Extended Layover

August 10, 2006 8:40 PM

What is the best way to schedule a trip with an extended layover? A friend is traveleing from the East Coast to New Zealand, and would like to stop over and see me (in San Francisco) for a few days. Most internet travel sites I have checked only offer single destination flights. Would she incur extra costs scheduling 2 separate flights? Would they be more than going through a travel agent?
posted by sophist to travel & transportation (7 comments total)

I've had this problem too with net flights.

I got around it by using a cheap and cheerful travel agent - The Flight Centre. They arranged things very quickly and easily after one phone call. Indeed, I've even had them beat what I could find on the net for international flights out of the US.

They are a cheap travel agent network that originated in Australia but that now operate in the US.
posted by sien at 8:44 PM on August 10, 2006

For a flight like that, with a long international leg, there's usually not much disadvantage to booking them separately. Let's say they charge an extra $300 for the US leg, over the west coast rate. You can usually get close to that buying your own flight, so it works out.

OTOH, it will probably cost a bit more anyways, just because most of the carriers charge more for SF than LA. For instance, Air New Zealand charges an extra $100.
posted by smackfu at 8:55 PM on August 10, 2006

Really? I know for a fact that Orbitz and Travelocity offer multiple stop flights - generally not from the front page - try clicking on the "Flight" tab, and then the Multi-Destination radio button. Sometimes it costs a little more, and sometimes it's a similar price.
posted by muddgirl at 8:55 PM on August 10, 2006

I tried that on Orbitz and Travelocity and for what I wanted it jacked up the price substantially compared to what the travel agent could do.

YMMV.
posted by sien at 9:06 PM on August 10, 2006

From past experience flying from NZ to NYC with a stopover in San Fran, I found booking seperately a lot cheaper. Flying Air NZ and then a domestic airline worked out about $300 US cheaper... but it could have just been because Air NZ are really pricey and they were my only outbound option to SF.
posted by teststrip at 9:16 PM on August 10, 2006

My 2c worth: internet booking is great for simple, direct hops - find the cheapest & go with it. If you want anything remotely more complicated, an agent is the way to go.

I say this because (I believe that) internet sites cannot predict & handle the complexity of all the different permutations that people might want. As a result, they are designed to cater only for the straightforward 95% of the market that just wants A-B and return.

I have heard that agents only make around $50 on a booking, flat-rate. This is pretty good value, if you consider that they often have access to all kinds of arcane knowledge on discounts, voucher offers, season changeover dates, alternative routes & airlines, etc that are just too bloody complex for the website operators to bother with. It can also be nice to have that personal touch - somebody to contact if things go wrong or changes are required - especially for international travel.
posted by UbuRoivas at 10:16 PM on August 10, 2006

Jet Blue lets you buy your tickets leg-by-leg and is almost always the cheapest option East Coast to West in my experience. I'd just book it separately and have your friend visit both ways.
posted by dame at 5:56 AM on August 11, 2006