Originally Posted by
NWASimon
I have a round trip ticket booked for NBO-AMS-DTW-TVC July 9 and a return on Sept 6. I was reading the archives of this site about adding segments that will give me more miles but not incur any cost.
Is it better to add extra segments in the US since there is more variety, or are there some of who you have taken crazy segments around Africa to get more miles? Should I add these segments in Europe or the States?
Africa's not going to help you much, really, because you'll be on Kenya Airways (KQ) for which you get banked miles but no EQM. So while NBO-EBB-AMS may be more banked miles than NBO-AMS direct, it's fewer EQM because the NBO-EBB segment is on KQ.
In addition to racking up miles AMS-{NBO,EBB} myself, I find flights for some Kenyan colleagues, and it's
common for NBO-AMS direct to be basically the same price as NBO-EBB-AMS or NBO-DXB-AMS. Again, the NBO-{anywhere but AMS} legs are going to be on Kenya Airways, not KLM proper, so... good for bankable miles, not so good for EQMs.
I really have no idea how to add more segments without incurring extra cost to my ticket. Do I use travelocity or expedia to see the cost of a AMS-DUS flight and a DUS to DTW flight, and if these combined are cheaper than AMS-DTW I ask for that segment changed?
Something like that. Although that'd only get you 500-700 miles extra, for example.
Basically, when you're searching for flights, look at the options it gives you. Obviously NBO-AMS-DTW-TVC is the
logical one. That doesn't necessarily mean it will always be the cheapest - after all,
most people will want the most direct routing.
So there may, at times, be situations where, for example, the AMS-DTW segment has no cheap seats and you get offered AMS-MEM-DTW in its place.
The other thing to look at is whether it makes sense to split your itinerary. I go to NBO from Hawai'i (yeah, I know) and booking sites find that sufficiently complex that they rarely offer decent fares. By splitting it into Hawaii-AMS and AMS-NBO, I can sometimes come in under $2000. I don't know whether NBO-AMS RT + AMS-TVC RT would be cheaper than NBO-TVC RT, though.
PS: Am I hindered by my dates needing to be July/Aug travel?
Let's just say it doesn't help any.
I was looking at $800 or less EDI-EBB RT back in March-April, couldn't do it then; wound up booking it for next week and paying $1200+.
Do most MRs occur in the "low" season? Are segment costs lower in the off season? Honestly, I have so many questions that I would rather Skype with a FTer who could hold my hand through some of these basic questions.
Drop me a PM; I might have time to at least IM somewhere in my travels.