Canarsie

I just recently completed a round-trip itinerary between Atlanta and San Diego...

...through London.

Yes, the one in England.

Well, it was actually less expensive this way. What can I say?!?

I had to change aircraft in London in both directions. Imagine that — having to travel to a different country on a different continent to change aircraft on a domestic round-trip ticket in the United States.

I have also on this itinerary had to change aircraft in Cincinnati and — yes, you guessed it — Atlanta.

Other itineraries include:

• Going through Honolulu three times for a round-trip itinerary between Atlanta and Phoenix
• Driving to Huntsville, Alabama for a round-trip itinerary between Huntsville and Oakland via Houston, Seattle and Anchorage and taking the Bay Area Rapid Transit system to travel between Oakland to San Francisco
• ...and even minor wacky travel itineraries such as traveling round-trip between Atlanta and Indianapolis, only to drive three hours each way between Indianapolis and my final destination, which was Chicago

While the examples I posted here are based on round-trips and not on multi-city destinations, which would require an entirely different thread for me, what wacky and insane round-trip itineraries have other FlyerTalk members encountered?

choster

Nothing so extreme for me. But flying ITH-BGM-EWR (x)-SDF-IAH (x)-SFO (x)-LAX was my worst Christmas Eve ever, although for $239 round trip (with a student discount voucher) booked two weeks prior to travel, I suppose I should have been grateful.

At least I did not have to wait as usual while the agent figured out how to allow a 4:25 layover at EWR... oh wait, I did, for the return (an otherwise much more reasonable LAX-EWR (x)-BGM-ITH). Flying out of ITH soured me on Continental for a decade.

rankourabu

MEL-SYD-LAX and then immediately a round trip LAX-DTW-MEM-ATL-AMS-IST (4 days)-AMS-MSP-MEM-LAX, and then immediately LAX-MSP-DTW-YYZ, all within a week last January.

Seat 2A

Wimps! I once did 105 flights covering 104,220 miles in just three weeks.

13-May
DEN SLC EASTERN 727-100 N8126N 380
SLC STL EASTERN 727-100 N8126N 1160
STL ATL EASTERN 727-100 N8126N 480
ATL MIA EASTERN 727-200 N8829E 600
MIA SFO EASTERN L-1011 N336EA 2590
SFO MIA EASTERN L-1011 N336EA 2590
14-May
MIA SJU EASTERN L-1011 N336EA 1050
SJU ATL EASTERN L-1011 N322EA 1520
ATL LAX EASTERN L-1011 N322EA 1950
LAX ATL EASTERN L-1011 N322EA 1950
15-May
ATL CAE EASTERN 727-100 N8163G 170
CAE CLT EASTERN 727-100 N8163G 100
CLT ORD EASTERN 727-200 N8880Z 600
ORD MCO EASTERN DC-9-30 N8938E 1000
MCO JFK EASTERN A300B N208EA 940
JFK IAH EASTERN A300B N206EA 1420
IAH SAT EASTERN A300B N206EA 190
16-May
SAT MSY EASTERN 727-200 N8844E 500
MSY IAH DELTA 727-200 N453DA 310
IAH MEX AIR FRANCE 747-200 F-BPVS 760
17-May
MEX ACA EASTERN L-1011 N323EA 190
ACA JFK EASTERN L-1011 N323EA 2260
18-May
JFK IAH EASTERN 727-100 N8132N 1420
IAH ATL EASTERN 727-100 N8128N 690
ATL DFW EASTERN 727-100 N8167G 720
DFW TUS EASTERN 727-100 N8167G 810
TUS DFW EASTERN 727-100 N8167G 810
19-May
DFW ATL EASTERN 727-100 N8167G 720
ATL CLT EASTERN DC-9-50 N405EA 230
CLT EWR EASTERN 727-100 N8154G 540
EWR BOS EASTERN 727-100 N8154G 200
BOS MSY EASTERN 727-100 N8148N 1370
MSY MIA EASTERN 727-200 N8857E 670
MIA CLT EASTERN 727-100 N8142N 650
CLT ATL EASTERN DC-9-30 N8920E 230
20-May
ATL SJU EASTERN L-1011 N318EA 1520
SJU MIA EASTERN L-1011 N318EA 1050
MIA MCO EASTERN L-1011 N318EA 190
MCO BOS EASTERN L-1011 N318EA 1120
BOS IAH EASTERN 727-100 N8143N 1600
IAH ATL EASTERN 727-100 N8129N 690
21-May
ATL SEA EASTERN L-1011 N313EA 2180
SEA PDX EASTERN L-1011 N313EA 130
PDX SEA EASTERN 727-200 N8860E 130
SEA ATL EASTERN L-1011 N313EA 2180
ATL SFO EASTERN A300B N212EA 2140
22-May
SFO MIA EASTERN L-1011 N304EA 2590
23-May
MIA DCA EASTERN DC-9-50 N409EA 920
DCA EWR EASTERN DC-9-50 N405EA 200
EWR DEN UNITED DC-8-61 N8092U 1620
DEN PHX CONTINENTAL 727-100 N40485 590
24-May
PHX ABQ EASTERN 727-200 N8853E 330
ABQ ATL EASTERN 727-200 N8853E 1270
ATL DAB EASTERN 727-200 N8865E 380
DAB JAX EASTERN 727-200 N8865E 110
JAX ORD EASTERN 727-200 N8865E 860
ORD ATL EASTERN L-1011 N322EA 610
25-May
ATL SJU EASTERN L-1011 N322EA 1520
SJU MIA EASTERN L-1011 N322EA 1050
MIA RDU EASTERN DC-9-30 N8951E 680
RDU ATL EASTERN 727-100 N8174G 290
ATL DEN EASTERN 727-100 N8174G 1210
DEN ATL EASTERN 727-200 N8851E 1210
26-May
ATL RIC EASTERN DC-9-30 N8925E 460
RIC LGA EASTERN DC-9-30 N8925E 280
LGA MSY EASTERN 727-100 N8134N 1180
MSY ATL EASTERN 727-200 N8846E 430
ATL MSP EASTERN 727-100 N8147N 910
MSP IND EASTERN 727-100 N8147N 500
IND SDF EASTERN 727-100 N8147N 110
SDF STL EASTERN 727-100 N8147N 250
STL SEA EASTERN 727-200 N8872Z 1710
28-May
SEA ATL EASTERN L-1011 N302EA 2180
ATL SYR EASTERN 727-200 N8835E 790
SYR PHL EASTERN 727-200 N8835E 230
PHL MIA EASTERN 727-200 N8831E 1010
MIA TPA EASTERN 727-200 N8871Z 200
29-May
TPA TLH EASTERN 727-100 N8143N 210
TLH ATL EASTERN 727-100 N8143N 240
ATL RDU EASTERN 727-100 N8143N 290
RDU JFK EASTERN 727-100 N8143N 450
JFK MCO EASTERN L-1011 N339EA 940
MCO ATL EASTERN L-1011 N339EA 410
30-May
ATL SEA EASTERN L-1011 N318EA 2180
SEA PDX EASTERN L-1011 N318EA 130
PDX SEA EASTERN 727-200 N8891Z 130
SEA STL EASTERN 727-200 N8891Z 1710
STL MIA EASTERN 727-200 N8891Z 1070
MIA PIT EASTERN 727-200 N8884Z 1010
PIT ATL EASTERN DC-9-30 N8924E 530
31-May
ATL SJU EASTERN L-1011 N309EA 1520
SJU EWR EASTERN 727-200 N8871Z 1610
EWR MIA EASTERN L-1011 N318EA 1090
MIA BDL EASTERN 727-200 N8881Z 1190
BDL ATL EASTERN 727-200 N8881Z 860
1-Jun
ATL LAX EASTERN L-1011 N308EA 1950
LAX JFK EASTERN L-1011 N308EA 2480
JFK SFO EASTERN L-1011 N313EA 2590
SFO MIA EASTERN L-1011 N303EA 2590
2-Jun
MIA SJU EASTERN L-1011 N309EA 1050
SJU ATL EASTERN L-1011 N309EA 1520
ATL LAX EASTERN A300B N210EA 1950
LAX ATL EASTERN A300B N210EA 1950
3-Jun
ATL STL EASTERN 727-100 N8142N 480
STL SEA EASTERN 727-100 N8142N 1710

Call me crazy, cuz I didn't even earn any miles. It was back in 1980 on one of Eastern Airlines' Unlimited Mileage Fares. The total price was $500.00. I was young and liked to fly. I used to do a bunch of stuff like this back in the seventies and early eighties. Back then, You could buy 30 day memberships into Eastern's Ionosphere Club and American's Ambassador Club for just $25.00.

Princess1

Geez, and here I thought PHX-HNL via IAH and CLT was nuts.

Kiwi Flyer

One example, by no means the only crazy itinerary I have flown.

New York to San Francisco, the long way

via Singapore, Bangkok, Singapore again, Auckland and Los Angeles.

Another example is Auckland to Los Angeles

via Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Brunei, Kuala Lumpur again, and Singapore again
and on the way back via Mexico City, Los Angeles, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, and Singapore again.

Kiwi Flyer

Reminds me of my 66 flights over 146,040 flown miles in 4 weeks. 2 RTWs + longhaul side trips. 1 lifetime status.

SirJman

ICN-(7 hours)HNL-MSP-DTW(6 hours)-ORD-DEL
MAN-AMS-DTW(4 hours)-NRT-GUM(6 hours)-KIX(10 hours)-TPE

I have an upcoming
GMP-PUS-HKG-TPE-LAX-MEX(6 hours)-IAH-DTW-YOW

CPRich

I flew home from my project site in Bartlesville, OK on a Thursday evening, returning from Pittsburgh home Tuesday morning after a long weekend, with a quick stopover in Val d'Isere for a day and a half of skiing.

TUL-STL-PIT-FRA-LYS-FRA-PIT-STL-TUL

Loren Pechtel

I have had the United website offer me Las Vegas to Shanghai via Philadelphia and a few other such cities. The odds of successfully completing the itinerary were low (tight connection through snow), though, I never would have actually flown it.

Buzzard

did a same-day rust belt run once:

CMH-CLE-MDW-CLE-DTW-CLE-CMH

troyb

Not nearly as crazy as these other ones, but rather than go JFK-LAX/SFO-SYD, we went JFK-LAX-ORD-YUL-LHR-SIN-SYD (and almost had an extra stop in BNE between SIN and SYD).

RCyyz

OK guys - I gotta ask The Question.

Why?!

Are these all MRs (which I understand perfectly well, even though I've never done one myself)? Or is it truely lowest-cost fare that's doing these wild and wacky itineraries?

Canarsie

It was less expensive for me for a round-trip airfare between Atlanta and San Diego via London twice than non-stop.

It was as simple as that.

Go figure...

Palal

What kind of prices are we talking about?