Your most extreme flight itinerary?

[Keith T 2]

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/world...4761751634.html

 

Frequent flyer loves high air-mile club

Mary-Anne Toy Herald Correspondent in Beijing | March 31, 2007

 

FRAN JELLEY'S itinerary sounds like the flight plan from hell. The 59-year-old education consultant flew from Sydney to Washington via Singapore, Shanghai, Tokyo and San Francisco so she could catch the inaugural direct flight from the US capital to Beijing. But the routing was deliberate. She did it just for kicks.

 

By the time Ms Jelley gets back to her home in Lewisham on April 10, she will have clocked up 42,488 miles (68,378 kilometres). That is 88 hours and 52 minutes in the air, not including delays.

 

This might sound unbearable to many people, but for Ms Jelley it was almost purely business-class pleasure all the way.

 

"I was in 15H - do you know your 747 layouts? It was just heavenly," she purred.

 

...

 

The woman quoted is from Flyertalk.

 

For me, I think my longest would be 36 hours last December MEL-BKK-FRA-ORD (including 8 hours spent in FRA). It was a mileage booster on my way to the States. flying the 'wrong' way instead of the transpacific.

 

I've not done any inaugural flights. Some mates of mine were trying to convince me to do the SIN-EWR inaugural, longest flight in the world et al. But I couldn't justify the idea of MEL-SIN-EWR-SIN-MEL all at once, which is what some of them did (from places like CGK, AKL, and even CDG!). Till this day I've yet to set foot on the SIN-EWR nonstop as I don't know how such a long flight can be bearable even with the extra 5" on the A345 business class seats over regular business class. I've to give my kudos to pax who've managed the flight in Economy.

 

I have however done a 'farewell flight', on one of the last ever Concorde flights - BA97 on Thursday 2nd October 2003 YYZ-JFK on a farewell repositioning. I'd connected to that flight from a regular AC subsonicLHR-YYZ. But I stayed in NYC for a few days prior to returning to London. Couldn't afford Concorde all the way on the transatlantic unfortunately and my 2 subsonic TATLs in AC business / BA Club World LHR-YYZ/JFK-LHR were paid for with miles. Even then family and friends thought I was crazy. And I was supposed to be spending my midsemester break in London for an 'educational' conference.

 

So what's the single longest itinerary you've voluntarily done? And for what intent? (eg, getting on to inaugurals, farewells, or just mileage runs?) For the purpose of this little survey, transit time spent in airports can be included.

Edited April 1, 2007 by Keith T

[Seth K 3]

I never hv extreme itinerary.........but I am thinking of having one, just hoping some error at orbitz.com or expedia

Edited April 1, 2007 by Seth K

[Keith T 2]

I never hv extreme itinerary.........but I am thinking of having one, just hoping some error at orbitz.com or expedia

 

 

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=372

 

Just keep a look out on that forum. It's how I got my THB1/night room at the Holiday Inn Phuket. And a friend just flew DUB-LHR-MCT-BKK return on a Gulf Air fare error in First for next to nothing!

 

Another good one is www.farecompare.com

 

Have to be quick because the airlines/hotels will fix the errors up when it's discovered - usually within 12 hours. And if you do get it, it's then a finger twiddling game of whether the airline/hotel will honour the error. Most of them do though - an exception I can think of is Marriott.

 

But error or not - I'm still interested to hear of any extreme itineraries people might have had.

Edited April 1, 2007 by Keith T

[Guest Levent]

I think my longest itinerary to date would have to be VLC-CIA-VLC-BRU-SAW-BRU-VLC-PMI-BSL/ZRH-PMI-BCN-IST-BKK, although it wasn't all in one trip but very close together. This was with eight different airlines.

 

My longest 'single-trip flights' to date are AMS-CDG-MAD-GIG-EZE on Aerolineas Argentinas and BKK-TPE-LAX on Eva Air.

[Walter Sim 1]

Havent traveled much so this could mean nothing...

 

MYY-KCH-BWN-PER

 

my problem is why fly all the way to kuching, back up to Bandar Seri Begawan? Miri and BWM is like 1 hour 45 minutest apart on car..

[Pieter C. 5]

Had to look this up in my logbook and found two approximately 31 hour trips in 1976:

 

All times in utc+1 and are real air-times (airborne/touchdown)...here we go:

 

ORD-LAX 0144-0540 UA0115 N1837U

LAX-PPT 0800-1609 UT0583 N54649

PPT-AKL 1844-2348 UT0583A F-BOLF

AKL-SYD 0113-0427 UT0583A F-BOLF

SYD-MEL 0631-0725 AN0025 VH-RMS

 

and

 

SYD-MNL 0347-1103 PR0212 PH-DTE

MNL-BKK 1248-1559 PR0824 PH-DTI

BKK-KHI 1732-2225 PR0824 PH-DTI

KHI-FCO 0015-0727 PR0824 PH-DTI

FCO-FRA 0842-1016 PR0824 PH-DTI

FRA-AMS 1114-1159 PR0824 PH-DTI

 

plus

 

one inaugural flight (still got a Fokker tie, given to all the passengers by Fokker)

 

10-02-1989 PH-KLC KL0183 AMS-SVG...

[Keith T 2]

Wow they even had transits in PPT in those days. Must have been picturesque?

 

Keep meaning to visit PPT but hotel prices are crazy, even if the flight can be paid for by miles.

 

[Tony 1]

My flight itineraries are fairly simple. A to B, and then B to A. At most, a stopover somewhere in the middle.

[Leo 0]

My longest was BKI-KUL-MEL-SYD-BNE-KUL-BKI in one itinerary but been travel for 2 weeks in total.

Single should be BKI-KUL-DXB-IST-EWR. because emegency my plane need to stop at Istanbul which bring me to 31 hours.

Edited April 2, 2007 by Leo

[Pieter C. 5]

Wow they even had transits in PPT in those days. Must have been picturesque?

 

It was.....my 1st open-air airport to visit

 

first stretch by DC-10-30 and second one by DC-8-62; it was my last visit to Australia as well; hope to re-visit, again, end of this year, probably via same route (but not via PPT anymore; AMS-LAX-SYD)

 

[Keith T 2]

first stretch by DC-10-30 and second one by DC-8-62; it was my last visit to Australia as well; hope to re-visit, again, end of this year, probably via same route (but not via PPT anymore; AMS-LAX-SYD)

 

I'd avoid a transit in the US wherever possible!

Remember you have to clear immigration/customs in the US even if you're in transit to a 3rd country - this process is especially arduous at LAX if your journey happens to involve TBIT. Much much easier to go via Asia.

 

Of course it's more simple if you have an APEC card - but I'd still go via Asia for the greater choice of carriers.

Edited April 3, 2007 by Keith T

[Sandeep G 1]

Has to be KUL-SYD-PER on MH/DJ at the beginning of last year. But apart from that, pretty much always to the point. Although I wouldn't mind clocking in some strange sectors in the future

[Azuddin 1]

My longest would be 26 if i didn't include my transit at KLIA, TPE, LAX and delay. it was Kuala Terengganu --> KUL --> TPE --> LAX --> IAH. This happens back in 2003, first time travel alone.

[Peter Smith 1]

My most "extreme," well ask MAS 734 drivers was "Malaysia 2610" KUL-KCH-MYY-LBU-BKI...which formed a PER-KCH-KUL-KCH-MYY-LBU-BKI-KUL-PEN-KUL-JHB-KUL-KCH-PER trip back in Feb 07.

 

My last trip to KL took me 29hrs to get there...PER-DPS (forced to o/n) DPS-CGK-KUL

[Keith T 2]

Mmm, just got off the phone with the AA Round-the-World desk. After locking in the first 4 segments, CMB-HKG-LHR-DXB-LHR... [for a oneworld RTW - you're allowed to backtrack as much as you want in a continent, and the Europe + Middle East is considered one continent for the fare]

 

AAgent: Are you from Flyertalk?

Me: Uh, yes

AAgent: I've heard so much about you people but I've never served one of you before.

Me: Haha how'd you realised?

AAgent: Very few people backtrack like you just did. And I don't think you actually live in Colombo right?

 

Then we went to book a few more flights.... AMS-LHR-LAX-JFK, ORD-ANC-DFW-MIA-ORD-LAX

 

AAgent: Oh my goodness you're REALLY from Flyertalk!

 

Edited April 3, 2007 by Keith T

[Pieter C. 5]

Then we went to book a few more flights.... AMS-LHR-LAX-JFK, ORD-ANC-DFW-MIA-ORD-LAX

 

So, finally, you are making it to Amsterdam this time Let me know in advance, sothat I can show you around a bit...

Will this before I'll meet you in AU ?

 

[Keith T 2]

So, finally, you are making it to Amsterdam this time Let me know in advance, sothat I can show you around a bit...

Will this before I'll meet you in AU ?

 

No it is in Jan 2008. Have to book so early as D class is hard to get (especially when I want to put dates in 13 out of 20 segments!), and I've to organise for upgrades on some of the busy routes. Already BA has zeroed out D seats on all 3 LHR-DXB flights on the date I originally wanted. No WL on BA unless full fare and so I had to back everything up by a day. And same with QF on LAX-SYD but the AA codeshare on the same flight had D - shucks to QF as AA now gets my revenue!

 

Didn't stop CX from pestering my for ticket numbers though, as I've got them CMB-HKG-LHR at peak season.

 

But I'm definitely in AMS 30JAN to 02FEB.

 

Anyway the itinerary now is far less crazy due to the parents joining me on the USA bit...:

 

CMB-HKG CX 13JAN

oHKG-LHR CX 16JAN

oLHR-DXB BA 18JAN

oDXB-LHR BA 22JAN

xLHR-FCO BA 22JAN

/AMS-LHR BA 02FEB

x (o/night) LHR-LAX AA 03FEB

/LAS-MIA AA 13FEB

/FLL-LGA AA 18FEB

oLGA-MSY AA 24FEB

oMSY-DFW AA 28FEB

xDFW-LAX AA 28FEB

xLAX-SYD QF 28FEB

 

These segments alone requalify me for AA Platinum until Feb 2010! If credited to QFF I get the highest QF tier but AAdvantage is much better.

 

Open dated (i've 12 months to finish the ticket so a few weekend trips here and there and another holiday with the same ticket):

oMEL-AKL QF

oAKL-MEL QF

oMEL-CNS QF

oCNS-MEL QF

oMEL-NRT QF

oNRT-HKG CX

xHKG-CMB CX

Edited April 4, 2007 by Keith T