Award travel, east vs west
 

Returning from the Nordic Region on AY or IS, I can make stopover at ORD going to SFO, but don't see doing so on the way out?

Is that just because there's no saver space on the domestic hop?

Finding saver space between SFO and ORD in 1 direction is lucky. Finding it in both directions would be amazing.

IS? Sepehran Airlines?

Iceland Air. And Finnair. Award travel which on Alaska miles gives you a free stopover.

IS isn't a thing, which is eponymous_coward's point I believe. (You mean FI)

Yes, FI and AY. Sorry, I mixed them up, must somehow have thought of FI for Finnair and then somehow IS for Iceland Air.

Anyway, why doesn't eastbound seem possible?

I'm totally confused here. What exactly are you wanting to know?

He wants to know why it won't let him book a domestic stopover in one direction but it will let him in the other.

I don't think it has anything to do with the direction; it might have to do with the airlines, as there are different rules for each one. Is a domestic stopover always allowed, or are you only allowed to stop over in the partner hub for some partners?

Usually it’s AS hub or international gateway. Might be different depending on routing, fare rules, or what have you. I know that SFO-NYC(stop)-HKG isn’t allowed for CX. Might help if we know the exact routing being used…

I found something within what I was asking. Multi-city Alaska 1/11/2023 SFO-LAX, Finnair LAX-ARN 2/8/2023. Now I just have to find it for an ORD stopover instead of LAX.

So you are trying to do SFO-ORD (stopover)-ARN?

Finnair doesn’t fly ORD-ARN, it would have to be ORD-HEL-ARN.

Note that Finnair allows US-Asia awards just like CX, so I wonder if they don’t allow West Coast-midcon or East Coast (stop)-HEL for the same reason, they won’t let you backtrack and throw in a USA stopover on an Asia award.

Perhaps if the outgoing stopover was using FI it would work?

The issue isn't the partner airline or the routing, it is the lack of domestic Saver award space. As far as flying east to go west or west to go east with or without a stopover, there are a few limitations, but not many. I have flown CX YVR-JFK-HKG//HKG-CPT on a single award, QF J LAX-JFK(AS)-LAX(QF)-SYD//SYD-AKL & have JL DEL-HND-JFK//JFK-PDX-PHX. I am using a different AA partner award stopover to fly JFK-SFO-SAN-HNL in F.

SFO-ORD/stop/ORD-HEL-ARN is a valid routing. You just need to find Saver award space for SFO-ORD to piece it together with the ORD-HEL-ARN after the stopover. SFO-ORD could be non-stop or a connection like SFO-PDX-ORD or SFO-SEA-ORD.

The easiest starting point is to look for Saver award space to the domestic gateway where you want to stopover. Using SFO-ORD with the award calendar option checked, it will return a calendar showing miles required for each day of the month. Anything that is 10K miles + $6 (rounded up from $5.60) is an AS Main saver award. Anything that is $19 (rounded up from $18.10) is an AA award; same $5.60 fee as AS but adds the $12.50 partner booking fee.

If you click on First awards, the calendar will populate with miles required for an F award. Again, anything that is 25K + $6 is an AS metal F Saver award.

Awards have a $0 fare so there is no Excise Tax and segment fees also do not apply. Since domestic awards are only subjected to the $5.60 security fee we can't immediately determine if the award is a non-stop or a connection. If it is a connection then it is possibe that a segment is still in Main. SFO-SEA could be in F and SEA-ORD in Main. You need to drill down and check on the date to see what AS is offering.

If you are looking for multiple award seats, increase the number of passengers in your search one by one. If the Saver award on a specific date disappears or increases in miles then the number of available Saver award seats will be one less than the number of passengers you searched for.

Once you have found your outbound, you can combine it using multi-city with your flight(s) after the stopover.

I quickly played around with some dates in the new year and found a couple of options. One was SFO-ORD//ORD-HEL-ARN & the other was SFO-SEA-ORD//ORD-SFO-LAX-ARN; Only SEA-ORD was in Main

Another option that arose was IB ORD-MAD-ARN after the stopover for 5K more; 75K miles. If you flew one-way to ORD you could also book ORD-ARN with a stopover in SFO. ;)

AS is pretty lenient on routing & stopovers. I don't argue with what is offers.

James

Here is an example of an Asia award on JL that starts in SFO on AS and has a stopover in JFK for nearly a month before heading to Bangkok. On the same date, AY is also available to BKK but 125K miles compared to 65K for JL.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...4a93bf3d4f.jpg
SFO-JFK/stopover/JFK-HND-BKK

James

Thought about updating the CX wiki then?

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/alas...019-later.html

Anyway… I assumed an experienced FT poster would have actually checked a desired route for availability by segment before wondering “why can’t I book a stopover?” It seems fairly obvious that you can’t book an award with or without a stopover if there is no availability.