how do you get the most segments for the least money
 

How do you use ITN or other web travel booking engine to get the maximum number of segments in the shortest period of time for the least money? Any tricks to this?

I have noticed very convoluted itineraries are sometimes built by the computer, and I wish to take advantage of these for purposes of a mileage run.

Any guidance or tips? Thanks!

We have been more successful on the phone.

I think ITN and Travelocity will give good guidance, but my experience is that it is best to understand potential connections and fares on various routes. Once you begin (by trial and error) to understand the fare soft-spots -- both origin and destination, as well as connection, you can then create an itennerary, using MULTIPLE DESINATIONS on Travelocity or ITN.

For example, I will be flying between Virginia and Boston over the next few weeks. I have found that since Metrojet flies ATL - BOS, that I can book very affordable fares, during certain times of the day from Norfolk to Boston via Atlanta on either US or DL. Also, since US Air Shuttle started service out of Wash-Dulles, the fares from IAD - BOS are quite affordable on either US or UA.

Another sweetspot I found is on SwissAir. SR is offering $330 flights from IAD - ZRH. SR will also fly to Rome or Milan with a connection in Zurich for another $150, and will allow stop-overs under 24 hours. I was able to book a trip to Milan, with a day in Zurich and a day in Rome for $488, which included 6 segments, and with credit on Delta, I get 6 segments credit on DL with over 20,000 miles credit (with my Gold Medallion bonus), so I almost get a free trip with my three city tour, all under $500.

Good luck.

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Richard:

I agree, use the multiple destinations feature of ITN, Expedia, etc.

I also would suggest that you look carefully at the fare rules for the airline/fare you are considering and check the permitted routing.

I flew from DTW to SFO last summer. I could have taken a nonstop, but decided to try a rather convoluted routing and get a few extra miles. I went DTW - MEM - MKE - MSP - SFO on the way out and SFO - MSP - MEM - DTW on the way back. No problems, except the return was tough to schedule in one day. Also, the attendant at the check-in counter in Detroit thought I was crazy (she might be correct).

I had an 18-segment/10-day trip earlier this year. I think I spent all of $800 or so.

I needed to visit 4 customer sites, so I "nested" my trips.

Example:
Day 1: BDL-EWR-IAH-DFW
Day 2: DFW-IAH-MSY
Day 5: MSY-IAH-DFW
Day 6: DFW-IAH-COS
Day 8: COS-IAH-DFW
Day 8: DFW-IAH-HOU
Day 9: HOU-IAH-DFW
Day 10: DFW-CLE-EWR-BDL

My first round-trip was BDL-DFW
My second round-trip was DFW-MSY
My third round-trip was DFW-COS
My fourth round-trip was DFW-HOU

I've found "nesting" can also save you a ton of money. I had to fly to IAH midweek. $800. Instead, I bought a round-trip ticket to LCH (Lake Charles, LA) for $200 and a $100 round-trip ticket to IAH. Midweek to IAH, $300. Ironically, I was flying CO, which meant that I connected to my LCH flight IN IAH.



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"I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own."

It's good to check the double miles promotions at the AA web-site to see if there is anything out of your city. I am going ORD to DFW to LAX and back again instead of going direct. Each segment has it's own double miles promotion. I had an AA certificate for $20 off a $219 fare, so for $199 I will get 2X802, 2X1200 each way.That's 8000 miles, then 1000 for booking on-line and 500 for the sports federation bonus. That's about 9500 miles for $200. The trip pays for itself.

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DtG