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I'm trying to book three flights in a multiple-destination scheme like: A->B, B->C, C->A

I'm doing my search in websites like eDreams, Kayak, etc, and in all of them the following happens: the total cost of the three flights booked individually is half of the cost of the cheapest multi-destination offer that I get (which by the way doesn't give any option where all three flights are direct).

I could book them all individually, but my employer requires a single invoice to reimburse me. So my question is: is there a way to work around this strange phenomenon in booking websites? Or, alternatively, is there a way to bill several different flights on the same invoice?

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  • If it's your employer that pays, why do you care about the cost?
    – JonathanReez ♦
    Commented Aug 24, 2015 at 18:54
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    Ring up / visit a "bricks and mortar" travel agent, and get them to ticket it all and give you a single invoice? OTAs do have advantages, but flexibility and paying for several things together aren't amongst them!
    – Gagravarr
    Commented Aug 24, 2015 at 19:27
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    Also be aware that three flights booked separately are not equivalent to a single flight with flight changes on the way. If your A -> B flight is delayed, and you cannot take the B -> C flight, things will be different if you bought a A->C flight or two different flights.
    – audionuma
    Commented Aug 24, 2015 at 20:26
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    So your employer requires you to visit 3 cities, and requires you to pay on a single invoice? That seems pretty unlikely to me, considering it's quite common not to have a single airline that services any given 3 cities, making the request impossible to fulfill (without using a third-party booker, such as a travel agency).
    – Flimzy
    Commented Aug 24, 2015 at 22:09
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    @Flimzy most major airlines have full interline ticketing authority to issue flights on their partners and even competitors. For example later today I have the first flight of a twelve sector booking including BA, AA, QR, LA and JJ, all booked on a single BA ticket from the BA gold line.
    – Calchas
    Commented Aug 25, 2015 at 8:26

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I am afraid this is normal, particularly if A, B and C are all in different countries. Essentially by doing a multiple destination trip (called a "circle trip") you are seen as someone more able to pay lots of money than someone doing a simple round trip; ergo, the price is higher.

If the airline has ruled that the very cheapest fares cannot be combined on to one ticket, then the vendor cannot do anything about it. They must be sold separately. It has to do with the fare construction and ticket rules.

Now it is very possible that the online travel agents are not finding the lowest possible price available for the itinerary on one ticket. You could have a play with http://matrix.itasoftware.com which is often a little better, but you would need to find a travel agent to book the flights as it is only a demonstration system.

In your shoes I would take quotes of the single ticket and the combined multiple tickets to your boss and ask which he would prefer that you buy.

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