Alaska website's multicity award search logic
 

Can someone point to any posts or other info that explains what (for pure AS itineraries) currently can and can't be booked online using the AS website's multicity award search function?

"Just try it and if it doesn't work, call to book" doesn't answer the question. I'm looking for info on the website's restrictions and logic.

For example, why does it find and permit multicity online award bookings for SEA-JNU (stopover)-ANC but will error out on attempts to do the same using KTN, SIT, or WRG for the stopover in the Southeast? The errors occur despite award inventory being available on the routes/days in question.

I believe that its because enroute stopovers are allowed and we don't file those other cities as an option to route through when traveling SEA - ANC. The southeast stopover is an exception to the normal stopover rules so the web inhibited it.

I can check for sure when I get back next week.

Que? I called the Gold desk the other day and asked where I could stop over on a one-way ANC-SEA, coming back from a one-way cruise, and they said only JNU. We were interested in possibly SIT or PSG, since the cruise stops in JNU.

Is that possibly a difference between one way paid and one way awards? I had assumed the rules would be the same.

Of course, we were also thinking about two awards, ANC-ADQ and ADQ-ANC-xxx-SEA, if we could work out the timing with this:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment...,7813511.story

Sorry I should have been more clear. Calling it a stopover exception wasn't quite correct.

The exception allowed a "circle trip" instead of a round trip when someone wanted to stop in southeast AK between the rest of AK and the mainland, since Jnu is generally the only authorized stopover point.

The rules may have changed completely when we went to one way awrds or they may still be allowed only on RT awards. A call to the gold desk would tell you for sure. Or I can tell you next week.

Here's a use case for the Alaska website team:

An Army spouse on Ft Wainwright is trying to surprise his wife (who recently returned from a war zone) by arranging a visit from her parents, who live in Western WA.

His in-laws have an ANC->SEA cruise package already set. He just needs to get them from SEA to FAI and then to ANC. He'd like to do so using miles for award tickets. He has plenty of miles.

He goes to your website and attempts to book their trip involving these three cities (and in that order) by selecting "multi-city" and "Use miles" and proceeding.

Do you think your website team can come up with a better user experience than what you currently provide? (Since the answer is obviously yes, maybe a better question is when will you do so?)

At some point i believe you will be able to book multiple award types in a single reservation. But you cant even do that by calling right now.

You need a one way Sea to Fai. Then another one way intra - state award from Fai to Anc.

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Specifically it seems to have to do with fare rules as AS doesn't file SEA-ANC via FAI (so one can't fly a OW award with this routing) but one could do SEA-FAI with a stopover in ANC. At least I think that's the issue here.

Actually there are two different, but related, interesting issues here suitable for adding to a FAQ:
Along with the issue of why, when a user runs in to one of the limitations, can't the web team think of something more helpful to spew out than:

I agree... having run searches where I could confidently say that none of the four reasons were true yet I was still getting the error.

Plus, the error explanation doesn't explain that sometimes the award you want can be booked by calling in.

Resurrecting an old thread, but I could use some help booking a ticket to Europe next May (PDX-ZRH//MUC-PDX). Trying all sorts of multi-city tricks to get narrower search results with some success, but often many of the same errors listed above.

I was playing around with dates/routes I don't actually want hoping to learn a few tricks and I can't figure out why this one in particular doesn't work:

PDX-SEA-CDG on 5/1/17: If I search PDX-CDG hoping to get DL34 from SEA-CDG I get only two morning options to connect PDX-SEA, both on DL. None of the many AS shuttle flights that have lots of low-level award space show up. If I instead search multi-city PDX-SEA-CDG, it ignores the SEA-CDG flight altogether and sends me on long routes PDX-SEA-XXX-CDG and only with AS/AA combinations. Is there a way online to match up any of the dozen plus PDX-SEA shuttle flights with the desired DL flight?

I don't even want that flight, but it's symptomatic of the challenges I'm having and I'm hoping the solution to that will teach me how to find other flights I'm looking for.

sounds like you're running into "married segment" issues -- DL is notorious for this

lots of reports on the DL board that the workaround is to book the TATL initially, and then call in to add the domestic segment(s), but that of course reflects DL domestic segments

bump. With newly attractive mid- and short-haul miles redemptions, pehaps missydarlin might update us on the logic at play here, e.g. in post 10?