KevinB

I've read all the information on the Boards, and just when I think I might have an understanding, I get confused again...

I read all the threads about maximizing miles and segments, but am still confused....

I have to fly OAK (SFO?) to Frankfurt soon, and then OAK to LAS in a couple of months, and have been trying to figure out how to maximize my segments...

I looked up flights on expedia and checked rules, and am still REALLY confused...

For example, on the Vegas trip, it seems clear to me that I can fly SFO or OAK to LAX and then LAS, but I'm not sure what a transfer versus stopover is...

One of the routings listed on United stated SFO/LAX/ONT/LAS...

Does that mean I can end up with 4 segments?

As you can see, I'm new to this whole segment thing... I've always just grabbed the direct flight, and never even thought about segments til I started coming here... :-)

I downloaded United Connection 3 to see if it would make it any easier to figure out segments, but it doesn't...

I'd appreciate any information people might be able to offer...

KevinB

jetsetter

To maximize segments, you want to develop an understanding of your carriers "valid routings," which are the cities you are allowed to connect in in any given market. In other words, each market has a "valid routing" which is part of the fare rules, and this tells you what cities you may connect in. In general, your carriers hubs will be valid routing cities, but often connections are allowed in other cities as well.

Stop Over: Means a city that you stop and stay in for more than 4 hours.....so not applicable for this;

Transfer: Means the number of times you can change planes or connect. So if it said 6 transfers for a round-trip, you could have three connections/3 segments each way.

I live in BOS, so am not too familiar with UA's west coast routings. But try going to www.travelocity.com and looking at the fare rules. I think this web site will show you the valid routing cities. What city does the flight leave from to FRA? Let's say its ORD-FRA for the sake of discussion, and your base in SFO.

As long as 4 transfers are allowed each way you could likely route:
SFO-LAX-DEN-ORD-FRA and then
FRA-ORD-DEN-LAX-SFO

Typically to book these segment runs, you need to use the carriers option that is called something like "multipple stop" or "multipple destination," on its web site. Someone else can probably point out the specific steps you need to use for UA bookings. Good luck.

tom911

Kevin-

Each leg would count as a segment (SFO-LAX, LAX-ONT, ONT-LAX would be 3 segments if you used that routing).

Oakland to Frankfurt gives you some more options..you could connect in both Denver and Chicago, or just at Dulles. I normally route myself through Dulles for Europe flights (from SFO, normally costs less from there), but I'm doing miles versus sgements, and can make a London trip into 6,000 miles each way with a Dulles connection.

You could probably do OAK-LAX-IAD-FRA. I get worried about too many segments, as if there are weather problems that just means more delays (and more airports) you have to deal with.

Ewele

Please see postings by Tvl4Free, he has great insights into these things.

------------------
I fly therefore I am!

KevinB

LOL... those postings are what got me here asking questions!

Thanks for all the suggestions.... I'll keep playing and see what I can do.... This board is a dangerous place for a mileage addict... :-)

Thanks!

tvl4free

RE: 80 FROM-TO SFO-UA-LAX-UA-ONT-UA-LAS*

One reason this doesn't work is that UA does not fly from ONT-LAS.



[This message has been edited by tvl4free (edited 11-27-2000).]

tom911

Actually...that was a typo Just reread it. Should have read SFO-LAX, LAX-ONT, ONT-LAS (not LAX). Glad you caught that.

I was just commenting on segments, as this is not a route I have flown (and obviously can't without changing it around to SFO-ONT-LAX-LAS). Thanks for catching that.

[This message has been edited by tom911 (edited 11-26-2000).]

anthonyanthony

I'm certainly no expert at this, but I do have a lot of experience looking for segments. And I don't think SFO-ONT-LAX-LAS will work. I've tried many times to put LAX-ONT into the middle of my itineraries, but everytime I do it, it breaks some rule somewhere and the price of the ticket jumps wildly. This only happens when ONT is not my origin or destination. Anytime I put ONT-LAX in the middle of my trip, such as in LAS-LAX-ONT-SFO, it breaks to a much higher price as compared to LAS-LAX-SFO or LAS-SFO.

As an experiment, I tried to book SFO-LAS-SFO. It came out to $144. Then I tried to book SFO-LAX-LAS-LAX-SFO, and it came out to $155 (the slight extra charge is due to taxes/connecting fees from the extra airport). BUT, when I tried SFO-ONT-LAX-LAS-LAX-ONT-SFO, the price jumped to over $300. And I made sure all my connecting flights were within 4 hours of each other, and that W ineventory was available on all flights, and that 6 transfer were permitted. Everything checked out.

So, I think there is another rule:

YOU CANNOT CONNECT IN TWO CO-TERMINAL CITIES UNLESS ONE IS YOUR ORIGIN OR DESTINATION.

But I'm no expert, so I'm probably wrong. I WANT to be wrong


[This message has been edited by anthonyanthony (edited 11-27-2000).]

tvl4free

Tony,

I misread want they wanted to do...

Tired after 22 segs, I guess. The SFO-ONT-LAX
thing works with the right city pair - I'll e you with details later.