Open Jaw + Layover
 

I think I know the answer for this -- I am doing some advance planning, and based of the 'pain and suffering' of a long flight from Europe, plus long flight home to Phoenix from the east coast, I am checking to see if one can (using FF miles) book an open jaw (Phoenix/Barcelona + Amsterdam/Phoenix) AND a layover in Philadelphia.

I know one can do the open jaw, I know one can do the layover. I'd like to do both.

According to the rules, no. However, there are many US reps that will let you do it anyways. But if you try to do that, be prepared to call back and try again, and ideally have a backup plan to make it a valid itinerary. You can always just put it on hold, call back and try to get someone to change it afterwards.

Presumably where you've written "layover" (usually used to mean "connection") you mean "stopover". Remember that on an international itinerary, anything under 24 hours is a connection and not a stopover, so you could fly AMS-PHL and spend the better part of 24 hours (flight schedules and award inventory permitting) there before continuing on to PHX. (I should throw in here that I'm far from an expert on US's rules, but I seem to have noticed people reporting 23-hour connections in the *A award thread.)

The answer is "no" for a couple of reasons, all which are answered here:
http://shopping.usairways.com/en-US/...mberguide.html

Thanks for the answers. If I was allowed a 20 hour or so 'layover' or 'stopover' that would do the trick. What I would like to to simply is arrive on the return in Philadelphia -- say early afternoon. Then leave the airport and stay overnight at a hotel and take a morning flight the next day.

The flight sets I'd be looking for would be

Phoenix/Barcelona (via Philadelphia) (no stop over or layover)
Amsterdam/Phoenix (via Philadelphia) with a stop over as between the long flight and the serious backlog at the TSA 'recheck' line, in our 60's, I am just too old for that these days <smile>.