FWIW regarding the mandatory overnight...

In order to NOT overnight I had the CO reservationist replace my 767 non stop which arrived after 11:00 am with a connecting flight in EWR on the 777.

I arrive in AMS at 8:15 am on flight #70 and my KLM flight departs at 9:50 am (#903 if I remember correctly).

I decided that taking 3 segments all at once over there wasn't going to tax me too bad since I was springing for BF. Availability on KLM for the SVO segment was no problem at all as the previous poster mentioned and I had to check the dates for 3 different weeks.

On the way back however I do have an overnight so thanks for the hotel tip as I've yet to book one.

Finally FWIW I spend a few weeks looking for options and the DL legs didn't look good from IAH to JFK. Sure the JFK to SVO segment is non-stop but they always had to route me IAH to CVG or ATL then on to JFK so there was always a minimum of 3 flights to take and 2 connections. CO is the same for me without doing the overnight I have 3 segments over and with the overnight only 2 segments back.

Keep us posted.

[This message has been edited by KGB (edited Dec 07, 2003).]