Open-Jaw
An open-jaw is an award itinerary that flies into one city and returns from a different one — for example, landing in Paris and flying home from Rome. Priced as a round-trip in many programs, it saves both points and the 3-6 hours of backtracking a closed loop would require.
Open-jaws mirror how people actually travel: land in one city, work your way across a region by train, fly home from the far end.
How it works. In programs that price awards as round-trips, an open-jaw books as one itinerary with two award halves: outbound US → Paris, return Rome → US. Programs that price one-ways independently (most US programs, Avios) make open-jaws trivial — just book two separate one-way awards, which also keeps change fees and cancellation simpler.
Example. US to Paris one-way in business via a transfer partner might run 60,000 points; Rome to the US another 60,000. Ground segment Paris → Rome by train or a $60 budget flight. Versus flying home from Paris, you see a second country for near-zero extra points and skip a repositioning day.
Combining tricks. Some programs allow an open-jaw plus a stopover on the same ticket, turning one award into a three-city trip.
Common mistakes: forcing both halves into one program when two different currencies would price cheaper, and ignoring one-way cash fares for the return — sometimes a $250 budget-airline ticket home beats burning 60,000 points.