Beavertails

I'm almost considering looking for a flight starting in YOW in the 12-15 segment each way flight for that price and doing it twice (SE on one weekend) just for the travel report back to the forum.

Beavertails

Of course, I'd have to convince my wife to let me first.

And, if you can find such an itinerary, I'd even consider recording the call and posting it online.

YQMer

Have been working on it now for 45 minutes (because I have no life), but the connections are impossible... I keep getting stumped. Also, even for 8 segments, say from YYC-EWR as in the example below, you're already into 2 full days so a weekend run for 12 - 15 segments would be even more difficult if not impossible.

DaveTO

You also have to find space availability on all segments in the cheapo fare class. That usually trips people up trying to find segment runs.

You might want to connect with BryanIAH - he is great at finding crazy routings to take advantage of relaxed fare rules.

Beavertails

I think it's awesome that you even made the attempt. Still, it has a certain appeal.

"My One Week Long One Way Flight From Ottawa to Washington"

YQMer

I was able to find space on a cheapo flights (K fare) from YOW-LAS on 19 Oct 12. Fare rules are as follows:

V FARE BASIS BK FARE TRAVEL-TICKET AP MINMAX RTG
1 K10QTP K X 111.00 R31OC T12SE 10/1 -/ - 254
PASSENGER TYPE-ADT AUTO PRICE-YES
FROM-YOW TO-LAS CXR-AC TVL-19OCT12 RULE-TPFR CPR/13
FARE BASIS-K10QTP SPECIAL FARE DIS-N VENDOR-ATP
FARE TYPE-SIP OW-INSTANT PURCHASE
CAD 109.00 0254 E10SEP12 D31OCT12 FC-K10QTP FN-3N
SYSTEM DATES - CREATED 10SEP12/1533 EXPIRES INFINITY

PUBLISHED RTG YOW-LAS/AC254 /TAR-CRG1 EF-10SEP12 DIS-INDEF

1. YOW-YMQ-CHI-DEN-LAS
2. YOW-YTO-CHI-DEN-LAS
3. YOW-YMQ-YQT-YWG-YXE-YQR-YYC-YEA-YVR-DEN-LAS
4. YOW-YTO-YQT-YWG-YXE-YQR-YYC-YEA-YVR-DEN-LAS
5. YOW-YMQ-YQT-YWG-YQR-YXE-YYC-YEA-YVR-DEN-LAS
6. YOW-YTO-YQT-YWG-YQR-YXE-YYC-YEA-YVR-DEN-LAS
7. YOW-YMQ-YQT-YWG-YXU-YYC-YEA-YVR-DEN-LAS
8. YOW-YTO-YQT-YWG-YXU-YYC-YEA-YVR-DEN-LAS
9. YOW-YMQ-YQT-YWG-YXE-YQR-YEA-YYC-YVR-DEN-LAS
10. YOW-YTO-YQT-YWG-YXE-YQR-YEA-YYC-YVR-DEN-LAS
11. YOW-YMQ-YQT-YWG-YQR-YXE-YEA-YYC-YVR-DEN-LAS
12. YOW-YTO-YQT-YWG-YQR-YXE-YEA-YYC-YVR-DEN-LAS
13. YOW-YMQ-YQT-YWG-YXU-YEA-YYC-YVR-DEN-LAS
14. YOW-YTO-YQT-YWG-YXU-YEA-YYC-YVR-DEN-LAS

Space available on the following:

AC 467 YOW > YYZ 321 K9 10/19/12 8:00 PM 10/19/12 9:00 PM
AC 8547 YYZ > YQT CRJ K7 10/19/12 11:30 PM 10/20/12 1:14 AM
AC 8331 YQT > YWG CRJ K9 10/19/12 5:20 AM 10/19/12 5:38 AM
AC 8509 YWG > YEG CRJ K8 10/20/12 6:40 AM 10/20/12 7:44 AM
AC 8141 YEG > YYC DH3 K7 10/20/12 11:00 AM 10/20/12 11:52 AM
AC (UA) 4104 YYC > DEN CR7 K4 10/20/12 2:18 PM 10/20/12 4:46 PM
AC (UA) 5084 DEN > LAS 738 K4 10/20/12 5:44 PM 10/20/12 6:42 PM

$196.63 a/i or $28.09 / segment

This takes a bunch of time... and the "overnight" in YQT... brutal...

WhiteYUL

Unfortunately, ITA will only get you the fare rules, but not the routing rules which is where the gold can be found.



I'm impressed that you'd try, and found something (anything!) that kinda works.

jlionw

Darn!!! I only booked YYC - YYZ - YUL - EWR, since I wanted to make sure to get the flight. Next time I will make sure to ask FT!

Question... who does the following work:
YYC-YEA-YVR-YEA-YYC-YXE-YQR-YWG-YQT-YOW-YTO-YMQ-EWR

How can one go back to Calgary ?!? Seems counter-intuitive....

jlisi984

You can't backtrack. The cities are "optional"...

jlionw

I figured, but why have YYC again, it's not like it's an option.

canadiancow

That's actually pretty cheap. A couple weekends here and there and you hit SE status easily. Under $2700 for 95 segments.

I may take up a new hobby in the new year

YEG USER

This is something I've wondered about for a long time. I've seen numerous fare routings out of YEG where YEG appears once (maybe even twice) in the middle of the routing. If someone could shed some light on why that would appear I'd be interested in knowing.

If it was legit, it would be great to do a segment run where I could do YEG-YVR-YYC-YEG (forced overnight)-YXE-YYZ, etc.

WildcatYXU

All these look great. But how to book them? That's the real question. At least for a newbie.

SensFan

You need to use the multi-city tool of whichever booking engine you are using once you have found a valid routing that is available on the matrix. I find Expedia tends to price things out more easily but then you are limited to specifying 5 segments as opposed to 6 on the AC website.

Then just start plugging things in. Since you might not be able to put in every connection that you want you will need to try bundling things in packages.

So say you found a valid itin on the matrix of this:
10. YOW-YTO-YQT-YWG-YXE-YQR-YEA-YYC-YVR-DEN-LAS

You would then need to bundle that into smaller groups. If there are no direct flights between two places that is an easy one to take out.

So you might end up pricing out a multi-city itin as follows:
1) YOW - YQT (connecting in YYZ)
2) YQT - YXE (connecting in YWG)
3) YXE - YEG (connecting in YQR)
4) YEG - YVR (connecting in YYC)
5) YVR - LAS (connecting in DEN)

This is fictional but someone did find something almost like this. An easy spot to notice where to break is when you switch countries. In this case, there is a connection to a flight at DEN. You would probably never need to waste one of your segments to force that connection, it will most likely just show up.

If the itin requires an overnight that is somewhere where you will probably have to force the connection. I think I might start planning some Vegas segment runs now...

jlionw

I find AC website hard since it is hard to choose the fare class, and if you choose a different fare class, they will count it as multiple flights. My easiest way was via a TA or calling AC.