Booking non-direct flights

[whitty]

In the status run threads people manage to add in extra stops, in some cases reducing the cost, with some very detailed plans. How do you select which flights you use to make up your ticket and get the cost other than using the airline search and having it just give you stopovers in the results?

Thanks.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

In the status run threads people manage to add in extra stops, in some cases reducing the cost, with some very detailed plans. How do you select which flights you use to make up your ticket and get the cost other than using the airline search and having it just give you stopovers in the results?

Thanks.

Are you taling about American Airlines? That's somewhat easy, but does require some manual input. If you search LAX-LGA for example, AA will readily return flights via DFW.

Using that connecting point, go to the multi city tool and enter in LAX-DFW and then DFW-LGA as two separate legs. The results will usually show multiple connections for each of your legs... so the LAX-DFW might come back with a LAX-SFO-DFW connection. And similarly with the DFW-LGA (might route via ORD).

That way you now have 4 segments instead of two. Often for the same price.

I'll leave the other airlines up to folks who are more knowledgeable on those.

 

[madrooster]

That way you now have 4 segments instead of two. Often for the same price.

I'll leave the other airlines up to folks who are more knowledgeable on those.

That's recently changed now as AA has been introducing the use of MSC more and more. Availability may be more favoured as a through-connection rather than two one ways. Searching as a multi city will give you two one ways as far as availability goes.

 

[harvyk]

A combination of multi-city tools with trial and error. At least with the QF website it'll give you it's suggestions (which are not always the cheapest, they tend to default to quickest or direct), but it will then allow you to select each sector and look at alternatives. You can find some gold in there where by putting in a stop over can save hundreds.
Playing around with days either side can also score you some wins because not every flight is run every day.