I have always wondered what these types of routings are, and how to maximize their effectivness to give me the most miles. I found a fare on nwa.com for a trip from WAS-FRA and these are a snippet of the fare rules. If you could advise on what all the various terminology is and what it means, that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance. My dates are flexible as well.

dave.

Combinability
DOUBLE OPEN JAWS NOT PERMITTED. ADD-ONS PERMITTED. END-ON-END END-ON-END COMBINATIONS PERMITTED. VALIDATE ADJACENT LINE OF FLIGHT FARE COMPONENTS ONLY. TRAVEL MUST BE VIA THE POINT OF COMBINATION. OPEN JAWS/ROUND TRIPS/CIRCLE TRIPS FARES MAY BE COMBINED ON A HALF ROUND TRIP BASIS -TO FORM SINGLE OPEN JAWS -TO FORM ROUND TRIPS/CIRCLE TRIPS. PROVIDED - COMBINATIONS ARE WITH ANY -SPCL TYPE FARES FOR CARRIER NW/KL IN RULE 1WEB IN TARIFF TAPVR - BETWEEN AREA 1-AREA 2/3 AND GUAM-AREA 2.

Return to top
Transfers
TRANSFERS: NO RESTRICTION

Return to top
Stopovers
NO STOPOVERS PERMITTED.

Really? I thought it was just A-B, C-D, like SFO-JFK; BOS-LAX.

That last one should be C-A-C.

Here are some examples:

Open Jaw - SFO-JFK; BOS-SFO. The open jaw (in this case, JFK-BOS) must be the shortest leg.

End on End - SFO-ORD-SFO + ORD-DTW-ORD. Note that SFO-ORD-SFO + ORD-SFO-ORD is typically not allowed, as this is considered back-to-back.

Circle trip - SFO-ORD-(stop)-BOS-(stop)-SFO. The stopover is what makes this a circle trip - if ORD is just a connection, it's a simple round-trip.

Excuse me...???

my limited experience with open jaws [ i've done a few], is that the open jaw must be shorter than either of the other 2 legs....this presents a problem with cruises between europe and the us, for example, when you don't want to use the cruise line's air....this has happened to us a few times and i have been forced to use awards or illeagle [against policy] routings [like not using the return leg of a rt].

Acutally - combinations is really about how the fares combine - not how you fly... You can fly A-B-C-A and A-B and C-A are an open jaw and B-C one way fare (placed "end-on") .... So in that light, for end-on, booking A-b-a and b-c-b is not the issue it is that you are booked A-B-C-B-A and the way the fares are put together it might be that you have two round or circle trips end on with each other at point "B".

Another point, US, Canada one way fares work different than international fares - so if you are flying on one way fares NYC-LAX and LAX-NYC the process is "end-on", but if you are flying NYC-LON and LON-NYC on one way fares it is a 2 componant circle trip.

Helpful thread. Might be good to add into the Mileage Run Tools sticky.

For a open jaw booking, what determines whether the two flights will combine to an open jaw instead of pricing out as two one-way tickets?

Best deal for the passenger - if the two half round-trips allow the OJ and it passes the test (open piece is shortest distance or I think it also can be measured by the lowest unrestricted fare in each market) it is priced as an OJ.

"Paging Viajero Joven...please report to this thread for clarification."

agree- now very confused about end-on-end and examples givenin this thread. hope after 10/31 vj will be able to provide some clarification.

Thanks for the quick responses. I think I'm understanding all this a little better (still confused from the current debate), but I have one more question. How do you find out where the other legs could be that would be part of that fare structure so you can keep the fare the same but create more legs. Can you do it based on the above rules? Thanks for the info.

dave.

Hi from Veracruz.....

A little brid told me I was summoned.

AFAIK a double open jaw is A to B, then C to D, assuming none are coterminals. A third component including an E, as stated earlier, would make it into a quasi-circle trip and/or a double open jaw plus an additional one way... that gets messy since the scenarios at that point are numerous. Re. VPescado's comment, an itinerary A to B, C to D does have 2 open gaps in a way, one on either end of the itinerary.

OK, back to enjoying Veracruz.... It's really a great city.

Here's a question for the experts:

Is this type of itinerary combination OK using the same carrier?

(Example)

Itinerary 1

Day 1: A-B-C-D-E-F (arrive Day 2)
Day 13: F-D-C-A

Itinerary 2

Day 2: F-A-G-H-B
Day 12: B-C-J-A-K-F (arrive Day 13)

where

These are intercontinental itineraries. Point F is outside the USA and all other points are in the USA. There are no stopovers.

Saturdays are say Days 3 and 10.

Both itineraries require a Saturday night stay, otherwise no minimum stay.
Fare rules do not allow double open jaws. Half round trips may be combined in many cases. Itinerary 1 allows end-on-end, and Itinerary 2 allows end-on-end for domestic fares without specifically disallowing for international.

Thoughts?

I think you can do this assuming A and B are not co-terminals as you are flying A-F-B-F-A. If they are co-terminals, then it would be back-to-back instead of end-on-end and generally not allowed.

If an open-jaw is permissible (within or between US/Canada the smallest side of the triangle), it prices as 2 half-RTs, otherwise as 2 one-ways.
Also, most airlines will price a 3-segment circle trip as 3 half-RTs only if there is no gap, except CO, where the open-jaw is smallest mileage of the 4.
E.G.: CLE--IAH
IAH--EWR
EWR--ORD will price as 3 half RTs if all are CO flight #s, where other airlines would price 2 half RTs to & from Houston + a one-way EWR--ORD.

Double open-jaws are usually allowed only for transcontinental itins.: ORD--AMS, return CDG--MSP.

Thanks. They aren't co-terminals. I've ticketed this except that Itinerary 2 is now a single open jaw. A further domestic single open jaw has been nested as Itinerary 3.