I am learning how to construct a true mileage run. I am in PHL for 48 hours and want to achieve as many PQM as possible at a good CPM. I have used ITA Matrix, but I believe Google Flight has almost the same initial info. From there I can find a flight to NRT connecting through IAD for about $1000. When I try to add other US cities as connections, the price goes up.

Is it better to price as an entire segment and look at routing, or just guess at stops that are allowed. Therein lies my confusion. how can I easily find out which cities to route through to make a reasonable mileage run, a fantastic mileage run.

Often I see a mileage run posted here, and when I type all the segments into google flight, it doe snot appears at that price. Is that because it is sold out or because I have to call United and have them book it...

Thank you.....

If you have expertflyer, you can check the pricing between city pairs and which routings are allowed. However, you also need availability on each of the segments in the fare class you're trying to get the ticket for.

Overall, if you don't have a service like Expertflyer, the best you can do is guess around with ita matrix and suggestions people post on these boards.

Fares have "routing rules" - most airlines (including United on most international routes) specify the cities through which you may connect. However, there may be more restrictions in the fare rules (for example, limitations on connections). Some airlines (including American on many international routes) use mileage-based routing rules, so they specify the maximum mileage you can travel under that fare.

It used to be pretty easy to see these routing rules, but these days, the best method, as Bttc says, is with a subscription service like ExpertFlyer.

Lacking that, ITA will often come up with some pretty creative routings if you specify the number of segments you want. (PHL:: UA UA UA UA+)

So is the best way to find a reasonable price on a return trip, say PHL to CGK. Then using that booking look up the fare rules and try to recreate the same trip within those rules which should price out the same.

ITA is great with the UA+ code, however, I still find that it gives star alliance partners (ie air Canada) on some connections, although I specifies UA only.

Also, on ITA, I wanted to exclude Toronto (YYZ) so includes ~YYZ but it still gave some YYZ Connections.

Looking at a flight from YHZ to ORD, I used
UA+ ~YYZ
In the hopes of multiple UA connections and excluding those through YYZ, but it didn't work. It still showed connections through Toronto. What did I do wrong.

I think your syntax on the advanced routing code is wrong...

UA+ ~YYZ

means "one or more UA flights, not followed by YYZ". So the UA+ could include a pair of UA flights connecting via YYZ. I think what you are requesting is:

UA ~YYZ UA

which would mean "a pair of UA flights, not connecting at YYZ". But this may include codeshares (i.e. AC via BOS). A different way to do this is to express connections positively:

UA EWR,ORD,IAD,IAH,DEN,LAX,SFO UA

so it would list only flights connecting thru UA hubs, which also tends to encourage UA metal. You may get more options changing to "UA+" on either end, but that may reintroduce YYZ.

So I subscribed to Expert Flyer which gives a lot of great information...

However, I am looking for a PQM flight from YHZ-BWI, so I look under fare routing with the dates and find a great price with code.

However, Expert Flyer doesn't seem to actually populate a routing at that fare. Is it possible to have it give you a valid fare routing using that code?

Also, when looking at the last line -> 1. YHZ-PHL-WAS/PHL/NYC/BOS-BWI
Help explains,

Airports separated by a dash (-) indicate a city connecting to, but not required, for the route.

Airports separated by a slash (/) indicate that any one of those airports may be substituted for the other in constructing a route for this fare.

However, which airport is WAS.. I can't find it nor understand the YHZ-PHL-WAS.. help....

V FARE BASIS BK FARE TRAVEL-TICKET AP MINMAX RTG
1 RA30ZNH3 R X 130.00 ---- 30/1 -/ - 303
PASSENGER TYPE-ADT AUTO PRICE-YES
FROM-YHZ TO-BWI CXR-US TVL-08OCT14 RULE-611C CPR/13
FARE BASIS-RA30ZNH3 SPECIAL FARE DIS-N VENDOR-ATP
FARE TYPE-SIP OW-INSTANT PURCHASE
CAD 142.00 0303 E01AUG14 D-INFINITY FC-RA30ZNH3 FN-
SYSTEM DATES - CREATED 01AUG14/0923 EXPIRES INFINITY

PUBLISHED RTG YHZ-BWI/US303 /TAR-CRG1 EF-01AUG14 DIS-INDEF

MAP CONSTRUCTED LEFT TO RIGHT AND RIGHT TO LEFT
1. YHZ-PHL-WAS/PHL/NYC/BOS-BWI

As I construct a good mileage run, I am trying to fly into and out of LAX, ie arrive before midnight and depart on teh red eye. Ideally being on the same aircraft would reduce possible issues. How can I easily determine which incoming and outgoing flights are on same plane, or maybe no planes go back the same way. ie IAH-LAX; LAX-IAH

You can't determine that much in advance for a bigger airport like LAX. And, even if you could, they could always change in case of IRROPS.