Understanding Backtracking
Sep 15, 2004 | 10:38 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Falls Church, VA
Programs: United, Starwood
Posts: 279
Understanding Backtracking
One of the rules for the UA RTW is no backtracking. I understand this to mean that you can't go backwards. But what if the only *A route to your next destination requires a connection through a city you have already transited? Are you just out of luck? For example, if you want to go from DC to Prague, the SA website says take Lufthansa from IAD-FRA-PRA. But if you want to go from Prague to Athens, SA says take Lufthansa PRA-FRA-ATH. My question is, does the double connection through FRA violate the backtracking rules?
Sep 15, 2004 | 11:37 am
#2
Original Member
Join Date: May 1998
Location: CH-3823 Wengen Switzerland
Programs: miles&more, MileagePlus
Posts: 27,043
Originally Posted by askias
One of the rules for the UA RTW is no backtracking. I understand this to mean that you can't go backwards. But what if the only *A route to your next destination requires a connection through a city you have already transited? Are you just out of luck? For example, if you want to go from DC to Prague, the SA website says take Lufthansa from IAD-FRA-PRA. But if you want to go from Prague to Athens, SA says take Lufthansa PRA-FRA-ATH. My question is, does the double connection through FRA violate the backtracking rules?
Sep 15, 2004 | 1:17 pm
#4
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: weekdays:ATL; weekends:Elsewhere
Posts: 1,094
I believe that the OP is asking about the UA "Round the World" Promo, which has the following routing restrictions.
In this case, the rules state that no city may be transited more than once, so connecting in FRA twice is likely prohibited. A possible solution might be IAD-FRA-PRG and then PRG-VIE-ATH.
Valid Routing: Travel must commence from and return to the same country and must be in a continuous global direction either Eastbound or Westbound. The direction of travel cannot be reversed once travel has commenced. Backtracking is not permitted and no city is to be transited more than once. Northbound and Southbound variations are not allowed. Travel must include only one Trans-Atlantic crossing and only one Trans-Pacific crossing. Travel may not be completed at a point beyond the point at which travel commenced.