Tickets for travel on commercial airlines are sold as one-way or round-trip airfare, depending on which type meets a passenger's individual need.
A one-way airfare begins at one departure airport and ends at one destination airport. Passengers choose one-way airfare if they do not intend to return, if they will be leaving from or returning to a different airport than the point of origin, or if they want to fly a different airline for separate legs of their trip.
A round-trip airfare begins at a specific departure airport, then arrives at a destination airport. The second leg of a round-trip airfare departs the destination airport and arrives back at the initial departure airport. Round-trip airfare is typically for air travel on the same airline or a code-share partner airline.
Some frequent flyer mileage award plans allow travelers to redeem fewer earned points for one-way tickets for travel on their own airline. However, redeeming mileage award points for partner carriers via an inter-airline agreement may require redeeming enough points for a round-trip ticket.
The cost of a round-trip airfare may be less than the total of two one-way fares.
R/T refers to round trip. O/W refers to one way.
