Transatlantic one-ways are usually cheaper from consolidators. Kelkoo travel (country-specific), BookingBuddy.co.uk, Cfares, and Momondo are good aggregators for Europe-originating flights. Each of these aggregate from many other booking sources, including some consolidators.

When do you need to travel from MAD to SFO?

Thanks Don,

I’m planning on early June, high season I suppose. I’ll have a look at those sites you mentioned.

Question: what exactly are cosolidators?

-Linda

A consolidator is a travel agency that has arranged high commission on certain fare classes. A typical transatlantic flight might have 5-6 different economy class booking codes, each with it’s own nuances of advance booking requirement, max stay, changeability, etc. A consolidator can book one of the lesser-used fare classes that the airline has arranged with them at a high commission. Part of this commission is passed on to the customer in the form of savings. Typical consolidators on transatlantic peak season might be 10, 15, or 20% less than the standard published airfares, but not always—it can pay to shop around. Many ticket sellers calling themselves “consolidator” are often just re-selling consolidator tickets from the original-source agency, with additional markup added, so even with consolidators, it can pay to shop around.

I see MAD-SFO one-way early June dates for $699 with Swiss.com. ($685 with consolidator OneTravel.com—not much savings in this case).

Otherwise, I see $525 for Dusseldorf-SFO on Air Berlin some dates early June. However, getting to DUS looks at least $141 and with 1 connection—probably not worth the small savings to risk a mis-connection on 2 separate tickets.

Funny thing is that MAD-SFO is only $87 more for a round trip currently (United, USair), if you were to, for example, return in a week. I also checked round trip with return dates 6 months from June and see seats currently available $804 (USAir). Are you sure you wouldn’t like to go back later this year? (… yes of course and then be stuck with the same one-way ticket dilemma! but in low-season, one-ways might be cheaper).