Anyone have any suggestions for a mileage run from PHX? I dont care where I go as long as its lots of segments and or miles!:)

I prefer doing it all as a one very long day trip if possible. I have played around with fare compare but havent been able to put something together other than a trip to Syracuse for $325 but it would only give me 20 minutes between flights for the turn around back home. Not sure if thats doable?

Any help or points in the right direction are helpful. My overall goal is 22 segments in the next 3 months.

Thanks in advance

Chas

and not expect you to do all the work for me. I really want to learn how to fish for myself. (i read all the stickies)

I found this on fare compare and it seems like a good deal. 200 bucks 6 segments.

$207Apr 24 8:56p
Apr 25 3:35pApr 25 10:49a
Apr 25 10:08p2 stops (10h 53m)
1 stop (9h 33m)Flight Details
Leave

Apr 24 US Airways 49Depart:8:56pPhoenix, AZ (PHX)
Arrive:9:59pLas Vegas, NV (LAS)
Coach | 1h 3m | Airbus Industrie A319

Change planes. Time between flights 1h 58m
Apr 24 US Airways 49Depart:11:57pLas Vegas, NV (LAS)
Arrive:7:27aWashington-All Airports, DC (DCA)
Coach | 4h 30m | Airbus Industrie A319

Change planes. Time between flights 1h 58m
Apr 25 US Airways 3956Depart:9:25aWashington-All Airports, DC (DCA)
Arrive:10:49aManchester, NH (MHT)
Coach | 1h 24m | Canadair Regional Jet

Total Duration 10h 53m

Return

Apr 25 US Airways 1595Depart:3:35pManchester, NH (MHT)
Arrive:5:04pPhiladelphia, PA (PHL)
Coach | 1h 29m | Embraer 190

Change planes. Time between flights 2h 56m
Apr 25 US Airways 1199Depart:8:00pPhiladelphia, PA (PHL)
Arrive:10:08pPhoenix, AZ (PHX)
Coach | 5h 8m | Airbus Industrie A321

Total Duration 9h 33m

But then when I went on the US Airways website I cant find the above and they want 700 dollars for the flight. What am I doing wrong? Or can I just book it using Orbitz (farecompares link) Drawbacks?

Thank You

As a fellow PHX FTer, I want to welcome you to the board!

Within the west, about the best you could expect to do is something like 6 segs for maybe $100ish total, something along the lines of a LAX-TUS Southwest match routed LAX-LAS-PHX-TUS and back. Coming from PHX, your segment options are kind of limited to 4, via LAS to somewhere.

If you're serious about knocking out a lot of US segs in one weekend, I suggest you focus on the east: something like a PHX-->east, then a couple east coast only itineraries (say, something like a BWI-RDU Southwest match routed BWI-PHL-DCA-CLT-RDU) would probably give optimal segs per $$ spent--- I would imagine BWI-RDU to dip to $100ish round trip.

The most segments you can expect on any US one way itinerary is 4, so your target of 22 will require a few different tickets. Yet, if you play things right, a 3 seg trip from PHX to the east (PHX-LAS-east hub-east spoke), 2 8-seg east coast itineraries, and your 3 seg east--PHX return would hit your target. I'll leave the tinkering with schedules up to you, to see how many day turns you can fit in.

Good luck!

A note on timing after rereading your original post, you can likely do the above scenario over a 3 day weekend, leaving the west on a redeye on Day 0. Budgetwise, call it about $200+ for the PHX--east plus $100ish for each of the intra-east round trips- but you will have to be patient until the fares dip some. Or, you may opt to do the TUS hops: I'm thinking PHX-LAS-xxx-LAS-PHX-TUS in an easy day, overnight TUS, and return to yield 5 segs in a day for about $100 each of those days--- a little more than 2 weekends worth and $400 will put you at your target.

Thank You for the insight. I had never considered the idea of instead of wasting a day away in a hotel room taking more eastern flights instead. What a great idea. Ill start working on that.

Best Regards

Chas

A couple of points (from someone who has suffered through many USAir bookings!):

1. The itinerary you have looks like 5 segments (PHX-LAS, LAS-DCA, DCA-MHT, MHT-PHL, PHL-PHX), but in fact you may only get 4 segments credit for it. That's because the flight from PHX-LAS and LAS-DCA look like they have the same flight number (49). Usually, that means that US considers it a "direct" flight from PHX to DCA (even though you go to Vegas first!), and you only get 1 segment for those two flights. To make matters worse, you only get the straight line mileage for the PHX-DCA flight, rather than the extra mileage for going to Vegas.

2. The USAir website is horrible for booking any ticket more complicated than a single-connection roundtrip. What I usually do is find the routing on another website, try to book it on the USAir website, and then, when that inevitably fails, call the internet help desk and have them book it. It helps if you have the exact flights, booking codes, and prices that you got from the other website so you can tell the agent how to put the trip together. Oh, and they usually won't charge a booking fee if you can show that it's unbookable on the US website.

Good luck!

and not expect you to do all the work for me. I really want to learn how to fish for myself. (i read all the stickies)

I found this on fare compare and it seems like a good deal. 200 bucks 6 segments.

$207Apr 24 8:56p
Apr 25 3:35pApr 25 10:49a
Apr 25 10:08p2 stops (10h 53m)
1 stop (9h 33m)Flight Details
Leave

Apr 24 US Airways 49Depart:8:56pPhoenix, AZ (PHX)
Arrive:9:59pLas Vegas, NV (LAS)
Coach | 1h 3m | Airbus Industrie A319

Change planes. Time between flights 1h 58m
Apr 24 US Airways 49Depart:11:57pLas Vegas, NV (LAS)
Arrive:7:27aWashington-All Airports, DC (DCA)
Coach | 4h 30m | Airbus Industrie A319

Change planes. Time between flights 1h 58m
Apr 25 US Airways 3956Depart:9:25aWashington-All Airports, DC (DCA)
Arrive:10:49aManchester, NH (MHT)
Coach | 1h 24m | Canadair Regional Jet

Total Duration 10h 53m

Return

Apr 25 US Airways 1595Depart:3:35pManchester, NH (MHT)
Arrive:5:04pPhiladelphia, PA (PHL)
Coach | 1h 29m | Embraer 190

Change planes. Time between flights 2h 56m
Apr 25 US Airways 1199Depart:8:00pPhiladelphia, PA (PHL)
Arrive:10:08pPhoenix, AZ (PHX)
Coach | 5h 8m | Airbus Industrie A321

Total Duration 9h 33m

But then when I went on the US Airways website I cant find the above and they want 700 dollars for the flight. What am I doing wrong? Or can I just book it using Orbitz (farecompares link) Drawbacks?

Thank You

If you're serious about knocking out a lot of US segs in one weekend, I suggest you focus on the east: something like a PHX-->east, then a couple east coast only itineraries (say, something like a BWI-RDU Southwest match routed BWI-PHL-DCA-CLT-RDU) would probably give optimal segs per $$ spent--- I would imagine BWI-RDU to dip to $100ish round trip.


I'm also new here. What is a "Southwest match" and how does one get it?

I live near PHL, so spending a weekend bouncing around BWI-PHL-DCA-CLT-RDU routes doesn't seem so bad (including being willing to drive to BWI to start the process, if that's required).

Any other suggestions for a newbie (other than reading the stickies -- already taken care of that)? I think I'm the East Coast version of cptango.

-B

I'm also new here. What is a "Southwest match" and how does one get it?

Any other suggestions for a newbie (other than reading the stickies -- already taken care of that)? I think I'm the East Coast version of cptango.

-B


Southwest match = wait for Southwest to have a sale. US will inevitably match the Southwest fare.

From PHL, if you're looking for segments, I'd suggest focusing on PHL originating fares to save the drive to BWI..... there are quite a few to be had. Further, even if looking at a 6 segment day from PHL vvs. an 8 segment day from BWI, the savings in gas, parking, and hotel )vs. sleeping at home) may outweigh the benefit of the extra segment. At 6 segs for $100 vs. 8 segs for $100, you're talking a net cost of $25-$33 per round trip flight to get to/from BWI, and I can assure you the gas, time and effort won't be worth it.

8 seg trips from PHL are possible but may require a little more tweaking.

PHLDividends, excellent catch on US 49. cptango owes you a beer for that one. ;)