duke2013

I have a ticket on hold for 100k in J:
Outbound:
LAX-ATL-EWR arriving at 12:10am
JFK-BCN leaving 7:35pm (same day as previous flight)

Inbdound:
CDG-AMS-JFK arriving 8PM
EWR-DTW-LAX leaving 12:40 the next day

I called in and wanted to add a stopover in CDG by adding a FCO-CDG flight, but the representative said this now priced at 135k miles. The only way I could imagine 35k miles being added is by a Business intra europe flight with an econ return (22.5+12.5) but they keep saying its increasing because of too many legs and saying that JFK-EWR connection flights are open jaws.

bubbashow

Is this correct pricing?

Yes.

MSPeconomist

AFAIK the EWR-JFK connections should not count as open jaws, nor are they stopovers since you seem to be spending less than 24 hours in the NYC area in each direction.

I suspect the problem is that you may only use four flights in each direction. If you could find CDG-NYC nonstop or NYC-LAX nonstop, you be able to add the FCO-CDG flight with a CDG stopover.

You could also try for NYC-CDG stopover CDG-BCN, which would be four segments in each direction, but that still wouldn't enable you to include the flight exFCO.

You are allowed one stopover (on a legal routing) and one open jaw.

fti

Or drop CDG-AMS, add FCO-AMS and just make your own way from AMS to CDG to AMS, which is very easy to do.

mtkeller

You get four segments each direction. You already have four on the return.

duke2013

Would doing a stopover in BCN adding BCN-FCO be valid then?

3Cforme

A single segment, BCN-anywhere in the Europe zone, with anywhere as your destination, consumes all available segments be they a max of eight or four in each direction.

Rome, Ibiza, Prague... anything AZ, AF, KL, UX, SU, RO, OK - operated. You have a lot of options, actually.

roknroll

That would work, but it would need to be a direct flight which limits you only to AZ. Shouldn't be too tough to find availability, just keep it in mind. If you are struggling to find availability on your dates, and you are flexible on destination, you could visit MAD instead as there are many UX direct flights out of MAD.

Finding the intra-Europe flights are usually the easy part, especially if you are already ticketed in J. If you'd prefer to do FCO-CDG(stopover) on the return then just keep checking for more direct EUR-LAX flights home which would allow the stopover. Best bet would be trying to eliminate the CDG-AMS segment. CDG-IAD/YUL/YYZ/ORD is usually easy to find on AF. If you are PM/DM then the change is free. Otherwise $150 for a business class ticket with your preferred routing and dates seems like a small price to pay to make the change.

mtkeller

I'm confident it's four each direction, as I tried pricing OMA-MSP-SFO-LAX-TYO-SIN, which fits the MPM and all flights were at low, but it broke the fare at one of MSP, SFO, or LAX, charging 165K (low J TPAC + low F domestic). Stopping at TYO resolved the matter, even though OMA-MSP-SFO-LAX-TYO exceeds the MPM by a shade (less than 5%, however). Most likely where people think they've gotten five one direction and eight the other, they're actually seeing DL interchanging the role of the stopover and destination from how the customer would interpret them.

3Cforme

Thanks for coming back to emphasize that.

The OP can add just one segment out of BCN, but there must be 60+ flights to more than 15 SkyTeam-operated destinations every day. Vary the length of stopover a bit and it ought to be easy to find two business/coach segments - all so long as parents are ready to make their own way back to CDG on the open jaw.

duke2013

I had to book the original ticket since the hold was going to expire. I did ask the agents to do a long-sell for BCN-FCO on alitalia but mulitple agents had trouble doing so.

Is the change fee of $150 worth it to add the single flight, a quick search on kayak and I found flights in coach in the $180 range. Another option I am thinking of is waiting to see if non stop LAX-JFK or CDG-LAX legs open up and doing all the changes at once?

Is there an easy and free way to monitor if space opens up? I am not familiar with expert flyer or KVS but I'm guessing those are the only 2 options?

3Cforme

ExpertFlyer is certainly worth $10/month for the premium service with flight alerts, especially for your situation given that it covers award availability on European SkyTeam carriers AF, AZ, OK, KL, TO, UX and SU.