Is there such a thing as open return flights?

My g/f just received her tourist visa for Ireland,

She needs a return flight to comply with the conditions of her visa

We are not sure if she can stay 30,60,90 days Flights are expensive this time of the year.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

Pat

So you have to look for a ticket that is valid for 3 months and where there is no (or low) fee for changing the return date.

Any airline should have them.

there are different types of ticket classes, each airline has available. full flex tickets costs you nothing when changed but are expensive. heavily discounted tickets impose a big changing fee. also the discounted fares have more rules, like not more than 30 day stay, or not valid after a certain date. dont forget to check these rules to and calculate the changing fee against a fully flexible ticket

i dont know where in ireland you are located, but china airlines and klm do code shares with aerlingus, so you can book with them a ticket flying into cork and not only dub.

Had an email from Etihad yesterday promoting a new code share service with Aer Lingus. Available for travel from 15 September.

On EVA Air website they have a box to check if you want an open return flight.

Had an email from Etihad yesterday promoting a new code share service with Aer Lingus. Available for travel from 15 September.

Yes - I'd recommend checking Etihad, Emirates & Turkish Airlines. - all 3 fly into Dublin.

Another one that sometimes has favourable rates is KLM (who share with Air France and also flys into Dublin).

For the last few years I've used Turkish as the break in Istanbul followed by approx 8hrs to Bangkok is better than a break in Heathrow followed by approx. 12hrs to Bangkok.

However their prices have climbed a bit recently & I'll probably use Etihad or Emirates next.

My experience is that the "open" ticket option that I used for a few years was the most expensive

I am looking for flights from Bkk to Dublin in August, Ethiad have flights for €1000 + but layover of 14 hours is not onn for my sweetie. I dont think Eva air fly into Ireland. but thanks anyway. Pat.

I am looking for flights from Bkk to Dublin in August, Ethiad have flights for €1000 + but layover of 14 hours is not onn for my sweetie. I dont think Eva air fly into Ireland. but thanks anyway. Pat.

China airways goes direct Amsterdam - BKK and are in the same team as KLM.

Yes there are Open Return Flights. On several trips I have bought an Open Return using EVA air. The price is usually not much different than locking up a scheduled return. However, it depends on what your final return arrangement schedule will be. The ticket usually has restrictions and notes that you may owe more than the base amount you paid, depending on the actual return flight. Some weekend returns cost more, etc. EVA basically charged me about $100 more than if I had firmly schedule the round trip. Then, as long as the final return I eventually booked was within their parameters, I did NOT owe any more.

I just wanted to add that I am a US citizen and I was booking my flights from the USA to Thailand. I suspect there may be a few more issues if a Thai wants to book a flight from Thailand to some other countries with an open ended return. Might depend a bit upon the destination country and its VIsa requirements.