If the assembled community will excuse a bit of 'Travel Deviation', with associated its stupidities (and forgive me if I've told this story before) ...
I had to fly to OZ in 1988 on a procurement investigative task, with things booked [as they were] through the Services Booking Centre (SBC). So, the solution for getting me there was:
1. VC-10 Trooper Brize Norton to HKG [was it twice a week?] which was "free".
2. Gulf-Air HKG-BKK, in Business [entitled as a long-haul wg cdr], and sleep in the airport
3. BA BKK-SYD, in Business.
4. Overnight in SYD
before flying up to CBR, squashed against the cabin wall by "Fat Bloke" in an F-27.
... do Business stuff in CBR, staying in reasonable hotel, for a couple of days ...
5. Fly [Economy] down to MEL.
... do Business stuff in MEL and RAAF East Sale for a week, staying in Messes.
Then the
serious joke starts:
6. Fly MEL-HKG, Cathay in Business.
7. Stay in Army Mess in HKG for 3 days waiting for the next VC-10 Trooper
8. Fly VC-10 back to Brize.
It felt strange wandering around in Public in uniform, but all the OZ guys did it so I just fitted in to the the scene. The legs in Business Class were nice, and that's the only way I fly these days. But the "Cheap" routing meant about a week spent unproductively out of the office to save money ... but of course that cost was never factored in.
I understand that subsequently a more intelligent approach was taken, with the cost of direct flights being traded off against 'lost time'. I was away for a little over 2 weeks doing things that could have been done in 10 days or less. But it was a very interesting trip, at HMG's expense.