Indirect Routings

[Seat62K]

Postings on another thread have given me an idea for a bit of fun.
What is the most indirect routing you have taken between two airports involving transit through another (or more than one) airport? To be meaningful, include only ones suggested by airline reservations systems or travel agents - thus excluding itineraries put together by travellers for the fun of "going around the houses", as it were.
Please include only routings not involving stopovers.
To get the ball rolling, US Airways once routed me Montreal-Pittsburgh-Charlotte-Gatwick. I estimate that this added 50% to the non-stop distance between Montreal and London.
Now, over to you...

[lurkio]

I believe an MD of a large UK charter airline was planned Montego Bay to Barbados via New York. When asked why, the HOTAC people replied that's the way we send crew. That stopped shortly after.

[radeng]

I'm using miles on American to go to Dayton, Ohio, in May. All they would offer is LHR-ORD-DFW-DAY, rather than LHR-DFW-DAY.

[intortola]

Again using miles on American:
EIS-SJU-MIA-BOS-LHR
LHR-JFK-BOS-SJU-EIS

They will not allow MIA-LHR direct or on the return JFK-SJU direct using miles.

[bsmasher]

On a round the world ticket

Seattle - Chicago - LAX , Ok it didn't add to much onto the total travel for the day as the next stop was Sydney

D.

[G&T ice n slice]

LHR-[BA]-AMS-[KL]-BCN-[IB]-PMI-[AO]-MAH
MAH-[AO]-BCN-[IB]-ORY-[bus]-CDG-[AF]-AMS-[BD]-LHR

Typical ID 90 routing when weather/public holidays/strikes are screwing up the system

[Donkey497]

I suppose if you're looking at %age additional miles to the route then a simple EDI-LHR-OSL scores highly over the direct EDI-OSL. Adds about an extra four or five hours to the travel time as well to say nothing of the costs......

[beamender99]

Quite a few years ago I had a customer airline at CVT .
Their route was CVT CDG CVT and it was suggested that I try their product.
From home near LHR I arrived for first LHR CDG BA flight.
AT CDG there was no TOD set up for me so I watched their flight depart.
I then got a ticket CDG BHX and then taxi to CVT arriving for late lunch.
So leaving home at 04:30 and arriving 100 miles away 9 /10 hours later I had still not sampled the product.

On another occasion needed urgently to get from LHR JER on specific day at short notice.
Train to Clapham Junction. Train to LGW
BC to PLY then PLH JER. In time for a lunch time pint and a hand over meeting.

[Scumbag O'Riley]

On a round the world ticket Yes, you often get airline suggested/enforced routings on RTW tickets because they have rules relating to visiting the same airport more than once, so often you need to take a very indirect route. I know I once had to go from BCN-LON via VIE. Thats about 130% greater than the straight line distance, I am sure there are far worse examples out there.

But for a travel agent booked itinerary where there was a sensible alternative, I was working for a company who had a travel policy of using United wherever it was possible. So I was in SIN, they wanted me to go to LHR. A sensible person would book me on a non-stop on SQ, twelve hours or so.

Agent booked me SIN-NRT-ORD-LHR, and I had to do it. Over twice the non-stop distance. I have no idea how long it took, it was brutal, got plenty of miles though.

[Final 3 Greens]

I often get strange journeys due to the lack of direct flights in the winter season.

Example MRS-BRU-MLA

[Haven't a clue]

Wanted to go LHR-HKG-PEK-LHR. Tried the trusty BA.com (CX as members of the oneworld alliance operate HKG-PEK).

Route offered was LHR-HKG-LHR-PEK-LHR.

Was happy to pay for First, but decided to go with others as the price quoted was around £12,000....!

[nivsy]

The best I have done many years ago now:

Miami - Detroit - Boston - Shannon - Prestwick

Courtesy of NorthWest.

[Flyer126]

This is an interesting thread but would posters please avoid using three letter codes for destinations many of us are unlikely to know! (I'm sure that once the use of the shift key is taken into account, it can't be much/any slower to type the city or airport name!) Thank you.

[raffele]

Those needing help decoding the IATA airport codes - stick the code into wikipedia or a search engine and the airport will come up

[Moira]

Or just google: IATA airport codes
Plenty of useful links!

[raejones]

once did Heathrow - Mauritius - Nairobi - imagine my frustration going 4 hours past where I wanted to be, only to get there and come straight back again. First time in Mauritius and I only get to spend 25 mins there..!

[The SSK]

I've done a day trip Brussels-Frankfurt for a three-hour meeting at FRA airport, travelled out via Hamburg and back via Munich.

I once planned, but never made, a trip originating BRU with meetings on consecutive days in Athens and Belgrade. The only possible way to do it would have been to nightstop in Cairo.

[bluesafari]

Those needing help decoding the IATA airport codes - stick the code into wikipedia or a search engine and the airport will come up


or stop trying to be smart a***s and just use the airport name, this is the Pax and SLF forum after all

[pax britanica]

I lived in Bermuda for some time and often had business in the Caribbean (Bermuda is actually nearer to Canada than the Caribbean in spite of beaches palm trees etc)
However there were no direct flights to the Islands or even Miami so for the 1300 mile trip to one f the Caribbean hubs Antigua or St Maarten meant a 0700 departure from Bermuda to JFK 2 hours north.

A frantic rush to another AA gate to make the southbound flight which always departed early mornings too and then I find myself at 1200 Bermuda time literally back over head my house which I had left at 5 am . So 7 hours travelling and I am just about to take my first step south. If I was really unlucky I would arrive in Antigua just in time to miss my inter island connecting flight and have the fun experience of waiting four or five hours for the next one, which was usually of about 20 minutes duration, thus getting to my destination around 20/2100 local time just 1300 miles from where I started 15 hours earlier.

PB

[Hartington]

Many, many years ago Washington (National), Tampa, Orlando, Miami on a National 727 then picked up a Pan Am 727 to San Juan, Antigua, Barbados (where the runway lights packed up after landing and we finally departed after they had put out oil lamps along the runway and not many at that) Port of Spain. All in the same direction but a long day compared to what would be possible today.

The other one that sticks in the mind was again all in the right direction but London/Amsterdam, change, Amsterdam/Frankfurt/Rome/Bahrain/Bombay/Bangkok/Jakarta, change, Jakarta/Bali and on the way home Singapore/Kuala Lumpur/Colombo/Karachi/Dubai/Amsterdam change Amsterdam/London.

These days I pay extra to avoid indirect routings!

I was a travel agent around the same time and I booked a seaman to come home from Taipei to London using Pan Am to Tokyo and then BOAC to London. He never appeared. Got on to Pan Am to be told they had rerouted him (without permission) to fly their "RTW" flight (PA002?) which operated Tokyo/Hong Kong/Bangkok/Delhi/Tehran/Beirut/Frankfurt/London instead of Tokyo/Anchorage/London.

[dscartwright]

Well, I did Norwich-Edinburgh-Jersey a few times for my weekly commute when FlyMaybe killed the Norwich-Jersey route.

The oddest I did was Norwich-Amsterdam-Detroit-Miami, just for the sake of being able to fly from Norwich instead of having to get to one of the London airports.