GrayAnderson

It was suggested (in the schedule adjustment thread) that another thread might be useful in discussing the tag flights/milk runs that're popping out (I'm putting both in the same bucket since while we've only seen a couple of one-stop direct flights added as yet, the night is still young [so to speak] and handling ticketing on them to maximize mileage/segment credit and the like (particularly if arbitrage opportunities end up arising due to possessed airline algorithms).

Also, noting odd city pairs that AS doesn't usually serve in one place seems useful, particularly once the virus starts blowing over, both for "lark" trips and for trips that might induce a ticket break if AS ends up wanting to reinstate nonstop service sooner than "expected" (presuming that the current timetables get extended).

By the way, could someone create a wiki to track these routes (and what they're presumably being run with)?

jiburi

So far, I only know of two tag flight routes....

SEA MSP CMH
SEA PIT BWI

Ill post if I find more...

Jiburi

nawlins

DFW-IAH thru end of April

via amtrak

Sea-rdu-chs
sea-sbp-sba

ctporter

ok, I will bite, what is a tag route? (a route with a connection as opposed to a direct flight to a destination that is normally a direct routing?)

J.Edward

Two definitions come to mind.

1. Aggregating geographically "similar" cities in a single route to goose the load factor - a true tag flight. An example would be AS dropping the SEA⇔IAH non-stop and then adding DFW⇔IAH to work in conjunction with the SEA⇔DFW flight (i.e. AS uses the same plane to fly SEA > DFW > IAH and then IAH > DFW > SEA). In this example DFW⇔IAH is the "tag" flight. UA use to do similar routes (IAD > DXB > DOH, IAD > KWI > BAH, LAX > SYD > MEL, etc.). While the idea of tag flights seemed forgotten by US carriers - or at least until COVID - foreign carriers frequently use them in conjunction with 5th* freedom rights. An example of this would be SQ flying SIN > MAN > IAH or EK flying DXB > FCO > JFK.

2. Using "through/direct" flights to trick reservation systems into making a connecting flight look like a non-stop. This is not really a "tag" flight in a strict sense but rather a marketing trick to hide a connection. A non-tag flight example of a through flight would be AA selling LGA > DFW > LAX as a through flight (so it's listed as having 0 connections) even though there is both a connection and a change of aircraft at DFW. I think (?) while all tag flights are through flights, not all through flights are tag flights.

*Airline Freedoms explained:

jrl767

nice graphic

"tag" has historically meant a relatively short segment "tagged onto" a long-haul (often mid-con/TCON or international) flight ... SEA-RDU-CHS and SEA-PIT-BWI both fit this definition (I could make a literalist argument that SEA-SBA-SBP doesn't, but the principle remains); otoh, SEA-MSP-CMH is a "direct" flight -- not a nonstop, no change of plane (although as we know, many airlines have long ignored that historical convention)

GrayAnderson

The best example of a "tag" that would be familiar to folks on this forum was JFK-YVR-HKG on CX. It was the JFK-YVR "tag" that was cut a few weeks back.

You've occasionally seen things like this in thinly-served areas (I think there might have been a stray one in the Aleutian Islands, for example) particularly where intermediate traffic was a possibility and forcing folks through the hub would've been nonsensical. Historically, operations like this were more common (check the Official Guides from the 50s and you'll see quite a few fascinating operations by modern standards). A good historical example of this was actually the "Pipeline Express", which ran FAI-ANC-SEA-DFW-[Houston] in the 1980s. ANC-SEA-DFW would've been a not-unheard-of "run the plane through the hub" operation at the time (notably, VX actually did this at DAL to evade the flight length limits from DCA/LGA, and the overnight flights eastbound didn't even require people to shuffle out IIRC), but FAI-ANC and DFW-Houston were "tags" on each end.

I'm sort-of lumping all cases together here, but I'll agree that by varying definitions a number of flights might not quite "fit".

These have been pretty common for int'l carriers...SQ does a number of them (JFK-FRA-SIN and LAX-NRT-SIN are the most famous, but they have some interesting things in Australia as well) and there are other examples around.

jaloola

Yes, based on the city pairs previously discussed in the Schedule Changes thread. Although, QX 2070 operates SEA-FCA-HLN-SEA and does not return HLN-FCA-SEA.

JPat

Would the KOA/SMF/SEA routing that AS has run constitute a tag? I booked this as a return from KOA a few years ago, not realizing that SMF was a stopover. No plane change involved.
No credit for two segments either. Only got miles credited as if it were a KOA to SEA nonstop.

jrl767

from a pedantic literalist standpoint, yes, SMF-SEA would be considered a tag

** however ** (pedantic literalist again, lol) ... SMF is an intermediate stop, it’s not a “stopover” — that occurs when a connection exceeds four hours (domestic) or 24 hours (international)

returnoftheyeti

My favorite tag is Air China, PEK-IAH-EZE. I really want to fly IAH-EZE on Air China. Air Canada does (i think) YYZ -SCL-EZE.

More on topic, AS is flying SBP-SBA. I might actually drive down just to fly that route.

https://crankyflier.com/2020/04/09/a...-requirements/

beckoa

I've flown AC with @jackal on SCL-EZE.

Closest (at that time) that I had been to Canada

Who thinks some of these tags may be extended tomorrow night into May?

GrayAnderson

That's in line with one or two EAS routes I've seen (I think UA still has one or two of those...one I recall being in North Dakota, and I think the other was in upstate New York).

Tide_from_PAE

CO did IAH-SEA-ANC flights for years due oil traffic and IIRC, a USPS contract despite only being a nominal AS partner before moving to the Star Alliance. The flight always seemed to have very light loads on the SEA-ANC portion. NW's connection carriers would run some random milk runs on SAAB 340s out of MEM and one DTW-MSP flight which had two intermediate stops.