five days from now for $350usd (TAP Airlines). It’s even cheaper to the East Coast of the USA. Don’t convince yourselves that flights have to cost thousands of dollars and be booked months in advance. That’s just not true anymore.

 

[Palousewalking]

Totally! I don't book my returns any more (also am from the UK)

I was walking in march 2020 and obvs had to buy a second return ticket home as fast as possible! I wanted to return in 2022 to 'finish' that camino

I booked to go in late march but it was -6 and loads of snow so I decided to delay and rebooked for April

In April I got covid again so I had to delay and rebooked for may

In May I got shingles

I finally left in June.

I decided to return via ferry, it was ace I booked it when I felt my Camino was finished about 4/5 days before I left

Absolutely loved the freedom of it

I like the idea of ferry back to England. Which port is convenient by bus from Santiago?

 

[Bradypus]

I like the idea of ferry back to England. Which port is convenient by bus from Santiago?

The ferries to the UK go from Bilbao and Santander. Both of them accessible by ALSA bus from Santiago. If you have more time available you could also consider the slower but more interesting FEVE train from A Coruna.

 

[Mycroft]

My last Camino, I had a return flight booked for the first time. Worst mistake I have made so far.

I ended up finishing the Camino in record time, but physically and mentally was exhausted after reaching Muxia and Finisterre.

Was sitting for 5 days near the ocean doing nothing while waiting for my return flight. Missed an important birthday party.

My suggestion stands that around 7 days before you estimate to reach Santiago, you buy flights tickets back home. Its especially easy finding flights to London as is your case.

I have flown back from Santiago, Porto and Madrid. It was a long overnight bus ride to reach Madrid and then straight to the airport, but ticket prices were good. Getting to Porto is very smooth and simple. You will need to ve flexible about which airport you fly out of, but there will be cheap options

Which airlines do you find the best prices (Spain to UK) in your opinion?

 

[Madis]

Which airlines do you find the best prices (Spain to UK) in your opinion?

Im just using Skyscanner.com website. Actually last time the actual flight ticket came through Booking.com.

I essentially pick All Spain or Porto as departure airport and then pick my home destination airport. I usually find a good offer with max +2 days after I have finished hiking.

I do still book my ticket around 7 days beforehand, because I live on the other side of Europe and there are no direct flights to take. I could book just 3 days ahead if I had direct flight options from Spain.

 

[dougfitz]

"Connecting" with separate tickets can be very risky. If you miss the second flight due to flight delays or reactor either flight you will have to buy a new ticket at last minute prices, since it's not a "protected" connection. If I were to do this I would want to have many hours, or preferably overnight between flights.

I would also check with my travel insurer what the minimum time is between such connection flights before they will cover a flight delay on the first flight. I have been caught out leaving too few, at some great personal expense.