Lisamcgu,
The rules and tips that you listed are the most commonly used by novice mileage runners. Here are some of the rules you should go by.
Rules.
1. Each segment added would add to the fare, though the increase can be limited to airport tax and fees for that segment.
2. A segment can be booked in the opposite direction if the fare rules allows it.
3. There is no segment max for a fare. ( a number that is ). What limits you is the routing allowed for that fare. Step out of it and the fare would increase exponentially.
The trick here is to stuff as many segments the fare rules allow without increasing the fare a lot.
Tips and Tricks
1. The first step is to trace down a low fare. They would be found on routes where more than one major airline or a discount airline flies to/from.
Dream maps, Air-fare.com, Orbitz, Expedia. Use any tool you like to trace down a low fare. Preferably, check on more than one.
2. Get the allowed routing for that fare. As far as I know, only Expedia.com lets you see valid routing. I would love to be proven wrong.
3. Now, pick the timetable and mark out a probable set of connections with your allowed routing. Once you have the flights set, hit the net.
4. Chances are, your routing and timing might price higher. ITN lets you see fares for each segment, so it is kinda helpful knowing what flights are allowed for the cheapest fare. i.e. A red eye would be cheaper can a commute flight.
5. Chances are, you would have a six to eight segment routing by now. If you want more,or still do not have the required amount, it is possible to nudge the routing towards a hub to pick extra segments. Like
tvl4free put it once, two cities on either side of a hub have a high chance of giving you another segment as you are most probably going to get routed through it.
Thats how a SJC-JAX becomes a SJC-LAX-MIA-JAX-MIA-LAX-SJC. But then again, I know I can have SJC-LAX-DFW-MIA-JAX-MIA-DFW-LAX-SJC which still eludes me. Work in progress.
[This message has been edited by Bourne (edited 10-09-2001).]