MaxNC

Okay, I'm very new at this, and want to get good at it! I'm trying to take advantage of DL double MQMs to and from RDU as much as possible and learn this skill as well. Can someone help me figure out how to choose intermediate points btw your departure and arrival? I understand that there are limitations based on routing guidelines, but I'm not understanding what Expedia's throwing at me because it's not airport codes, but thousands of flt numbers.



Instead of seeing this, an excerpt from an earlier post:
ROUTING 550 FROM LAX-UA-LAS-
VIA UA-DEN-UA-DTT/PIT-UA-CHI-UA-
NYC/EWR/PHL/CLT-UA-WAS/ORL/TPA-UA-MIA-
TO UA-RIO*
OR TO UA-SAO-YY-RIO*

Expedia is giving me this, and I don't know how to (or if I should) work with this:
FLIGHT APPLICATION
THE FARE COMPONENT MUST BE ON
ONE OR MORE OF THE FOLLOWING
DL FLIGHTS 1 THROUGH 1334
DL FLIGHTS 1400 THROUGH 5899
DL FLIGHTS 5954 THROUGH 5996
DL FLIGHTS 6000 THROUGH 9999
IN COMBINATION WITH
ONE OR MORE OF THE FOLLOWING
ANY DL FLIGHT.
THE FARE COMPONENT MUST BE ON
ONE OR MORE OF THE FOLLOWING
DL FLIGHTS 1 THROUGH 1334
DL FLIGHTS 1400 THROUGH 5899
DL FLIGHTS 5954 THROUGH 5996
DL FLIGHTS 6000 THROUGH 9999.
NOTE - TEXT BELOW NOT VALIDATED FOR AUTOPRICING.
1. NO DELTA SHUTTLE.

exwannabe

I think most or all the fares have the same list. Likely it's just all the standard commercial flights of DL.

IMHO, your best bet is to learn the ITA routing rules and use those to search.

Ex:

BNA: DL DL DL+
SFO: DL DL DL+

Will search for flights with at least 3 legs on DL each way. Once you start seeing candidates you can put more info into the search.

Tclin

DL's routing rule is easily viewable after dummy booking on their website.

Thank you for trying to use the existing thread.

ted.zhang

i am new here, why i never saw the city code routing rules in rule on any of the following: aa, expedia, travelocity, (all based on aa) ? thanks

cwilson830

Try here: http://www.expertflyer.com/

mad1

Does this substitute for getting the routing rules and manually figuring out the "best" connections to maximize miles? i.e., do people get better results using the ITA tool in "advanced" mode, or by using the method VPescado outlined in the first post?


In the tradition of today's something-for-nothing internet culture - yeah but that's not free

Richard Chen

It may be better to keep this forum about the OP's howto and to leave person-specific questions to other threads in the forum "Mileage Run Discussion".

I add Inside Flyer: The Mileage Run Method as another well-written howto.

suocbull

I have 3 more flights planned for work this year which will likely leave me ~2k miles short of platinum status on UA. I fly between ROA/RIC and ANC. Using my old method of looking for the cheapest flight with the most segments on Kayak, I usually get 3.5-4k miles for ~$350 (one way fare). Using the OPs guide I used ITA and found a trip RIC-EWR-PHX-SEA-PDX-ANC for ~$650 which I think will give me around ~6k miles . Not the deal of the century but I think PP status is worth the ~$300 since I don't have a lot of free time before the end of the year for a separate MR and the premier accelerator is $1600 for 5x as many points as I need. My questions are:

1)Does ITA tend to find the cheapest fares like Kayak, Travelocity, etc?

2)If not is it possible to search these 4+ segment routes on those other discount sites? I tried using the multiplicity feature in Kayak but when it linked me back to UA to buy the fare it only priced the first leg.

3)Is there any way to confirm the amount of miles this itinerary will earn before I call the United agent?

4) I'm not asking people to be my travel agent but if you see me doing something incredibly stupid feel free to point it out.

bigmac13

1) I would hesitate to say anything "always" provides the cheapest fares, but I like ita
2) pick legs that would route through the hubs, ex RIC-PHX may route you through Newark automatically "saving" you a segment
3) www.milecalc.com
4) ^
MAC

odelayih

I'm new to mileage runs and find all this fascinating. I've spent hours reading this forum now and I feel like at the heart of mileage runs are the routing rules for each fare, correct? However, I am having trouble finding the routing rules on Expedia as suggested above. Can someone confirm this is right? If so, where do you guys find the routing rules now?

AMflier

I also have a question forcing an itinerary on AA.com

I'm flying from LA to NYC on Oct 27. I thought that I would add an ORD to DFW jog onto the itinerary to grab some extra miles.

On Matrix, I priced out 3 one ways
AA2392, LAX>ORD Dep 6:00am, Arr 12:08pm $79 in Q
AA2331, ORD>DFW Dep 2:25pm arr 5:03pm $41 in O
AA1170, DFW>LGA Dep 6:20pm arr 10:48pm $41 in O
Total is $161

I tried to book this as one flight on AA.com using the multi city tool, but it wasn't offered. Cheapest I could get those 3 flights for was $310

Is there a way to force this itinerary upon AA.com?

If I book as 3 one ways, what happens if one is delayed?

Thanks in advance

Fare Rules: END-ON-END
END-ON-END COMBINATIONS PERMITTED. VALIDATE ALL FARE
COMPONENTS. IF THE FARE IS USED END-ON-END MUST BE AN A-
B-A COMBINATION. ROUND TRIP EXCURSION FARES MAY NOT BE
COMBINED END-ON-END WITH ANY ROUND TRIP FARE WHEN THESE
FARES HAVE OVERLAPPING TRAVEL PERIODS AND ARE TO/FROM
THE SAME CITIES OF ORIGIN AND DESTINATION AS A STOPOVER
OR FARE BREAK POINT. SIDE TRIPS PERMITTED.

cvision

Tried it myself. Problem is it does want to book them on separate fares I guess.

Problem then is that your three one-way fares cannot be joined on one ticket because of each individual fare-restriction.

Don't know if AA's reacommodation policy for separate tickets / PNRs is still valid, you might want to give their CS a call and inquire. Because if it is, then you could just book your three one ways.

Having a bag then could be troublesome, but since every flight is on AA metal they should be able to check it through, enquire about that, too.

AMflier

Used Multi City
Inputted flights with the departure time near my desired schedule.
Searched by schedule
Chose those specific flights.

Came up as $310

Carry on Only

cvision

See above.

AMflier

Called CS:

Agent said that she thought there would be reaccomcodation, but she wasn't sure. I asked her to double check.

She called the help desk: definitely no reaccommodation.

Checked bags would be up to the airport.

Drat!