Flying Almost 9 Hours To Come Back Over Your Home Again!

awthompson · Thu Mar 22, 2018 12:21 pm

Some may find this topic fascinating and others may find the subject just a routine occurrence.

Living in Northern Ireland I've seen many similar occurrences to the one I am about to describe, but this one I did not expect. Friends of mine left home (Northern Ireland) early Wednesday morning to travel to Dublin by coach to catch Turkish 1978 Dublin to Istanbul (B738 TC-JVB). That's a flight from the western extremity of geographical Europe to the eastern extremity of the same. They texted me from IST to say the service and food on board was superb by the way. After a few hours connecting time at Istanbul they boarded Turkish 183 bound for Havana Cuba (A332 TC-JND). I glanced at their flight departing Istanbul before I went to sleep last night (Wednesday). As I type this they are still in the air (over southern Florida at FL400) but could not believe it when I traced their route on waking up this morning (Thursday) to find that they came right back across the centre of Northern Ireland before 04:00UTC in the night. That was around 20 hours travelling time and just under 9 hours flying time. The aircraft would have been visible from their home if one had looked.

Do you see this as almost a day of one's life lost, or just power for the course if the price is right? I'd like to hear your comments or if you've experienced something similar.

I've personally flown to Heathrow and Amsterdam etc to board transatlantic flights which of course came back over Ireland heading to Canada and USA but I would be a bit annoyed to travel all the way east to IST then all the way back and over my house again.

lapper · Thu Mar 22, 2018 12:28 pm

Last year I was tempted t fly LHR-IST-IAH as TK's J class fare was cheaper than BA's W class fare (this was on a one-way basis). What discouraged me was the no laptop in cabin rule for the IST-IAH leg (which was presumably why they were dumping fares).

stylo777 · Thu Mar 22, 2018 12:31 pm

As you pointed it out: of the price is right and time/schedule permits, people will go out of their way and even allow for detours. On the orher hand, what are the options from DUB to HAV - probably quite limited?

Boeingphan · Thu Mar 22, 2018 12:37 pm

I live in Des Moines, IA and my father in law booked us a family trip to Anchorage. We left from DSM and flew to ATL (again I didn't pay so can't be chooser either). We flew over top of DSM 7 hours later as the captain came on intercom to say they were turning on seat belt size as they were expecting turbulence over DSM.

dredgy · Thu Mar 22, 2018 12:39 pm

I live in Rockhampton Australia, and if I have to go to Cairns, it's usually significantly cheaper to fly ROK->BNE->CNS than do the irritating mail run ROK-MKY-TSV-CNS.

Also experienced Turkish's great fares, wanting to go LIS->NKC, much cheaper to go LIS->IST->NKC than to go via Casablanca or Paris.

awthompson · Thu Mar 22, 2018 12:56 pm

stylo777 wrote:
As you pointed it out: of the price is right and time/schedule permits, people will go out of their way and even allow for detours. On the orher hand, what are the options from DUB to HAV - probably quite limited?

Indeed, not many. Think they had to route DUB-MAD-HAV in the past. Albeit Cubana did LGW - Havana quite recently, not sure if they still do. I just also noticed Virgin do LGW-Havana VS63.

globetrotter94 · Thu Mar 22, 2018 12:57 pm

I once flew LHR-IST-BOS with TK. Pretty much same story. Left London at 10PM at night, arrived Istanbul 4AM in the morning. Again left Istanbul at 2PM in the afternoon, flew over London around 3 hours later (must have been 6-7PM in the evening local time).

BlatantEcho · Thu Mar 22, 2018 1:03 pm

Oh dear, I’d go nuts thinking of the time wasted!
It’s one of my biggest nightmares. Going nowhere, fast.

I always pay extra for a direct routing, and I consider great circle mapper each time to make sure if I have to connect it’s as efficient as possible.

Time is way more valuable than money!
You can make more money, but not more time. Fly direct whenever you can.

Thenoflyzone · Thu Mar 22, 2018 1:11 pm

stylo777 wrote:
As you pointed it out: of the price is right and time/schedule permits, people will go out of their way and even allow for detours. On the orher hand, what are the options from DUB to HAV - probably quite limited?

Quickest option is mostly likely AF or KL via CDG/AMS. The rest I listed, i haven't checked connection times. I dont think DL, AA and UA have evening departures from the US to HAV, so those options are probably not ideal, but I still listed them.

AF DUB-CDG-HAV
AC DUB-YYZ-HAV
KL DUB-AMS-HAV
UA DUB-EWR-HAV
DL DUB-JFK-HAV
DL DUB-ATL-HAV (only seasonal)
AA DUB-CLT-HAV (only seasonal)

A cool one would be AC DUB-YUL-HAV (last leg on Air China), but AC's new DUB-YUL seasonal service doesn't operate on the same day as CA's 1x weekly YUL-HAV. With a long layover it is definitely a possibility though.

Also, FR or EI from DUB to LGW and then VS to HAV is another possibility, although on separate tickets , so you would need to self connect.

DeltaRules · Thu Mar 22, 2018 1:13 pm

We once flew CMH-LAS via PHL, meaning we would've passed back over CMH an hour or so into the PHL-LAS segment.

awthompson · Thu Mar 22, 2018 1:16 pm

BlatantEcho wrote:
Oh dear, I’d go nuts thinking of the time wasted!
It’s one of my biggest nightmares. Going nowhere, fast.

I always pay extra for a direct routing, and I consider great circle mapper each time to make sure if I have to connect it’s as efficient as possible.

Time is way more valuable than money!
You can make more money, but not more time. Fly direct whenever you can.

Very sensible indeed. Life is rather too short to use up time like this although if it happened once through little choice I would live with it. But where possible I would follow your logic.

xjetflyer2001 · Thu Mar 22, 2018 1:26 pm

My parents were flying standby a couple weeks ago to meet me and my wife in Las Vegas, They flew from MOB to IAH to ABQ to SFO to LAS as flights were full and as I said they were Standby so had to take what they could get, but on the ABQ to SFO leg they actually flew directly over LAS and I took a photo of their aircraft as it was flying directly over us, they arrived into LAS 6 hours later.

I myself have flown from MOB to IAH to EWR only to fly directly over MOB on the IAH to EWR leg.

BostonBeau · Thu Mar 22, 2018 1:31 pm

On the subject of strange connections...in November 1971, Amtrak (the USA passenger railroad) published in their national timetable, a connection between San Diego and Los Angeles (~120 miles) that operated via Kansas City and took 4 days!

PITingres · Thu Mar 22, 2018 1:32 pm

I've done PIT-EWR-MCI and PIT-IAH-LHR which both came fairly close to retracing. I think the MCI flight was the only one that suited the schedule at the time, and the LHR flight was price driven.

awthompson · Thu Mar 22, 2018 1:41 pm

BostonBeau wrote:
On the subject of strange connections...in November 1971, Amtrak (the USA passenger railroad) published in their national timetable, a connection between San Diego and Los Angeles (~120 miles) that operated via Kansas City and took 4 days!

He he, a bit of sightseeing perhaps if you had the time and money!

stlgph · Thu Mar 22, 2018 1:50 pm

awthompson wrote:
Some may find this topic fascinating and others may find the subject just a routine occurrence.

Living in Northern Ireland I've seen many similar occurrences to the one I am about to describe, but this one I did not expect. Friends of mine left home (Northern Ireland) early Wednesday morning to travel to Dublin by coach to catch Turkish 1978 Dublin to Istanbul (B738 TC-JVB). That's a flight from the western extremity of geographical Europe to the eastern extremity of the same. They texted me from IST to say the service and food on board was superb by the way. After a few hours connecting time at Istanbul they boarded Turkish 183 bound for Havana Cuba (A332 TC-JND). I glanced at their flight departing Istanbul before I went to sleep last night (Wednesday). As I type this they are still in the air (over southern Florida at FL400) but could not believe it when I traced their route on waking up this morning (Thursday) to find that they came right back across the centre of Northern Ireland before 04:00UTC in the night. That was around 20 hours travelling time and just under 9 hours flying time. The aircraft would have been visible from their home if one had looked.

Do you see this as almost a day of one's life lost, or just power for the course if the price is right? I'd like to hear your comments or if you've experienced something similar.

I've personally flown to Heathrow and Amsterdam etc to board transatlantic flights which of course came back over Ireland heading to Canada and USA but I would be a bit annoyed to travel all the way east to IST then all the way back and over my house again.

Nope.

If you want to get there and it's the best way for you, then do it.

A nice amount of U.S.-based travelers taking Turkish to IST and then headed back west to the likes of London, Paris, Barcelona, etc., all because of a very attractive price. LOT Polish and Aeroflot are starting to see a bump in business in this regard, too.

awthompson · Thu Mar 22, 2018 3:29 pm

Update, my friend just texted me after arrival in Havana to say he woke up (business class) to eat and just as grilled fish arrived he turned on the map and couldn't believe he was over Lough Neagh! His return trip will also be fun as TK183 (same flight number all the way back to IST) makes a stop in Caracas so will likely route much further south on Atlantic back to IST.

TC957 · Thu Mar 22, 2018 3:35 pm

I once had a client that wanted to go to New York by using their EK air miles up.....so they flew LHR - JFK......via DXB !!

RamblinMan · Thu Mar 22, 2018 3:45 pm

Left home, drove 1 hour to BNA. Large group so the organizer got us there like 3 hours before departure. Routing BNA-DFW-LGW. 5 hour connection in DFW. Looked at the moving map during dinner and we were directly over my house, something like 12 hours after leaving.

reffado · Thu Mar 22, 2018 4:04 pm

I'd suggest it's fairly common, but still amusing (to me). I've done it a couple times since JJ axed their MIA-BSB route. AA is just overpriced for what they offer on the route (good schedule, horrible product), so I typically fly MIA-GRU-BSB or FLL-VCP-BSB. Both routes fly over BSB directly usually, just so I can deplane in SAO, and head back up to BSB. As others have said, if one's schedules are flexible, price can encourage buyers to allow for awkward routings/detours/backtracking.

redzeppelin · Thu Mar 22, 2018 4:05 pm

Not as extreme, but several years ago I flew SLC-LAX-LHR and reverse on the return. The LAX-LHR-LAX segments route directly over SLC. It's not bad on the outbound, but makes you wish for a parachute on the return.
When I lived in Montana I had a few trips where the best flight option to get home from the east was a connection in SEA. I usually enjoy turboprops, but 2 hours on the Q400 for SEA-BZN is a real drag after seeing your hometown on the westbound leg from DTW. This kind of backtracking is more common with these smaller airports, where non-stops are limited and you are at the mercy of available connections.
I've always been more willing to take detours on outbound itineraries, but I like to get home fast when the time comes.

VSMUT · Thu Mar 22, 2018 4:13 pm

It's pretty common. I've done Copenhagen-Riga-Amsterdam with Air Baltic, and several times with SAS to/from Copenhagen from various places in central Europe via Stockholm or Oslo. One of the more crazy ones was when an employer wanted me from Nantes to Bordeaux via Amsterdam. 270 km directly became 1700 km.

MakeMinesLAX · Thu Mar 22, 2018 4:16 pm

I opted not to fly either of these, but here are two options that were presented to me by booking websites in the past:

LA area to HNL - CO, LAX-EWR-HNL. The stopever in EWR was an overnighter, so the elapsed travel time was just under 24 hours.

LA area to MCO - UA, SNA-SFO-LAX-MCO. Oddly enough, this routing was cheaper than the LAX-MCO nonstop alone, but added about five hours to the trip.

sfjeff · Thu Mar 22, 2018 4:48 pm

Turkish will give you a hotel room if your connection is more than 10 hours, which can make going thousands of miles out of the way a bit more palatable, and the fares and service are excellent. I have taken advantage of this twice: IAH-IST-AGP and AGP-IST-SFO. Of course, Málaga is too far to the southwest to be flown over by a flight from IST to the U.S., but it is still major backtracking.

MartijnNL · Thu Mar 22, 2018 6:38 pm

BlatantEcho wrote:
Time is way more valuable than money!
You can make more money, but not more time. Fly direct whenever you can.

Spending more time in the air, that's what's valuable to me!

Usually I prefer to connect to another flight instead of taking a direct flight.

I regularly book tickets just for the fun of flying. I have flown ten hours to another continent and then returned home a few hours later on the same aircraft.

Nice topic!

jetblueguy22 · Thu Mar 22, 2018 7:19 pm

I did it a few months ago. Live right down the street from GFK, but was flying home for Thanksgiving. Flying out of YWG was substantially cheaper. Flew YWG-MSP-BDL. We went direct GFK before turning towards MSP. The flight I even wanted to fly out of GFK landed right behind us.

Didn't like having to drive to Canada to fly back to the US. But even when you factor in parking and gas, I saved about 600USD.

aklrno · Thu Mar 22, 2018 7:49 pm

Happens quite often on my flights. RNO-Europe via LAX and back. Frequently fly over RNO in one direction or the other. There is a VOR on the top of Squaw Peak that lots of LAX and SAN
traffic fly over, and that's near RNO.

opticalilyushin · Thu Mar 22, 2018 9:00 pm

stylo777 wrote:
As you pointed it out: of the price is right and time/schedule permits, people will go out of their way and even allow for detours. On the orher hand, what are the options from DUB to HAV - probably quite limited?

Air Canada have had some great fares from Dublin to Havana.

Goodbye · Thu Mar 22, 2018 10:06 pm

BlatantEcho wrote:
Time is way more valuable than money!

Sure - when you have plenty of money! But for those of us who don't, money is more valuable than time :-)

aeromoe · Thu Mar 22, 2018 11:33 pm

Avgeeks often go WAY out of their way just to fly someplace. If you're on the outside looking in and scratching your head, it's not your money and time so don't worry about what we do with our money and time.

incitatus · Fri Mar 23, 2018 2:44 am

awthompson wrote:

I've personally flown to Heathrow and Amsterdam etc to board transatlantic flights which of course came back over Ireland heading to Canada and USA but I would be a bit annoyed to travel all the way east to IST then all the way back and over my house again.

Quite common for short distances like LHR-AMS, NYC-BOS, DTW-ORD and so on. But DUB-IST is 1800 miles. This is like flying from NY to Europe via Cancun. Or Salvador, Brazil to Europe via Buenos Aires. Evidently it is made possible by a great deal offered by Turkish - it is willing to offer you a fare cheaper than competitors to fly you along double the distance. Of course we have to wonder why that is the regular course of business for TK.

VSMUT · Fri Mar 23, 2018 10:54 am

Goodbye wrote:
BlatantEcho wrote:
Time is way more valuable than money!

Sure - when you have plenty of money! But for those of us who don't, money is more valuable than time

This

CollegeAviator · Fri Mar 23, 2018 12:55 pm

Given the weather in India, I will forever regret flying 9W/AF from BOM to ORD (via BLR/CDG).

While the difference was about $250, it wasn't worth the hassle.
Original 9W495 got delayed by 3 hours, so I was put on to a similarly delayed 9W477. This was followed by a lovely flight on AF's B77E which happened to overfly Mumbai!

Not a 9hr detour, but more like 4 hours. I know of many who've flown India-DXB/AUH/DOH-Austrlia thanks to the MEB3!

stlgph · Fri Mar 23, 2018 2:40 pm

awthompson wrote:
Update, my friend just texted me after arrival in Havana to say he woke up (business class) to eat and just as grilled fish arrived he turned on the map and couldn't believe he was over Lough Neagh! His return trip will also be fun as TK183 (same flight number all the way back to IST) makes a stop in Caracas so will likely route much further south on Atlantic back to IST.

Well hell if they're doing business class then they're in very good hands. Turkish's biz class is great. I'd fly them JFK-IST-ORD if I could.

dfwjim1 · Sat Mar 24, 2018 1:17 am

Great topic. A few years ago I flew on American Airlines miles from FLL to DFW (overnighted in DFW) and then flew the next evening to Sao Paulo. The 773 from DFW to GRU took the Florida route and flew right over my house in Fort Lauderdale. I was on vacation and flying on miles so I didn't mind the usual routing.

teachpdx · Sat Mar 24, 2018 3:30 am

SEA-DFW-ICN on AS/AA a few months ago. A short “overnight” to DFW landing at 6 AM, flying out 4 hours later to ICN. The DFW-ICN flight had a pretty southern routing that day, taking us not too far from SEA.

AirAfreak · Sat Mar 24, 2018 4:30 am

Once, I flew LAX-CDG-DUB-CDG-LAX flying over Ireland to Paris just to fly back to Ireland.

Another time, I flew LAX-CDG-LHR-CDG-LAX flying over the U.K. to transit in Paris only to return to LHR.

Just a few examples of loyalty to Skyteam above and beyond price for the sake of miles accrual. Because if you’re not earning miles, are you really on your way?

LHRBFSTrident · Sat Mar 24, 2018 2:23 pm

not a huge detour in time, but a illogical aviation anomaly nonetheless, KLM offered me LAX-AMS-DUB-BHX a few years ago (cheap ticket) effectively overflying the destination twice in opposite directions before finally arriving

XAM2175 · Sat Mar 24, 2018 9:26 pm

This one saved neither time nor money!

(thankfully for my diary and my wallet, though, a far more reasonable option existed just down my page :p )

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