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Old Oct 19, 2014, 4:04 pm
  #212  
YQMer
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: YFC
Programs: AC*SE100K; Marriott Titanium; NEXUS
Posts: 1,523
Originally Posted by YYZZYY
Ok so I planned an 8-segment run this weekend and thought I'd provide some feedback.
I planned for YTZ-YUL-YOW-YHZ-YQM and then back the following day. First flight would leave at noon Saturday, and I would land back in Toronto around 6pm Sunday.

1) This is a laborious itinerary. Oh my god is it ever. The constant sitting and waiting proved to me too much for me, and I ended up getting on standby and skipping one segment on the return.

2) Plan to spend the night at a hotel at the destination. I chose to sleep in the airport. BAAAAAD choice. The bench is uncomfortable, the lights never go out, and people don't leave till about 1am, but start coming in at 4:30am. Plus, in mid-October without any body heat, it got pretty chilly in the lonely airport.

4) If you do choose to spend the night at the airport, since you'll woken up super early anyways, spring for the earliest flight back.

3) If you can plan it, minimize the layover time, especially considering this is all domestic. Longest distance I had to walk was from one side of YHZ to the other, which is about 5 minutes.

5) Having lounge access would have been helpful in case of long layovers. I do not have status currently (have had it in the past) and had to spend all my time in the boarding area.

It was a pretty brutal experience, and with the standby change, I ended up netting 7 segments in just under 24 hours and $400. Hopefully I won't have to do it again next year!
Yes, I've done this one too only in the reverse. Your version is quite hardcore though with no hotel and no lounge access. I couldn't imagine sleeping at YQM. Also, I'm not sure I could stomach it with nothing planned at the other end--I needed something to go to in order to make it worth my while beyond the segments.
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