We are going to Orkney in the fall, which is serviced only by Loganair. We are stopping in Reyjavik for a few days on the way home. There are just too many moving parts on these flights. A lot of the problem comes from airlines wanting the other legs of the flights and punishing you for going away. Timing of flights is also ugly.
I am tempted to book each leg separately. I expect to pay somewhat more, but is it insanely more?
AIs are getting pretty good at helping you navigate this. You might ask one to help you plan the trip, assuming that you are willing to shift from one airline to another in order to save money or time in travel. Also, that you could be willing to buy a flight that connects somewhere you don't want to go but would let you transfer to another airline's flight that would get you where you do want to go; or that you might buy a flight that stops in the city you really want to go to and then goes on, but you don't make that connection, if that proves to save you money. All of those tricks work, but it takes AI levels of data processing to figure it all out.
ReplyDeleteGood advice. One complication is that both of the ultimate destinations are islands, eliminating some of those tricks. The solution to the Bridges of Koenigsberg problem is two walkers instead of one, and I may just go on two trips a couple of weeks apart.
ReplyDeleteI did the "completely separate airline reservations, independently made" thing for a trip to Scandanavia, and then my plans changed for in-country (traveling in a group by train from the capitol rather than meeting up at the destination). Because it was too late for me to get a refund on the onward flight, the airline wouldn't even cancel it for me.
ReplyDeleteThat didn't stop the airport baggage system from knowing I had an uncancellable onward flight and trying to send my bags on without me, however.