Bacopa

UA SFO-MKE 4.5cpm

Sample:

San Francisco (SFO) to Milwaukee (MKE) - Wed, Aug 21
San Francisco (SFO) to Houston (IAH) - Wed, Aug 21
United 1498 Dep: 7:26AM Arr: 1:19PM 3h 53m Boeing 757 Economy (N)
Layover in IAH 0h 50m

Houston (IAH) to Chicago (ORD) - Wed, Aug 21
United 1207 Dep: 2:09PM Arr: 4:51PM 2h 42m Boeing 737 Economy (N)
Layover in ORD 1h 9m

Chicago (ORD) to Milwaukee (MKE) - Wed, Aug 21
United 5425 Dep: 6:00PM Arr: 6:46PM 0h 46m Canadair Reg. Jet Economy (N)
OPERATED BY SKYWEST DBA UNITED EXPRESS

Milwaukee (MKE) to San Francisco (SFO) - Thu, Aug 22
Milwaukee (MKE) to Chicago (ORD) - Thu, Aug 22
United 5431 Dep: 11:51AM Arr: 12:37PM 0h 46m Canadair Reg. Jet Economy (N)
OPERATED BY SKYWEST DBA UNITED EXPRESS Layover in ORD 2h 56m

Chicago (ORD) to Houston (IAH) - Thu, Aug 22
United 780 Dep: 3:33PM Arr: 6:09PM 2h 36m Boeing 757 Economy (N)
Layover in IAH 3h 6m

Houston (IAH) to San Francisco (SFO) - Thu, Aug 22
United 280 Dep: 9:15PM Arr: 11:20PM 4h 5m Airbus A320 Economy (N)

Cost per passenger (including taxes & fees) $236.40
Total cost for 1 passenger $236.40

Postal007

For those looking for same day turns, you can have them via ORD on Saturdays. Although the total mileage is slightly less, if you are Premier you get the 500 mile minimums from ORD to MKE (67 flight miles), which brings total CPM down to about 4.4.

Flight from: San Francisco, CA (SFO) to Chicago, IL (ORD - O'Hare)

Depart: 7:52 a.m., Sat., Sep. 14, 2013
Arrive: 2:05 p.m. Sat., Sep. 14, 2013
Flight Number: UA288
Distance: 1,846 miles
Aircraft: Boeing 757-200
Fare Class: United Economy (N)
Meal: Meals for Purchase
No Special Meal Offered.


Flight from: Chicago, IL (ORD - O'Hare) to Milwaukee, WI (MKE)

Depart: 3:03 p.m., Sat., Sep. 14, 2013
Arrive: 3:48 p.m. Sat., Sep. 14, 2013
Flight Number: UA5298
Distance: 67 miles
Aircraft: Canadair Regional Jet 200
Fare Class: United Economy (N)
Meal: None


Flight from: Milwaukee, WI (MKE) to Chicago, IL (ORD - O'Hare)

Depart: 4:18 p.m., Sat., Sep. 14, 2013
Arrive: 5:05 p.m. Sat., Sep. 14, 2013
Flight Number: UA5298
Distance: 67 miles
Aircraft: Canadair Regional Jet 200
Fare Class: United Economy (N)
Meal: None


Flight from: Chicago, IL (ORD - O'Hare) to San Francisco, CA (SFO)

Depart: 7:15 p.m., Sat., Sep. 14, 2013
Arrive: 9:40 p.m. Sat., Sep. 14, 2013
Flight Number: UA500
Distance: 1,846 miles
Aircraft: Boeing 777-200
Fare Class: United Economy (N)
Meal: Meals for Purchase
No Special Meal Offered.

$208 all in

gunney07

Nice find I missed this the last time around a couple months ago. I wish you could route through ewr though.

cloudybw

Impossible at ticketing, but possible via SDC.

mojo2121

I hope DL matches this fare - missed out on the MKE-LAX beauty :X

maradori

oh please oh please oh please let this fare still be available after i leave the toilet ... there's been a huge drought of UA ex-SFO fares so far this year!!

canadiancow

This isn't even that great! And there have been several good UA fares.

I have a SFO-EWR-SFO fare that cost me 3.86cpm.
SFO-IAH-EWR-SFO 3.53cpm
SFO-IAH-DEN-GRR-CLE-IAH-SFO 3.45cpm

And I had SFO-CLT-CLE-CLT-SFO for 2.98cpm on US.

That being said, I'm about ready to book if I can earn 14k miles on any *A airlines in August

LukeRB

I'm looking into booking one of these (my first-ever MR!), and came across a strange issue. I hunted around and found the below itin on ITA that, after the 500 mile min for MKE-ORD, would net ~6400 miles at $217, or 3.4cpm (not bad for a noob ).



Needless to say, entering it on Hipmunk and United resulted in errors and "no results matching my search" messages. Perplexed, I called the Premier Priority Line ( I know this is looked down upon) and asked them to price the flight for me (after I told them I was visiting MKE for a meeting ). She entered the flight numbers and, to my surprise, said it would cost $211. What made this better was her reaction ("So, it'll be $211…whaaa?! 211?! Ya, 211…wow.").

Anyway, I wanted to check with my gf to see if she wanted in on the MR, so I HUCB a few hours later. Upon calling back, I was told that the flight was an 'illegal routing' because it went east to IAH, then west to DEN and then east again to ORD, and going 'back and forth' is not allowed. I've never heard of an illegal routing and, more strangely, had one rep price out a fare and another basically tell me no.

A few questions:

1. Is the routing and fare I found on ITA legit?
2. Is it possible to turn in 34 minutes at MKE, and what happens if one of the inbound flights are delayed?
3. Are 'illegal routings' allowed on UA despite being…illegal?
4. If I want to book this flight, what is the best way to go about booking it?
5. In the future, what would be the best thing for me to do in this situation?

Thanks, as always,
Luke

canadiancow

1. If ITA displays it, it's almost certainly valid.
2. MKE is fairly small. You should have no problem doing a turn in 34 minutes. If something is delayed, you'll be protected onto a later flight, but they might not be able to get you home the same day on the same routing.
3. Illegal routings cannot be ticketed as far I know. But this isn't illegal
4. Call back to get an agent who will do it.
5. Book it when you find an agent willing to do it.

Now, when I enter your exact itinerary, it's coming up as $284, so that fare on that day may be gone. I'm seeing GAG14KS. What were you seeing? NAK21CS or NAP21CS?

I had a problem booking something similar on Air Canada (a routing like that for a flight I needed to take). The first agent booked it, and when I called back because I was having problems upgrading it, I got a "talking to" about this being "abuse" and "roundabout routings are not allowed" but that they would honour it "this time".

Anyway, my strategy if you really find a bad agent is to ask them to look up the routing rules for the exact fare you're looking at on ITA. For example, if it's NAK21CS, the routing rules are:

1. SFO-SFO/LAX/HOU/DEN-HOU/DEN/CLE/CHI-MKE

That means you can do SFO-HOU-DEN-MKE. It's perfectly valid.

If this were still available, I'd consider booking one. I'm really trying not to take any time off work for a pure MR though

LukeRB

I just booked SFO-IAH-MKE-ORD-SFO on 9/14 (4965 miles with 500 mile min for $206, or 4.15cpm). Anyone else on that itin or doing a 9/14 run?

On a separate note, will anyone be in the following airports at the specified times and (a) willing to guest me at a club/lounge and/or (b) interested in grabbing coffee or a beer to talk travel?

IAH 1200-1300
MKE 1540-1715
ORD 1805-1915

Also, thanks to the OP, Bacopa, for reposting the MR on FT!

Cheers,
Luke

SFOTerry

I have a 9/13-9/14 SFO-LAX-ORD-MKE-IAH-SFO, but I am only planned to be at IAH from 1035-1132 on 9/14.

Sorry.

Richym99

I'll be doing SFO-ORD on the 14th on UA1233.This was a great MR to link me in between a LHR-GIG run (stopover at ORD on the way back) and the SFO-SJO MR published on here.

All told, 52,000 PQM's in 15 days, mostly in BF or F with a 3 days break in Rio (a place I would never have considered before seeing the LIS-GIG run published on here) and 4 days in LAS to finish off. Great way to spend 14 rest days off work.

LukeRB

Richym99, I'll be at ORD 1805-1915, and it looks like you'll be landing around 1645. If you'll be around, it would be great grab a drink and/or hang out in the UC while talking travel. When will you be departing ORD on 9/14?

Richym99

LukeRB.

Sadly it looks like I'll be heading for the gate just as you arrive. I'm booked on 928 to LHR at 1845.

LukeRB

I'm doing this run 9/14 SFO-IAH-MKE-ORD-SFO; Anyone else doing the run that day as well? If so, reply here or shoot me a PM.

Cheers,
Luke