Originally Posted by
buckeyefanflyer
Don’t understand back to back ticketing rule. Why does there have to be a minimum stay. I have gotten around the rule by flying other airlines in the sequence.
Airline fare models have gone through numerous iterations. Presently, there are rarely minimum stay requirements or round-trip discounts, but advance purchase plays a role sometimes.
However, it has changed over time. In the late 1980's/early 1990's, it was common for fares to be much higher if they didn't include a Saturday night stay. While living in Washington DC, I had a meeting in Chicago, where the round-trip fare with a Saturday night stay was $200 and without it was $800.
In that case, I found an extremely lucrative workaround. I had a meeting on, say, December 12. I had a co-worker who had family in Milwaukee. I booked a ticket from DC to Chicago on December 11, returning from Milwaukee on December 29. I also booked a ticket from Chicago to DC on December 12, returning to Milwaukee on December 23. At this time, you didn't need an ID to fly. So I got a $400 ticket instead of $800, and my co-worker got a free trip home for Christmas. Just to sweeten the pot, at the time United had a promotion of a free round-trip coach ticket for each 8 flight segments, so (since the Milwaukee legs changed in Chicago) I got 3/4 of a ticket in bonuses.
I did the hidden city trick occasionally back in those days, and you could often get miles and segment credit for the extra segment even if you didn't fly it.
Those were the days, my friend.