Bizzare Flight Combinations
 

When looking for flights online, sometimes I come across the oddest itineraries. For instance a 15hr. flight from Chicago to Phoenix routed through Newark and Houston. Why would an airline even offer such a schedule and does anybody take them? Especially when they cost two or three times as much.

Let's see, I can fly non stop in 3 hours for $200 or pay $500 for a 15 hour trip that includes a visit to two more airports. Well, that last one must be the best deal. You get to see all those extra airports for just a little bit more.

I once did a strange flight like that, but it was part of an ultra-low fare. The fare special was $50 from New York to Minneapolis. We stopped in Pittsburgh, Detroit, and somewhere else (Cleveland? can't remember) and it took about 5 or 6 hours. But, I had a friend with me, and for $50 we figured, why not.

Maybe on those online flights (I've seen those too and wondered) it's just the computer finding every possible combination -- one that a human travel agent would immediately dismiss. Funny idea -- see Newark and Houston for only $300 more!

I know what you mean. Every itinerary I look up on American's site, offers me connections in Dallas when I fly out of Ft. Myers. Can you imagine flying from Ft. Myers, Florida to New York City via Dallas?

The funniest of all is that there are non stop flights from nearby Miami to various spots in Europe, and connecting flight to Miami from Ft. Myers (about 200 miles apart). But they will invariably show an option of flying west from Ft. Myers to Dallas --over 1000 miles-- to connect with a flight from Dallas that even connects in New York to get to some of those same European destinations I can fly non stop to from Miami. Sure makes no sense to me.

Those flights are obviously on American--you have to connect in Dallas. If you fly Delta you will have to connect in Atlanta or even Cincinnati. It's the hub system at work.

I was looking at flights recently for Tulsa to Denver. I could fly nonstop on United for about $350. Northwest was having a sale, so I could fly Tulsa-Minneapolis-Denver or Tulsa-Detroit-Denver for less than half the price. Tempting, but we ended up driving.

Gretchen if you are referring to my examples, I don't get the hub system at work idea. Miami is a major American hub also. Why wouldn't it show connecting through Miami which is about a 20 minute flight away, instead of connecting in Dallas which is nearly three hours in the wrong direction and then suggesting a flight to Europe that requires yet another connection in NYC?

Oh, and by the way, those bizarre connections I mention going through Dallas on American show as being far more expensive that the logical and shorter flight going through Miami. I guess I could understand offering that strange multi connection flight if it were a whole lot cheaper, but why would ANYONE want to take the much longer more complicated connections and actually pay more at the same time (other than to rack up more FF miles)?

Scary part is now that people are booking themselves on the internet, novice travelers or simply someone careless and in a hurry, might book these without reading the fine print or realizing (in the case when it is cheaper that is; the more expensive logistically screwed example I can't explain why anyone would purchase it.)

Especially using the "lowest price" option on a website, you could pull a horrible routing, when for $10 more there is a much better one hidden in the list below.

it sure seems like this has come up more this year than any other I can remember!

For instance, this year on Americawest to Cancun, they will show a fare originating in Ontario Ca., but returning to San Diego, Ca., around 100 miles away...not easy if you want to leave your car at the airport!

I think the airlines present alternative routes because their computers are programmed to display all available routes. As you know, the best flights can be sold out, then reopen, depending on how people change their plans. And, even if there is space available on a flight for an individual, it may not be available for a family of four.
Also, the pricing of flight segments or the availability of frequent flier seats may vary from day to day, depending on how full the flight is and other mysterious factors. Plus, airports can be closed due to weather or for other reasons and disrupt the entire system. I'm sure the information is used by a lot of people in a lot of different ways. I think the system was well-thought through.

We just had the misfortune of having to rebook a flight that was cancelled midair due to the snowstorm in Denver that shut the airport. Talk about a mess! By the time our flight returned to the airport, all routes, including the strange ones, were booked for the next day and a half. But the lady at the desk went clickety click for awhile on her computer and came up with a most circuitous route that took us through Canada and she saved our trip. (Though we still lost a day.) You never know when you'll be glad the strange routes are available, or someone has the imagination to think out of the box. I'd like to thank United for our trip, but my ears are still plugged up.

There are plenty of people - most of them regulars on flyertalk.com - that deliberately seek out such connections to maximize mileage for their FF program.

However, if one is doing it for frequent flier miles, one has to carefully weigh the costs and benefits if a flight costs more.

I find frequent flier programs aren't as useful as they were in the past. That's when you really get routed circuitously. It's getting awfully hard to use those miles....

I assumed also caused by finances & cut backs in flights on certain carriers and routes to maximize capacity?

Alaska Air is showing many flights with an OVERNIGHT between Seattle and Mexico destinations like Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta (this is only a 5 hour flight total we're talking about!).

I think you're right, Suze. Never saw such difficult to negotiate flights to Mexico in previous years.

Overnight to PV from Seattle is ridiculous!

Hello all. Interesting thead. What I found odd was when I planned my trip to Atlanta from Sacramento airport (Delta) they showed several flights. The odd thing was that the flight with one to two stops cost more then the nonstop flight.

Only thing I could figure out is that because I wanted to leave around noon, which the nonstop flight did, maybe the other flights were geared more to business flyers (early morning and late afternoon) so they got gouged on the price?

I doubt they are price gouging as much as economizing and figuring out how to fill the flights most efficiently. It may be more efficient to run a couple of "milk runs" at "rush hour" with flights stopping in other destinations and picking up and discharging passengers. It costs the airline more than flying directly, obviously, but they may make more money overall by including those who are traveling in between. So, since they pay more, you pay more. And, in truth, in most cases you actually don't pay more for flights with stopovers. The math of their pricing formulas must be very complex! Most of the airlines are having a very hard time making it financially.

LoveItaly - Airline pricing is so complicated that we'd never figure it out. However, for most fares in the US, a flight with a connection is often ~$5 higher than a non-stop, due to various fees/taxes.

For the ultimate in bizarre flight connections, check out www.skyhighairlines.com and try to book a flight. Enjoy! :D

Hi Orcas and rkkwan, thanks for your good and interesting comments. They make sense. Best wishes.

Let me add that for the actual <b>frequent</b> flyers who &quot;play&quot; the FF games, more important than FF miles are Elite Qualifying Miles, or EQM.

There are significant benefits to being elite, like preferred seat selections, bonus miles, seperate check-in lines, etc... And EQMs are earned only by actual flying, so can't just buy stuff or use an airline credit card. Elite status must also be reqaulified every calendar year, so near the end of each year, if one is close to the next Elite level, it makes a whole lot of sense to fly a longer route with more stopovers.