---
title: "What is Open jaw? | Benefit Systems"
description: "An open jaw is a round trip on one ticket where the return airport differs from the outbound destination, with the gap covered some other way."
source: "aus dem gebauten HTML abgeleitet"
---
# What is Open jaw?

An open jaw is a round trip on one ticket where the return airport differs from the outbound destination, with the gap covered some other way.

Also called: Open-jaw itinerary.

## How it works #

The pattern lets a traveller arrive in one city and fly home from another without buying a second ticket. Award programmes treat open jaws differently: some price them like an ordinary round trip, others like two one-way journeys. The gap between the two airports is not part of the ticket and is arranged separately, by train, car or a separate flight.

## Not to be confused with #

An open jaw is not the same as two separately booked one-way tickets: in an open jaw both directions stay on a single ticket with unbroken airline responsibility.

## In German #

The German term is Open Jaw. [German version of this term](/de/glossar/open-jaw)

## Related terms #

- [Stopover](/en/glossary/stopover): A stopover is a planned break of journey on a single through ticket, longer than a normal connection, which effectively adds a second destination.
- [Round-the-world ticket](/en/glossary/round-the-world-ticket): A round-the-world ticket is a single ticket for a journey circling the globe in one direction, with several stopovers inside a fixed set of rules.
- [Positioning flight](/en/glossary/positioning-flight): A positioning flight is a separately booked flight to the airport where the real trip starts, often because that is where award space was found.

## Articles that use this term #

- [How do stopovers and open jaws work?](/en/knowledge/stopovers-open-jaws)
- [How does a round-the-world ticket work?](/en/knowledge/round-the-world-tickets)
- [How do you find award space an airline’s own site won’t show?](/en/knowledge/award-availability)
- [How does a distance-based award chart work?](/en/knowledge/distance-based-award-chart)
- [Why one-way awards cost half, when one-way cash fares often don’t](/en/knowledge/one-way-awards)