What are hacker fares? Throwaway tickets. Airlines sometimes price one-way tickets higher because they are used by business travelers, who have more money to spend. You can buy a round-trip ticket for less and then just throw away the return.

A "Hacker Fare" is a term popularized by travel search engines like Kayak to describe a round-trip journey that is actually composed of two separate one-way tickets on different airlines. For example, instead of booking a traditional round-trip ticket with Delta, a Hacker Fare might have you fly "out" on United and "back" on American. By "hacking" the traditional booking system, travelers can often find significantly lower prices because one-way fares on competing airlines might be cheaper than a single carrier's round-trip offering. These fares are especially common on routes served by low-cost carriers like Spirit or JetBlue. While the savings can be substantial, there is a catch: because these are two independent contracts, if your first flight is delayed or cancelled, the second airline is under no obligation to rebook you or offer a refund. You are essentially acting as your own travel agent, managing two separate reservations and baggage policies simultaneously.