Why do flight booking sites sometimes split a ticket to Istanbul into two separate one-way tickets, and how to pay with a foreign card?

If you spot a cheap fare on an aggregator, try going directly to the operating airline's website — the price there can sometimes be even lower.

A lower price combined with a delayed booking confirmation usually means the ticket was issued through a tour operator rather than directly by the airline — Aviasales typically flags this at checkout.

Even when a route is issued as two separate tickets from different airlines, the carriers may have a partnership agreement and effectively sell it as one itinerary: baggage gets checked through to the final destination, and at the connecting airport both boarding passes for both legs are issued together.

A service fee applies when buying a ticket at an airline office or at the airport. Price also depends on how many days before departure you book — availability of cheap fares changes dynamically.

Ready-made one-way tickets aren't always available, but you can pay for the flight with a foreign bank card or a specialized travel card. It costs more, but works if you only need a single trip.

Airlines sometimes issue a single trip as two separate tickets: aggregators display the lowest price, and if one segment is cheaper as a standalone fare than as part of a combined ticket, they split it into two to lower the total cost.