Where to book flights for multiple cities?

[mrsjrd23]

Where's the best place to book flights when having to book them out of multiple cities to save the most money?

I know it's so expensive to do it this way but we are trying to maximize family time when we fly home for the holidays since we don't do it often because $$$$. 

DH, me, DD, and DS all  need to fly into one city together. DH will fly back out early from the same city and the rest of us will fly out from another city a few hours away a few days later.  

I tried just doing it on Southwest since you book each flight, but it won't let me try to do multiple transactions at one time to get DH's round trip flight and then our return flight from another city. 

[wanderingback]

I’ve done this multiple times and it actually has never really been more expensive. I’m a stickler for saving money on flights and stick to my budget so I know they weren’t more than roundtrips from same city.

All within the past year or two I flew into London and out of Budapest (this was actually cheaper than round trip via London), flew in to Guatemala and flew home from Belize, flew in to Argentina and flew home from Chile, flew in to London and flew home from Paris.

I’ve also done 2 one-way flights on different airlines when I realized it’d be less expensive.

In all these scenarios I’ve used google flights and kayak which are my usual websites to use to compare flights. I’m not aware of using anything else special in these scenarios to save money.

[tres3]

We usually fly BA or AA but there is a button to click to book multi-city tickets. We frequently do "long lay-overs:" of a couple days in London as it gives us a chance to see family and it is usually cheaper than flying to London directly.

[orval]

I would search on Google flights to see what your options are. Click on multi city(under the round trip drop down) which allows you to start in one city and add others. You may not be able to book it all on one reservation since they will be different for you DH and the others.
I always book directly with the airline after I research on google flights.

www.google.com/flights?hl=en#flt=/m/0fsb8..2019-11-10*./m/0fsb8.2019-11-14;c:USD;e:1;ls:1w;sd:0;t:h

[wildrice]

Another vote for Google flights, although I actually booked my flights for my upcoming trip to Europe via my Capitol One credit card portal and they allowed me to do multiple airports too. I think this is actually a pretty standard option these days - usually you can pick round trip, one way, or multi city as your options when browsing.

I think you might be stuck booking your tickets separately from your H, though, if you aren't flying the same itinerary.

[mich1]

Oct 25, 2019 7:51:37 GMT -5 wildrice said:

Another vote for Google flights, although I actually booked my flights for my upcoming trip to Europe via my Capitol One credit card portal and they allowed me to do multiple airports too. I think this is actually a pretty standard option these days - usually you can pick round trip, one way, or multi city as your options when browsing.

I think you might be stuck booking your tickets separately from your H, though, if you aren't flying the same itinerary.

I do not book flights through anywhere but the airline web site anymore.  I have found that if a flight is changed/canceled, the third party seller tends to make things more difficult than directly with the airline.  

Most web sites have the multi city option, but they assume all are flying at the same time.  I do this a lot, as many of our trips we are flying out of a different city we fly into.  Your only problem might be whether that airline flies directly out of the second city.  

[goldengirlz]

Oct 25, 2019 7:51:37 GMT -5 wildrice said:

I think you might be stuck booking your tickets separately from your H, though, if you aren't flying the same itinerary.

Yeah, I’m not sure I understand what the problem is. Just book his separately and then the rest of yours. We’ve flown on separate itineraries before (usually when we don’t have enough points to cover all three tickets) and it’s NBD. It’s only an issue when you have kids on a separate number because you may need to call the airline to link the ticket to an adult’s on the same flight but even that is pretty straightforward. And of course, remember to check in each itinerary separately at T-24.

[scout8]

As mentioned, you will need to book your DH separately from the rest of you. Other than that, it shouldn't be more expensive or any more difficult. Book your DH on a round trip ticket. For the rest of you, look at the multi city option when you are booking. You can choose an itinerary with the same outbound flight as your DH and then whatever return flight works best for the rest of you.

[goldengirlz]

On the subject of having each of us on separate itineraries:

H and I once had a wedding to go to on the other side of the country and no one to watch DD. So we flew to my IL’s city to drop her off (and spent a night there). But on the way home from the wedding, H flew back direct while I booked a flight with a long layover through IL’s city to pick her up.

So my ticket was Wedding City —> IL’s city —> Home
H’s was Wedding City —> Home
And DD’s was IL’s city —> home

Somehow we all made it (even though United tried to re-route me through another hub because of an aircraft change. One panicked phone call cleared it all up though!)

[MDmomof2]

On Southwest I think you should book 3 one way itineraries. One for all 4 of you to City A. One for DH home from City A. The other for you and the kids from City B to home. That way everyone flying together is on the same itinerary.

[ribollita]

In your case, I’d book your outbound for your whole family and two separate return bookings. I fly on separate PNRs often but it’s way easier to be on the same one if something happens.

[Deleted]

Oct 28, 2019 14:44:12 GMT -5 MDmomof2 said:

On Southwest I think you should book 3 one way itineraries. One for all 4 of you to City A. One for DH home from City A. The other for you and the kids from City B to home. That way everyone flying together is on the same itinerary.

This is what I would do as well. And we've done this when we've had enough miles for one person to travel but not everyone.