Should I ask him to pay for my plane ticket?

[Sacha]

Hello, I hope that you ladies will give me some good advice and thank you for reading this.

I’ve just entered a long-distance relationship. My boyfriend lives on the other side of the planet. Besides the horrible distance, everything else is great. He seems to be a sweet guy who cares about me. He just took some vacation time off from work, came over to see me and stayed with me for a couple weeks a short while ago. I planned to visit and stay with him at his place for a month this winter break, and was already going to buy the plane ticket a couple days ago. The thing is I realized that I would have less than $500 after paying all the bills and the ticket. I told him about this and he offered to help me half of the ticket. If he did this, if would save me another $500 and I would have about $1000 for my trip.

I wonder if I should ask him to pay for my entire ticket. I could manage with $1000 for my trip since I am going to stay with him and he said that he would take care of me, but it is also all I have right now. About our situations, I’m in my last year of college and working part-time; he is a couple years older than me and has a decent job. If I won’t go see him, I will be able to make about $2000 during this winter break and save it for my last semester in school.

Do you think it is too much to ask him to pay for my entire ticket since he just spent quite a lot after visiting me not too long ago? I’m sure he’s got a lot of other things to take care, too. At the same time, I just don’t want to put myself in a difficult financial situation, and I think I’ll already have made some sacrifice from not working to see him. What should I do? How should I talk to him without making it sound too off-putting?

 

[afulton]

I think paying for half is fair.

 

[tthelwell]

I wouldn't ask him to pay for the entire ticket price. I think it was so nice of him to offer to pay for half in addition to taking care of the expenses while you are staying with him. He also spent money coming to see you a short while ago. How would you feel if the situation was reversed? Would you pay for his ticket to come see you if you had a decent job and he was in school? And pay for the living expenses as well? I usually think of things in reverse to help me see if it's the best thing. Maybe he offered to pay half because that is all he can afford at the moment too.
My bf will pay the full cost for most big expenses for me unless he can't swing it at that moment. Then he offers to give me part of the cost instead.

IDK. I just wouldn't ask him to pay the full price if he already offered half. But then again if you think it's too much of a sacrifice then maybe don't go thru with it at all. All the best with this decision. I hope it works out.

 

[Cydonian]

I used to be in a long distance relationship, I was in the US and he was in England. I usually paid for the plane tickets because I had a better job, but I think that in most situations, splitting it half and half is really not a big deal. $1,000 should be plenty for you if you're staying with him instead of a hotel. I would do the half and half, enjoy your time together, and quit fretting about it . (Also, as a side note, if you haven't booked the ticket, try adjusting the dates ever so slightly as sometimes you can get a better fare. I became a master at plane flights from having to travel so much and at times, saved myself $500+)