Booking flight in wrong direction
 

Hello

I need to fly Manchester to Brasil and found a good fare on the Matrix vai Dubai. That is an illogical routing but the pricing is so good that I don't mind. I can price it as a multicity booking on the Emirates site but when I select the flight, it gives me an error. Any way to book this flight? Should I call them? Or can I simply ask my local TA to book it?

You can call them and ask. EK don't published fares from Europe to North America but I'm not sure about South America

I've noticed on Matrix that there are quite a few low OW fares in Y on EK on "illogical routes". When I've tried to reserve, also the error comes up and when I've checked directly with EK, I've discovered that the fares unfortunately don't exist. And I've had no luck with OTA.
It would be interesting to know if and how you are successful.
There are published fares on EK from Northern/Eastern Europe to South America destinations.

How much is low? looking on Expert Flyer , there are fares listed by Emirates for Manchester to Sao Paulo/Rio and seem to be bookable on Expedia ( I get as far as payment page )

So indeed, you can get to the payment page of the booking on Expedia and the Emirates website but the companies' travel agent booked it in the end, not sure where they did it. Anyway, good a return MAN-DXB-RIO for £900 and all legs are economy flex. On the way back I get even Dubai Connect so I think I did a good deal :-)

I'm an Emirates fan.. but that's crazy IMO :D

I'd do it in J for sure, but Y? That sounds dreadful. More power to you if you can do it!

It's not too different from going UK to Australia, which I have done a few times, so I have experience :-)

lol it is completely different.. you are going east 7 hours in the opposite direction..!

How many miles are you getting for the trip?

I'm flying ACC-DXB-IAD next month. The distances and directions are somewhat similar to what you have here. It was no problem to book it. I did it through Chase UR travel portal. A few months ago I booked ACC-DXB-JFK directly on emirates.com for someone else.

gcmaps.com gives a good visual of the routing and distances. If you first enter the nonstop route, and then your actual route, it will show the extra miles you're flying as a percentage.

Not sure how that comparison really means anything. You are doing a journey of 10,900 miles when it could be done in under 5,900 miles. it is an extra 5000 miles each way

Flying MAN-DXB-SYD is 11,000 miles but is only 433 miles further than the non stop distance

I once thought of doing AKL-DXB-LAX for fun in J, but I thought better of it...

I met a couple who was doing it in F (Alaska award tickets from the 100k mile days) but they were staying in DXB for a few days.

I don't know which bit of it would be the fun bit

Once you're in the aircraft it is the same surely? The fact it CAN be done more quickly (much more quickly LOL) doesn't change the fact that similar length trips are routinely taken....and survived.

Unlimited Veuve Cliquot? ;) I had one of those downgrade vouchers and I could go anywhere EK flew in J if I could fit it in 4 sectors, and I am LAX based, so... why not? I ended up doing HKG-DXB-LAX. Actually, if you include all the sectors, paid and comped, LAX-DXB-MNL-HKG-DXB-HYD-DXB-LAX. Not the first time I've done that crazyarse routing either...

Honestly you would have ended up going MAN-JFK-MIA-GIG or similar, on a terrible US airline most likely (Amurikan) ... I think you did well.

Indeed, I was thinking for awhile about going via the US (never been there) but the thought of being on an old 767, probably without IFE made me rethink it.

Booking these weird routings: Being a young academic, going on holiday to farflung destinations is quite expensive so on a work trip, I always try to fly with a long layover so I have a day to do sightseeing. In this case, the only interesting routings were via the US or weirdly enough via Dubai. Probably it won't be the most exciting place in the world but I thought, why not.

I will earn 14,250 Skywards Miles 14,250 Tier Miles for the whole trip.

But the person simply stated that there was experience of doing such a journey - that someone has done a 10000 miles journey where there was a need is not a reason for doing it other times

No comment about whether people can survive it

I would have liked to fly with BA but that flight would cost almost double of the Emirates one. I just could not justify it for myself (although it was company money) to spend £2000 on an economy flight.

I am far from a "young academic", but I do the same thing. I enjoy flying, so extra miles are a bonus for me, not a disadvantage. I book tickets based on (after price) layover location, aircraft type, and airline.I'll purposely plan a long layover at times for a "free" visit to a city I wouldn't otherwise have the opportunity to visit.

You were travelling for business purposes - do you not value 20+ hours of your time?

Yeah, it's me. So you know that funny routing I chose? My flight to Dubai got cancelled. Managed to get a rerouting with KLM so I will arrive only 5 hours later. I will make another thread about the cancellation because that is a story of long waits. The good thing was that I was in a middle seat on the a380 and seated between two relatively big persons which was not very comfortable. Now I am at an aisle seat. Lesson learned, I shall not book ridiculous routings anymore :-)

Given it is an EU departure, the potential EUR600 could help cushion the blow of a shorter routing in a better positioned seat

I don't think your "ridiculous routing" has anything to do with the mayhem you experienced! ;) If you would have been flying to say Sydney, traveling on Emirates would have been perfectly reasonable, yet you would have had exactly the same experience.