Q. I was fortunate enough to get a low fare one-way from Prague to Hong Kong. I am now searching for a return fare, probably from Beijing to Toronto and it appears that it is cheaper to buy a return fare from Toronto than it is a one-way from China. Even one-way fares from Toronto to Beijing are half the cost of a one-way from Beijing to Toronto. Do you have any advice on this?

A. You may find that it's cheaper to buy a round-trip fare from Beijing to Toronto and not use the return portion. Or it may work out better to fly from either Hong Kong or Beijing to some other North American city, either one-way or round-trip (scrapping the return, of  course) and finding a cheap ticket onward to Toronto.

If possible, you could also use miles towards your return flight home, which is what many people did for those crazy low Milan/Prague/Hong Kong/Tokyo one-way fares that sprung up a few months back.

Beijing image via Shutterstock