Originally Posted by
crhptic
One other thing to watch out for is that the routing rules often include flights which don't actually exist. For example, in this case, even though
SFO-OAK-SMF-SJC-OAK-SLC-DEN-DFW
is allowed, you can't do it, simply because there is no SFO-OAK flight. So really it would be something like
SFO-SMF-SJC-OAK-SLC-DEN-DFW
If there were other nonexistent flights in that routing, you'd have to drop them, too.
With a few exceptions, if routings don't include a UA or US hub, they don't exist (i.e. SMF-SJC, OAK-SLC). Fortunately, on the West Coast, you can pretty easily visit both SFO and LAX on your outbound or on your return (i.e. SMF-LAX-SNA-SFO-XXX-XXX) before heading elsewhere. From a miles standpoint, SFO is a better bet for flights to DEN, ORD, IAD, or JFK.