Recently, Ive been looking for flights on the new usairways.com to west coast cities such as LAX,PHX and even LAS. The website only shows flights through on former HP flights, either nonstop or via PHX and or LAS. Ive tried the multi-city option but that prices segment by segment which makes the total price outrageously expensive. I prefer to connect in PHL,PIT or CLT, earn extra miles, better UPG chances, and I have F/A friends who I would like to see when I fly, since they only work US aircraft, not the HP ones. How can I book these flights to connect via the US East hubs via usairways.com? How is this possible at all?

Book them as 1 way from ORD. ORD - CLT 1 way, CLT - LAX 1 way. Etc.

The website is going to display what's approriate for you out of ORD taking west instead of backtracking east.

You may not be able to. Most travel sites (US included) don't include the routing rules for the fare basis. I think either expedia or travelocity does.

What US may be doing is following the lead of AA, which prevents illogical routings in the fare rules. For a while I would do my PHL-MIA turns as PHL-MIA-DFW-PHL to meet my brother for dinner, and this was fine. This past "high season" the routing rules prohibited that.

It's very likely US is seeing the back tracking from ORD as something they want to avoid now that they can "force" you onto HP metal. For the company, it makes sense - they dont want to fly you the extra 1200 or so miles ORD-PHL-LAX would require when there are plenty of other options available.

McPHLFly......I think the airlines got wise to us smarter customers who figured out how to maximize our benefits. I used to purposely make connections even when I didn't have to (only when I had the extra travel day).

Plus they probably don't like us doing mileage runs either. I thought I read on an airline's website (not sure if it was US, NW or AA) that they would not credit miles to your account if it looked like you were doing a mileage run in the same day.

I'm putting that to a test this Thursday with a PIT-PHL segment run. I'll see how they add those miles/segments to my account in the coming weeks.

BUT and this is a BIG BUT......for me the airfares to certain cities out of PIT have still been extremely high. I can't get to BOS on a direct flight (when I need to travel) for less than $1000.00. BUT, if I connect via PHL or DCA or LGA it drops the airfares to around $500.00, which my company is willing to pay.

Delta has been notorious for its "Revenue Protection Unit" yanking extra segs and miles from frequent flyers. I haven't seen or heard of anything of the sort happening to HP or US travelers - my mileage runs, including a day spent on the same aircraft from San Francisco to Fort Lauderdale and back, have all posted just fine.

Checking Orbitz through MKE and IND I found a couple of itineraries through CLT, PHL and PIT. But through ORD there is nothing but PHX and LAS. If you can get to MKE or feel like doing (and paying for) another leg to IND, you may find something.