Mileage Run Deals - run from CLE to MCI and back

I'm traveling a lot between CLE-CID and CLE-MCI to go home (CID) or visit family (MCI) every weekend. I started booking my travel for 3/16 - 3/18 and found that I could get the normal CLE-MSP-MCI-MSP-CLE for $230 on NWA (2244 miles) or CLE-IHA-MCI-MEM-DTW-CLE for $296 (3344 miles). Since I'm on NWA, the segments don't mean squat, but I'm 1100 flight miles closer to the next Elite level

Theres many better mileage runs from CLE. A good example is the BNA fares - for a sameday return, the farthest connection point is MCI. The flight times allow CLE-DTW-MCI-MEM-BNA-MEM-MCI-DTW-CLE all in 1 day, including 3:25 in STL to go see the arch!

Originally posted by TimCLE:
Theres many better mileage runs from CLE. A good example is the BNA fares - for a sameday return, the farthest connection point is MCI. The flight times allow CLE-DTW-MCI-MEM-BNA-MEM-MCI-DTW-CLE all in 1 day, including 3:25 in STL to go see the arch!

Is there some technique for finding and booking these runs? When I look for CLE-BNA on nwa.com, the longest run I find is CLE-DTW-MEM-BNA. How do I slip MCI in there?

You should look at the fare listings available on various sites including Expedia. While they can be hard to interpret, you can see tha valid routings for a particular fare. For example, the $112 NW CLE-BNA fare has the following valid routings (formatting may go wacky here):

ROUTING 206 FROM-TO
CLE-NW-
DTT-NW-
BHM/CHI/EVV/IND/LEX/MKC/MKE/SDF/STL/TYS-NW-
MEM/HOU-NW-
BNA*

FROM-TO CLE-NW-HOU/MEM-NW-
TYS/STL/SDF/MKE/MKC/LEX/IND/EVV/CHI/BHM-NW-
DTT-NW-
BNA*

"MKC" is MCI so under this fare (which does require an overnight stay) a routing of CLE-DTW-MCI-MEM-BNA-MEM-MCI-DTW-CLE is legal assuming the flight times work. You could also replace MCI with any of the other listed airports (STL, IND, etc).

I'm sorry for taking so long to get back. I would of posted the list of connections but I never got back here. I have a ticket booked for April, I stayed sane and made it 7 segs, but here is a routing that works for 8 segs:
CLE-DTW-MCI-MEM-BNA-MEM-ORD-DTW-CLE. You can avoid the last DTW-CLE (Saab) by eliminating ORD and doing MEM-DTW-CLE instead.

If you're willing to leave very early in the morning, 5:05 am, there is a great routing through St. Louis. It gives you a 3:15 layover (about 3:35 since the NW flight arrives almost always 20 minutes early). With that time, you can take the MetroLink Light Rail ($4) all the way down to the Gateway Arch and back in time for your flight.

There is also a routing that will work if all you want to fly on is Mesaba or E1. That is:
CLE-DTW-EVV-MEM-BNA-MEM-TYS-DTW-CLE.

That routing includes 6 Saab 340's and 2 Avros (MEM-BNA-MEM).

CO is a partner with NW and has non-stop flights


Ooop, wrong forum for this info! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

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He who dies with the most miles ... is dead.

[This message has been edited by ontheroad (edited 03-05-2001).]

happymob -
Let me see if I've got this straight. First step is find a fare you like...point "a" to point "b". Maybe Dream Maps....then go find that fare on expedia or travelocity...select maybe a direct routing and then look at the fare rules for the legal routings. Decipher those and come up with a valid routing for that same low fare.

Then what? Now you have to call someone to book this fare? Can't do it online anyway I can see....

thanks,
Jeff

Edited 'cause I'm a dummy and pressed <ENTER> too soon.

[This message has been edited by EstimatingProphet (edited 03-05-2001).]

EstimatingProphet,

That's pretty much my process. The trick is getting the flight booked. A travel agent might be able to help you with this. Usually with creative city pairs, you can book the flight online. For example, if we look at TimCLE's CLE-DTW-MCI-MEM-BNA-MEM-ORD-DTW-CLE routing, you could book this on NWA.com or Travelocity.com by using the multiple stop option and using the following entries:

CLE-MCI
MCI-BNA
BNA-ORD
ORD-CLE

On nwa.com this would be all you needed to do. On Travelocity you would have to restrict the airline to NW only. It will then come up with the cheapest routing for those cities and dates that you enter. The intermediate hubs will be added in automatically. Other valid routings (through different hub cities) might also come up.

It's then easy to play with alternate intermediate non-hub cities (ORD vs. MKE vs. MCI vs. IND, etc) to find the best price and time.

Ok, happymob,

There must be something I'm missing. I'm moving to Miami Lakes in two weeks. That equidistant FLL-MIA (16 mi.). CO has a fare of $198 for FLL-SEA. but really, to do it over a weekend, it's $238.

So I pick the W/E of 28th Apr/29th Apr. All kinds of seats available (or so ITN tells me. Here's the fare rules (I'm numbering the lines for explanation purposes):

PFCS MAY VARY BY RTG
1:ROUTING 25 FROM FLL-CO-TPA-
2:OR FROM FLL-CO-ORL/MIA-
3:VIA CO-EWR/DTT/CLE-CO-MSP-
4:OR VIA CO-EWR/CLE-CO-DTT-
5:OR VIA CO-EWR-CO-CLE-
6:OR VIA CO-HOU-CO-MEM-CO-HOU-
7:TO CO-PHX/LAS-CO-SEA*
8:OR TO CO-PDX-CO-SEA*

Now what I thought I might could do is FLL-EWR-DTW-MSP-SEA-HOU-EWR-FLL, but I'll be darned if I can get anything like that $238 fare to come up on CO, Travelocity, Expedia or ITN. It LOOKS like the times are ok. What am I doing wrong?

thanks,
Jeff

edited for using HTML...which I know instead of UBB ...which I don't :-(
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The bus came by and I got on, that's where it all began.

[This message has been edited by EstimatingProphet (edited 03-06-2001).]

Hey,

I just checked Travelocity's Dream Map. When I try, it says that fare is not available on the days you are trying to get... no seats available.

That could be your problem.

William

A few quick points.

First, your suggested routing isn't allowed (FLL-EWR-DTW-MSP-SEA-HOU-EWR-FLL). Specifically, the EWR-DTW-MSP section doesn't look legal and the HOU-EWR section doesn't look legal. You can potentially do FLL-TPA-EWR-MSP-SEA or FLL-TPA-DTW-MSP-SEA though (and the reverse coming home). Of course you'd be flying a lot of NW metal on CO codeshares.

Second, if the seats aren't available, the routing becomes irrelevant. The weekend of 4/28 looks bad for this fare though the weekend of 5/5 looks better. In fact with a little effort I came up with a FLL-EWR-MSP-SEA-MSP-DTW-TPA-FLL routing for $252. But 5 of those segments are on NW metal so you wouldn't get all the juicy CO mileage bonuses.