Most domestic flights to get from A to B?

AerolineasAR343 · Sat May 19, 2018 8:38 pm

I was watching a little sitcom gem called Better Off Ted when a throwaway line caught me off guard and got me thinking:

Guilt is a powerful emotion.
Every Thanksgiving, it makes me take three planes just so i can visit my racist aunt cookie.

Given that the show is set in a big city (never specified which I think, probably in the east coast) in the US, it's probably home to a hub or focus city to a big airline. So do you think it's possible to arrive to some remote hometown in 3 legs of a trip? I hardly can think of a route with more than 2. Is there a situation where you need more than 3 planes to get from A to B, following a logical path (so, no LAX-AUS-JFK-ATL-GRR for example)? What are the most domestig legs you can think of to do A to B?

B747forever · Sat May 19, 2018 9:00 pm

Must be some remote destination in Alaska or Hawaii. For instance, take Atqasuk, AK to Hana, HI you have to fly ATK-AIN-BRW-SCC-ANC-SEA-OGG-JHM (random date, 6/8).

So try to find a remote town in Alaska that requires multiple stops to reach ANC and from there another remote town, most likely located in Hawaii. These routings will require several separate tickets over different carriers and will likely have an overnight connection.

fbgdavidson · Sat May 19, 2018 9:50 pm

I asked a similar question a few years ago. I wasn't sure if anywhere in the US was 4 flights or more away from another:

viewtopic.php?t=686483

KentB27 · Sun May 20, 2018 12:01 pm

It would have either be because someone purposely went out of their way to get on 4 or more different planes to reach their destination or it would be a remote community that has no access to roads. Even some of the smaller towns in Alaska and Hawaii take no more than 3 different flights to reach from the mainland because they have direct flights to the largest city(s) in the region that are served by larger carriers. I could maybe see having to do more than 3 flights though if you were determined to reach a small village in Alaska that has no other access from the outside.

On a side note, Better Off Ted was a great show and I'm sad that it only lasted two seasons.

Yflyer · Mon May 21, 2018 5:29 pm

AerolineasAR343 wrote:
Given that the show is set in a big city (never specified which I think, probably in the east coast) in the US, it's probably home to a hub or focus city to a big airline. So do you think it's possible to arrive to some remote hometown in 3 legs of a trip? I hardly can think of a route with more than 2.

I've only seen a few episodes of Better Off Ted so I'm not sure how much is revealed about the city where it's set, particularly regarding its size (I've heard good things about it, though. I'll have to see if it's available on Netflix or something). What if we assume it isn't one of the really big east coast cities, but someplace like RDU? The Research Triangle seems like it would be a logical place for Veridian Dynamics to be located. And the character's hometown is someplace that only has flights to a single hub that isn't served from RDU. Let's say Crescent City, CA, to use one I'm somewhat familiar with. At the time the show was made, RDU didn't have a nonstop flight to SFO, and CEC was served only be Skywest from SFO. So the character would have to fly something like RDU-ORD-SFO-CEC to get there, requiring three planes.

usdcaguy · Wed May 23, 2018 3:00 pm

Three domestic legs often occur when a circuitous routing is cheaper. For example, instead of flying HOU-MCI, you might take HOU-DAL-OKC-MCI, with a fare break in OKC. Of course, that’s not likely to be cheaper, but it could plausibly happen.

IADCA · Wed May 23, 2018 3:34 pm

AerolineasAR343 wrote:
I was watching a little sitcom gem called Better Off Ted when a throwaway line caught me off guard and got me thinking:
Guilt is a powerful emotion.
Every Thanksgiving, it makes me take three planes just so i can visit my racist aunt cookie.

Given that the show is set in a big city (never specified which I think, probably in the east coast) in the US, it's probably home to a hub or focus city to a big airline. So do you think it's possible to arrive to some remote hometown in 3 legs of a trip? I hardly can think of a route with more than 2. Is there a situation where you need more than 3 planes to get from A to B, following a logical path (so, no LAX-AUS-JFK-ATL-GRR for example)? What are the most domestig legs you can think of to do A to B?

You're asking two different questions here. The first one is "arrive...in 3 legs of a trip" and the second is "more than 3." The first is a lot more plausible than the second. I've been offered double-connection routings on some relatively thin city pairs (often seasonal destinations in the offseason) that were sometimes faster in getting me from A to B than long single connections. The only one I can remember actually taking was SNA-SFO-ORD-BZN on UA, which given the day and time I needed to depart and arrive, was actually a more effective solution than SNA-DEN-BZN, which did exist but was poorly timed for my needs. That would be an extreme outlier - at least I'd hope - but it does exist and at least in my case was legitimately the most rational option in terms of time and money, somewhat crazy routing and all.

I can't imagine a triple connection (your second question) being needed for anything other than economic or amusement reasons given your implied criterion of starting of starting in a reasonably big city.

Most domestic flights to get from A to B?

Most domestic flights to get from A to B?

Re: Most domestic flights to get from A to B?

Re: Most domestic flights to get from A to B?

Re: Most domestic flights to get from A to B?

Re: Most domestic flights to get from A to B?

Re: Most domestic flights to get from A to B?

Re: Most domestic flights to get from A to B?

Who is online

Popular Searches On Airliners.net