FCF’s 2-for-1 Leg Stretch Strategy:
U.S., Europe & South Pacific, Business Class

Novel Trick Nets Free Tickets.

A First Class Flyer Personal Help Desk customer (let’s call him Harry) came to us with a challenge.

Harry travels to Europe and beyond at least twice a year from the West Coast in Business Class. So, usually he does what most people do: He buys round-trip tickets to his destination, paying for them in miles or ponying up for the published Business Class fare.

Now separate to these frequent trips to Europe, he was looking to go to Auckland, New Zealand, for a nice South Pacific getaway.

If you thought these two locations—Europe and the South Pacific—couldn’t be connected by a deal, you’re wrong.

Pulling a Rabbit Out of the Hat

FCF prides its Personal Help Desk (PHD) as being one of a kind, just like its publication, so it went to work on mission impossible, and finally recommended FCF’s 2-for-1 Leg Stretch Strategy.

FCF’s PHD recommendation for Harry: Book a London – Auckland round-trip ticket because it offers a free stopover in Los Angeles in both directions (and in many other U.S. cities; more on that in a minute). It saved him more than $5,000 over booking the destinations separately.

The magic is in the thinking—the lateral thinking. Rather than think of his trips separately, we connected them.

FCF took the following perspective on Harry’s travel to net his (to most) unbelievable South Pacific deal.

Ticket #1

Segment #1: Los Angeles to Europe (Harry pays with his miles maybe or a great published fare if he can, in his case to London, but it could also be other European cities, such as Frankfurt or Paris, for example, many major hub cities work with this strategy.)

Segment #2: See ticket #3 below for his return.

Ticket #2

The London to Auckland round-trip—four segments, one ticket:

Ticket #2—Segment #1:

London to Los Angeles (is the free stopover as part of the London to Auckland—and he stays at home for a month or three, before his trip to the South Pacific.)

Ticket #2—Segment #2:

Los Angeles to Auckland

(Stays for a couple weeks; has an enriching time.)

Ticket #2—Segment #3:

Auckland to Los Angeles (Time to go home.)

Ticket #2—Segment #4:

Los Angeles to London
(Time to pack the bags again for the last segment of his Europe > South Pacific R/T.)

Ticket #3

Is actually segment #2 of Ticket #1: Europe to Los Angeles

Here are those steps on a map.

Normally, that Los Angeles to Auckland flight costs around $6,000. Here it’s free because of the free stopover included in the London to Auckland deal. It was a matter of looking at all the destinations involved, and conjuring up the best way to achieve it.

As we say to Harry, if the straitjacket doesn’t fit, don’t wear the fare.

Sample screenshot via www.google.com/flights with the two free stopovers in Los Angeles when traveling London to Auckland.

Sample flight itinerary when booked with Air New Zealand.

This also works with other airlines, such as American, and it also works with other stopover cities, such as Dallas, New York, and San Francisco.

Sample screenshot via www.google.com/flights with the free stopovers in Dallas when traveling London to Auckland.

Have a ticketing strategy you’d like to share? Write us today: mr.upgrade@firstclassflyer.com