Originally Posted by
Daedalus7
There are at least 36 hours between each leg. Booking legs 1 and 3 together and 2 as a separate booking is actually around $50 cheaper than as a single itinerary (interestingly). Is there any major benefit to doing one or the other besides than the (small) savings on price? My thought was that if there was any problem with the tour I'm doing in Croatia that causes me to be late getting into Split, I'd rather only have to book a new SPU-FRA ticket rather than the remainder of the itinerary. But this seems like such a small chance as to not really be worth worrying about. I guess I'm just used to booking my flights from and to home on one itinerary, and then any intra-trip flights separately, but I've seen some people recommend to have them all on the same itinerary if possible.
Price is the primary factor. In many cases, it would be much cheaper to book them all onto a single ticket than to book them on separate tickets. This isn’t one of those occasions, but it’s always worth checking.
Originally Posted by
mecabq
I think you're right, the main benefit would be that you could walk away from flight #2 without affecting flight #3 if you had to.
Conversely, if there was a delay or schedule change in the first flight that necessitated trying to move both the second and third flights, that would likely only be possible if it were all on a single ticket.
Originally Posted by
mecabq
The benefits of a single itinerary are paying a single change/cancellation fee if necessary and, perhaps, the airline being more willing to accommodate you on the downstream flights if something goes seriously wrong with one of them.
Yes, the single cancellation fee can be a big deal if flexibility is needed.
Originally Posted by
mecabq
Another difference would be that if you bought the second flight from an airline other than UA, which is more likely as a separate itinerary, you wouldn't get PQD for that portion (not sure about how the RDM would work out if it's a partner flight ticketed on United vs. ticketed by a partner). Of course it's small in the scheme of things.
A flight not operated by UA, ticketed through someone other than UA, will earn RDMs based upon distance instead of the fare paid. You’re correct that there would be no PQDs.