Now I am really seriously contemplating doing this. I wish I had thought of this earlier for the end of September for an Edmonton-Toronto-Ottawa trip. I want to know who among us has done anything vaguely like this.

With international tickets you can effectively do 24 hour stopovers (provided online transfers are permitted; 4 hour rule applies to domestic tickets, but 24 hours for international tickets) even though no stopovers are allowed. For an $800CAD ($550US), I can fly Calgary-Winnipeg 18:00-20:54 on Day 1, do business next day, fly Winnipeg to Toronto on Day 2 20:00-23:20 (provided it leaves less than 24 hour after arrival on Day 1), do business in Toronto next day, fly Toronto to Montreal 23:00-00:07 on Day 3 [3 online transfers are allowed each way on this fare], do business in Montreal all day on Day 4; fly Montreal to London 19:30-06:06 (arrive Day 5) spend the weekend in London (England) on Days 5, 6, 7 and 8, fly London-Toronto 21:05-23:05 on Day 8, do business in Toronto and return on 5:00 pm flight to Calgary. I could do more stopovers on the way back (e.g St. John's, Halifax, or revisit the same places as I did on the way to London) but would have to stay an extra night in London.

That way I get all the stopovers I want (who wants to spend more than a day anywhere for meetings anyway. For a fraction of what it would cost if I was paying full fare within Canada (where no stopovers are allowed so you would have to pay for cumulative segments) plus I get all those miles for travelling to Europe (and get to visit family in London).

This would work for just doing one business meeting each way but then you would have to spend more time in London (7 day minimum stay). There are similar fares to Caracas (3 day minimum stay), Mexico City (3 day minimum stay) some with unlimited stopover privileges (not just 24 hour or less transfer privileges.

Why are we paying such high domestic fares and not taking more advantage of some of these potential weekend getaways ! -- maybe some of you are--come on tell us.

Anything flawed in my thinking -- sometimes if it sounds to good to be true, it is.

[This message has been edited by BlondeBomber (edited 09-05-1999).]

PS. I know Rudi takes full advantage of this when in North America.

Am I to understand that this strategy is dependant upon the fact that a stopover of less than 24 hours is not a stopover, for the purposes of international flights?

Regards,

Ken Hamer

Ken,

Yes, I think you are right there, that is BB's strategy, and as she points out it can be used quite effectively.

Don't forget, some of those tickets will also allow stopovers, sometimes 1 free, sometimes 1 free each way, and sometimes unlimited (usually first class are pretty wide open on this one) and otehrs bar stopovers or charge a fee.

I am disappointed Blondbomber didn't include an extra city in the plan, say Manchester, so after doing business in canada, she takes day 5 to london, 23 hours later, grab a flight to manchester, for say 6 and 7, then fly back via london, again stopping in london for up to 23 hours if you wanted and the flight schedules allow, and then back to canada.

I have used this before.

To add extra time, consider adding a city right next door, so say you wanted to be in LA 2 days, fly into LA, 23 hours later fly to orange county, 23 hours later continue your trip, same thing for DTW - CLE, etc.... assuming you can get the short hop flight. Always worth a try...

Sometimes this just saves the stopover fee, sometimes it gets the stop when not allowed, and sometimes it gets blondbomber a free trip to london because the company happily buys the ticket since it is cheaper than theintra canadatrips she needs.

Now, just to get some extra flight bonuses added for the trip, you know, one of those fly business class on BA to london, double miles... etc etc.

Happy hopping.




[This message has been edited by tummyg (edited 09-06-1999).]

Yes, KenH it is dependent upon the fact that a stopover of less than 24 hours is not a stopover for the purposes of international flights. I am also looking at this as a discount fare to be upgraded. The savings are huge!

They would upgrade from origin to destination (no stopovers, just long layovers as permitted by the fare) so it means less upgrade stickers required than doing all as separate trips.

tummyg: BB is a he not a she, at least the last time I checked (no problem -- common mistake -- the net is very gender neutral unless one is explicit about it; have now changed my profile to reflect).

Tummyg points out that you could use a full fare or sometimes just a slightly higher fare discount ticket to get unlimited online transfers so you could do Victoria-Vancouver-Edmonton-Calgary-Regina-London-St. John's -Halifax-Montreal-Toronto-Winnipeg--(if you are a real travelling salesperson and need to visit lots of places).

Talk about the proverbial good deal for you and your company! They might even spring for your accommodation in London with the money you save in airfares. No back-to-back, no hidden city etc etc.

[This message has been edited by BlondeBomber (edited 09-06-1999).]

Blondbomber,

very sorry, for some reason I thought you were female. In fact one time someone called you "he" and I thought, boy that person is biased... oops. lol. Anyway, again sorry.

I would certainly hope your company could spring for the hotel, given the miles you are willing to go in order to save them money! lol, just hope your boss and/or travel department isn't also on this board... or they will know your plans!

You definately have a big advantage on upgrades, if using a oneway upgrade certificate, of course if you have distance based certs you are in trouble.

and you know, some of those OneWorld Round the world fares aren't much more than that trip to london... and might be cheaper than those segment fares within canada... stop by bangkok on day 7 and have a drink with tummyg?

Fortunately I am my own company and my own travel department so I just get to argue with myself--although sometimes the real boss (my wife and business partner) gives me a reality check.

Love to have a drink with you but BKK is not on the horizon. If you are ever out this way let me know.

BB - the idea is good and it definitely does work. However you must be careful and ensure that you do not exceed the maximum permitted miles rule. Which works out fine for you since you are pretty much going in a straight line across. But those of us who live closer to the coast can't go backwards to visit more cities since our MPM is much lower than yours.

But if it works its a great deal

Regarding the minimun stay: Usually it is not based on the time you spend in your destination city. Usually it counts from departure from origin to departure from the last stopover or turnaround point. So if you spend 3 days doing your 23-hour connections, you'd only need 4 days in London. Sometimes the minimum is based on departure from gateway, so read the rules.

Indogulf: thanks--could you explain more about the maximum permitted miles rule. I have never seen it as part of a fare basis but I presume this is a general rule?

I just tried booking this on Personal Ticket Office and on Expedia. No problem with the first 24 hour layover, but after that it bumped it into a discounted full fare ticket .

Anybody done more than one 24 hour layover on a discounted ticket? The next step is to try it with an AC agent and ask about rules.

Several years ago I decided to fly from SFO to a convention in DC by way of Berlin. The cheap (winter) Berlin fare didn't allow any stopovers, though, and 24 hours wouldn't have done it. So here's my solution:

I bought a round-trip to Berlin, with a plane change in DC on the return. My company bought a ticket SFO to DC & back, with the return at the end of the converence. Then I sold the company's outbound plus my ongoing coupon to a fellow at the gym.

That was back before they checked IDs on domestic flights, but it could still work, albeit illicitly. Make the 2nd outbound leave at a time you can accompany your friend to the airport and check in for him. And you'll be trading tickets at the stopover airport in any event, so that leg you've already checked in and he just takes your boarding pass and gets on board.

The fellow I sold these to (a stranger) was leery, since he'd be in DC without "his" return ticket...but then he realized I couldn't leave DC without hooking up with him, so figured he was OK! And it went off without a hitch. I even offered him an upgrade (at his expense, buying coupons) either direction.

johna
No flies on you! Care to become my personal travel consultant?