Knowledge Hub · Glossary
Open Jaw
An open jaw is an award itinerary where you fly into one city and out of a different one, leaving a gap you cover by other means. The trip is still treated as a round trip by the program, just with mismatched endpoints. It is a way to see two destinations without backtracking to where you started.
What it means in practice
Open jaws come in a couple of forms: arriving in one city and departing from another, or returning to a different home airport than you left from. Programs that allow them treat the gap as ground transport you arrange yourself, by train, car, or a separate flight. The benefit is more efficient routing on a single award.
Example
You fly from New York into Paris, travel overland to Rome on your own, then fly home from Rome. That is one open jaw award, and it saves you from flying back to Paris just to catch your return flight.
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