Sorry to ask such a simple question but I am new to some of the lingo and would appreciate some guidance...

I have to fly from yhz to yvr for a 6 day business trip in November (16-22). I have some time on both ends of the trip where I could try to maximize the flight segments in an attempt to take advantage of the current AC bonus miles for 8 or more segments ("take the long way home") or just to maximize the miles. Any suggestions on the best way to do that - or could someone point me in the right direction to research the things I have to consider? I'm also not sure what "eligible booking classes" I must book and how to find out when booking on line.

Sorry again for the rookie questions and thanks for any help you can provide...

Dave

'Eligible booking class' in this case simply mean classes that earn miles. So basically all revenue tickets (beside consolidator 'Z') will be eligible.

You can maximize flight segments by flying YHZ-YUL-YOW-YYZ-YVR-YYZ-YOW-YUL-YHZ and get 8 segments.

Not sure what fare you'll be on.

Here's one for $827.37 including taxes. (Seat sale L class)

Nov 16

AC 151: YHZ-YUL
11:25am - 12:03pm

AC 8747: YUL-YOW
1:00pm - 1:42pm

AC 457: YOW-YYZ
3:00pm - 4:06pm

AC 115: YYZ-YVR
5:30pm - 7:30pm

Nov 21

AC 156: YVR-YYZ
10:45pm - 6:20am (arrive Nov 22)

Nov 22

AC 442: YYZ-YOW
8:10am - 9:10am

AC 8864: YOW-YUL
12:00pm - 12:45pm

AC 174: YUL-YHZ
1:20pm - 3:45pm

3568 Q miles on this fare and 15K bonus miles.

The same itinerary should work for all other fares (Q, V, H...)

THANKS for the help and suggestions.

Another "simple" question - What are the options for actually investigating and booking multiple segment trips (where did the options that have been given found)? Normally when you book a flight you are not given the many segment options. Can you do it online and if so what is the best option? Is a segment any flight between 2 locations - meaning that the segments in a flight between your departure city and your arrival city is actually the number of flights between each stop along the way?

Thanks again for your help - I really appreciate it!!!!!!!!!

Dave

A good way to start is to look at the fare rules, which will normally tell you where you can have free connections / stopovers. Then just use the multi-stops option on Expedia, Destina etc., and enter as many stops as needed. For instance, for a YOW-YYJ trip, I searched for YOW-YWG-YYC-YYJ instead to maximize the number of segments. This way I managed to get YOW-YYZ-YWG-YQR-YYC-YVR-YYJ for the same fare as YOW-YVR-YYJ (12 segments instead of 4). You will have to spend some time playing with all the options, but it shouldn't be too difficult if you keep the fare rules in mind.

[This message has been edited by Szut (edited 09-08-2002).]

There are some routes/fares that restrict the number of transfers. I can only recall seeing it on Internationals though.