christravelblog

I did book already a fare but now looking to one that routes (through CTU or XMN, don't want to fly to WUH/HGH as it's much farther, more miles but more time) to HAK (Haikou) or SYX (Sanya) on Hainan Island?
OR to Harbin HRB..

19 december depart from Lisbon and return 4 january 2016 to lisbon (this dates do work on XMN) gives 1005 euro. But seems I can't get it to route to HAK or SYX that would be great as these flights there are not the cheapest in china around these dates.

EDIT: could be due to the fact Lisbon has more restrict fares; can't also get a 3 month stopover on the way back in Amsterdam. not allowed.
So, Madrid/Barcelona best option. But still cannot get it to route to HAK/SYX/HRB (preferred HRB) anyone?

Concerto

Just completed my trip, from HKG back to MAD via AMS. It was excellent, with a lovely flat seat as good as 1st class on some other airlines and excellent gastronomy. The lamb dish was one of the best airline meals I ever had. Seat 1A was pleasant and private. Even the connecting flight to MAD was good, with a really attentive purser, and a choice of hot meal. There was a commotion back in Economy on that flight, though, with a passenger who apparently refused to budge from an emergency exit seat she was not entitled to. Caused quite a stir, but the KLM girls managed to calm everything down and arrived at MAD without any further incident.

For those of you on this trip who are up in the air, there tend to be quite a few delays in and out of MAD due to sudden thunderstorms these last couple of days.

Ldnn1

Just booked this fare MAD-AMS-PEK-PVG-XIY-HKG-AMS-VLC, including stopovers in Beijing, Shanghai, Xian and Hong Kong. Outstanding deal for £818ai.

It was an absolute PITA to book, though. First tried the ITA Matrix Delta scrape but that wouldn't complete. Numerous Delta/KLM/AF phone agents couldn't get it right. Amex Travel priced it online but wouldn't complete. Flight Centre no hope. Eventually managed it online through Cheapoair - not ideal but will just hope no major schedule changes to deal with.

Anyway, very happy with this and look forward to trying out KL's WBC.

KL803

Very well done! Is the AMS-PEK on CZ's 388 or on KL metal? You shouldn't worry about having booked through Cheapoair. I too booked through a German OTA in spring, when schedule changes jeopardized my itinerary, I sorted out with KL directly, no questions asked.

TLVtraveler

wow that's great! I'm just wondering how you managed to pull it off, I thought stopovers are no longer permitted with this fare.

Can you please share your dates and flight details? I will be in Spain during December and would like to book the same itinerary as you...

Ldnn1

AMS-PEK on KL 747. The CZ flight was available but on an A330 - I considered taking it purely out of curiosity but the KL flight has better timings so stuck with that.

Ldnn1

Unlimited stopovers are still permitted from Spain and there are no date restrictions on the fare so you can (in theory) do this in December.

I'm going in March. My flights PEK-PVG, PVG-XIY and XIY-HKG are all on MU booked in J class. However, most of the MU flights don't have J available, only F, which isn't permitted. Conversely, CZ has J available but that isn't permitted. XIY-HKG is possible on KA but wasn't available when I needed.

In summary, it's a difficult itinerary to build so you need to:

- subscribe to Expertflyer
- study the routing rules carefully
- find the right availability on EF for your dates
- input those flights into Matrix to price it up
- then find somewhere to book it.

Good luck!

TLVtraveler

I have expertflyer and know this sale very well (booked and flown several myself in recent months). All of my trips so far were from/to TLV, I will try playing with it when originating from Spain.
If you can please share your exact dates, it will help me in comparing it with my trip...

Thank you and great Job!! I thought my TLV-CDG-PVG-CTU-PEK-AMS-TLV for 1280$ with stopovers all the way was a success but you just took it to a new level

AOIMUC

If you have any suggestions about an OTA to book one of this multi-segment tickets with stopovers please give us a hint ...

Ldnn1

I won’t share my exact dates (I like to keep a measure of privacy) but I can tell you that the MU flights which had J availability - which is the tricky bit - on some of the dates I was looking at were:

PKG-PVG: MU271, MU563
PVG-XIY: MU5009, MU 292, MU522
XIY-HKG: MU203

You can also do it a different way round – PEK-XIY-PVG-HKG – taking any Air China flight in Y from PEK-XIY, MU in J XIY-PVG and then CX/KA in I PVG-HKG.

See my first post above.

KL803

Unfortunately, the unlimited stopovers have disappeared. A bit sad

Concerto

That is indeed a shame. Would it still be possible to put a single stopover in, such as I did in Hong Kong? Maybe these fares are now just valid to those cities they are promoting. Although the planes seemed pretty full when I was on them, so there's definitely a market for them.

KL803

Now that you mention it: my post was a bit unclear, no stopovers allowed anymore .

Freewilly

And the rules changed. You can't change or cancel your ticket anymore.

The old fare base gives you the opportunity to change for: 240 Euro and cancel 400 Euro.

Concerto

I tried to claim for the Xiamen Air flight which wasn't taken in the end but for which I had a boarding pass. I got a sharp email back from Flying Blue saying I could not credit to two different programmes. I had been rebooked on KA619 and credited that to BAEC. I kind of knew that they would know, and felt slightly uneasy while making the claim. After all, I don't want my account closed down!~