madbrain

Let's say that I want to fly the following 4 non-stop flights on different dates :

SJC-NRT (ANA/United)
NRT-SGN (ANA) 7:30pm
SGN-CDG (Vietnam Airlines)
CDG-SFO (United)

If I put them all in a single multi-city booking, it comes out to $4202 :

https://www.google.com/flights/#sear...tt=m;s=0,0,0,0

If I book them all as individual 1-ways (same dates), they come to :

SJC-NRT (ANA/United) $1073
NRT-SGN (ANA) 7:30pm $1022
SGN-CDG (Vietnam Airlines) $558
CDG-SFO (United) $3891

Ie. the total is even more, $6544 .

Now, by using hidden tickets and throwaway ticketing, I came up with the following combinations as 3 different bookings :
1) first booking : $692
SJC-NRT
NRT-SGN
SGN-SEA (throwaway this last one)

https://www.google.com/flights/#sear...GN0NH833;s=0,0

2) second booking :$558
SGN-CDG 1-way

https://www.google.com/flights/#sear...12-12;tt=o;s=0

3) third booking : $994
CDG-SFO round trip
Set the return date 8 months out - July 1.

https://www.google.com/flights/#sear...2017-07-01;s=0

Grand total : $2,244

Still not a great price IMO for coach tickets, but at least much more reasonable than $4200 or $6500+.

Questions :

1) why the rip off when combining all those flights on one booking ?
It's insane that you can safe 50% by adding 2 more flights. I could never actually fly the SGN-SEA . But I might very well keep and fly the SFO-CDG "return" ticket on July 10 .

2) It seems that when it comes to US-Europe flights, it never makes any sense to book a 1-way. So one can either have a throw-away return ticket; or always end with a spare "return" ticket for the next US-Europe trip...

3) are there travel agents or search engines that specialize in finding these types of tickets ? I have tried skiplagged.com, but it didn't work at all for these routes.

At this point, I think $2300 is still high for coach and November (not the expensive Xmas). The first stop (NRT above) is open, I would be fine going through another Asian city if it ended up cheaper. But SGN and CDG are musts.

Seems like one could possibly bring a discount Asian carrier into the mix (which won't show on google flights unfortunately) which would increase the # of bookings but could decrease costs greatly.

I haven't figured out what that might be. There are only a couple Asian destinations from SJC . NRT and PEK. A whole bunch more from SFO, though. From there, the prices to SGN are all over the place, can be $10 or $500 ...

If anyone has any idea, that would be greatly appreciated . I'm only looking to fly nonstop. And not looking to book with award travel. Probably will use Chase UR points at 1.5cpp for those booking. Discount carriers may not be possible through UR though.

dukerau

The problem with travel agents and (some) low-cost carriers is you wouldn't be able to book via the UR portal to get the 1.5cpp. What's the aversion to award tickets? You could do the SJC-NRT-SGN-SEA (throwaway) + SGN-CDG with UR @ 1.5cpp then use 30k UR transferred to UA + $76 to book the CDG-SFO non-stop on 12/12 (it's available as an award). Total cost: ~113k UR + $76

Yoshi212

You now have two threads about the same topic going. Cross posting isn't allowed but also this just spreads info across two threads which won't help yourself nor others in the future.

madbrain

Sorry, I wasn't really sure what the right place was to post on this topic.

madbrain

My main aversion to award ticket is what happens in case of medical cancellation. The Chase travel insurance policy will only reimburse 1 cent per UR point transferred to partners in this case if booking an award flight when there is no dollar value for the flight. I have a history of frequently getting sick so that is a particular concern.

It seems that this is still worth taking a chance on, though. The one-way CDG-SFO or SFO-CDG, when booked for cash, is priced at $2500 - $4000 all year long. Roundtrip is in $700 - $1200 range on good days depending on seasons, assuming a throwaway return ticket.

However, Flying blue just let me book an award one-way flight without the exhorbitant cost, and without throwaway ticket. In this case I change the itinerary and chose to go to Paris first. I paid only 18750 miles + $79.56 for SFO-CDG one-way nonstop earlier in November (sat, Nov 12). I just did an instant transfer from UR to Flyingblue of 19000 points and the taxes with CC.

When switching the fares from miles to dollars on Flyingblue, the same SFO-CDG one-way flight was showing at $2687 ! And I don't have to worry about any throwaway return ticket. This is like getting
(2687 - 79.56) / 18750 = 13.9 cpp .
This is a bit better than redeeming the UR points for 1.5cpp. I guess I figured out a better redemption option after all.

Now on to booking the rest of the trip.

Adam1222

For future reference, post one place. If it's wrong, it will be moved to the right place.

Duke787

Not my forte but this seems to be ideal for a RTW ticket...

Also FWIW if you've already got the CDG - SFO portion, you can just book:

SFO - NRT - SGN (NH) - ICN - CDG (OZ) for $1.5k. Not sure you'll do better than that without throwaways

madbrain

What I got is SFO-CDG actually. Maybe the reverse can work. CDG-ICN-SGN-NRT-SFO . Will try to price it. That would be one more city.

I think most likely I will go with the CDG-SGN-PVG-SFO plan, though, as outlined above, as it less cash outlay .

Also, my husband won't be flying the initial part of the trip. While I go to Paris to visit family, he will be in Saigon alone.
He will fly for $572 with China eastern . Unlike me, he can tolerate a 25 journey. So, he will fly SFO-PVG-SGN-PVG-SFO . And I will meet him in SGN and then spend more time in Saigon together, then visit Shanghai together, and finally get back home. We'll be on the same last 2 flights , but different bookings.

I found yet another hidden city ticket :
SGN-PVG (China eastern), PVG-SFO (China eastern), SFO-LAX (Delta) .

First two flights on one booking are $738 . All three are $758. Ie. the last flight only adds $18, so it doesn't save money. But by booking it on Xmas eve which is still available, I'm thinking I can arrive last at checkin, volunteer to get bumped, and get more than $18 worth of cash compensation to get a nice Xmas dinner in a restaurant in SF. I would never board on the SFO-LAX flight no matter what, though. Worst case I lose $18 and a bit of time at the airport if it's not overbooked. Someone tell me why this isn't a good plan