FCF’s Leg Stretch Strategy combines end-of-the-earth locations with world-beating savings
I recently ran into Bob, a long-term FCF subscriber from Marin County, California. We got to talking about his upcoming trip to the South Pacific, which included a cruise out of Auckland. He told me he had trouble finding a premium cabin ticket for the right price.
“Right price,” that’s a good one. Getting to the South Pacific nowadays is a coconut-sized pain in the hammock with Business Class round-trip fares going for $7,000+ from Los Angeles and $10,000+ from the East Coast.
No First Class Flyer subscriber is going to pay anywhere near those prices on my watch! Bob’s like me – he’s the kind of guy who won’t fly coach, or pay the asking price for Business or First Class. Love you, Bob.
The solution for his current predicament was FCF’s Leg Stretch Strategy. The idea is simply to book those South Pacific flights in conjunction with another trip you’re already planning this year; in this case, Bob also has an upcoming trip to Milan. Bingo! Combining a trip to Europe with a trip to the South Pacific goes together better than papaya and lime.
How FCF’s Leg Stretch Strategy Works for a SFO Traveler Flying to Italy and New Zealand on Two Separate Trips
When I told Bob that on a single ticket he could combine a trip to Europe (Milan, Italy) and the South Pacific (Auckland, New Zealand) and save $9,000 versus doing those trips separately, he just about cored his pineapple.
That’s the FCF Leg Stretch Strategy in a coconut shell. It’s a rather unconventional one-ticket-wonder that offers astounding savings if your palm trees align, like they did for Bob.
Why did the strategy work for him?
Bob’s Sweet Spot for a Leg Stretch Strategy
- In a 12-month period, he was visiting two continents
- He’ll visit one of those continents twice (Europe), forming the start and end of the Leg Stretch
- After visiting the first continent, he’ll return to the U.S.
- After visiting the second continent, he’ll return to the U.S.
- He can stretch this out over 12 months
Let’s look at a specific (Pacific) example.
The San Francisco > Milan > Auckland Leg Stretch
The thing about the Leg Stretch Strategy is that the ticket starts and ends outside of the U.S. Now, before you click away, consider that the savings are so great that they more than compensate for the cost of getting to and from those places.
Let’s get to it.
First, Bob flies to Milan on a one-way flight (or a round-trip of which the return flight is completed at the end of the Leg Stretch).
Then the Leg Stretch starts:
- Milan to San Francisco (stop at home for a while)
- San Francisco to Auckland (enjoy a great city that’s a gateway to the South Pacific — including Australia — and of course, amazing New Zealand)
- Auckland to San Francisco (stop at home for a while)
- San Francisco to Milan or another European city (enjoy the continent again)
This entire four-leg journey costs $3,473 in Business Class. Amazingly, for such disparate locations, it’s all on one ticket.
The screenshot below is from Google Flights, the easiest tool to search for dates with unusually low fares for multi-city tickets.
Here’s a screenshot from Orbitz.com, an online travel agency, that shows the price.
Note that you can substitute Sydney or Melbourne, in Australia, for Auckland, often for a similar price or a bit more, but often at a substantial savings.
As mentioned, Northern California resident Bob can hang out at home after segment 1 and segment 3. He has 12 months to complete the entire Leg Stretch.
While San Francisco had the best fares we found, other U.S. cities can still save you well over 60% via the Leg Stretch.
Seal The Deal, Bennett: SHOW ME THE MATH
Let’s compare this to a Business Class trip with flights to Milan and Auckland bought as two separate round-trip tickets. In Business Class, it would cost around $12,599 at the time of publication. Again, combining them into one Leg Stretch Business Class ticket costs $3,473. That’s a savings of $9,126, or 72%.
Now, Bob had a cruise ship rendezvous, but you could parlay some of those savings into a New Zealand adventure. The South Island of New Zealand offers spectacular mountain scenery, glaciers, and turquoise lakes. No wonder they shoot lots of films there including Lord of the Rings. One of the mountain ranges is called The Remarkables, and you can see why.
Here are some examples of other Leg Stretch options that start in Europe, and the Pacific-sized savings they give you Down Under that we found in our research this month.
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As mentioned, the LSS finishes away from the U.S. – in this case, Europe. So what should you do at that point? You have two options. You can start ANOTHER Leg Stretch ticket (Option 1) or simply get a ticket that takes you back home (Option 2).
Option #1: Book another LSS Ticket. Since you’re in Europe, why not start another Leg Stretch? As you can control the timing of that final flight to the U.S. to complete an LSS, you can link it into your next multi-continent ticket. The savings you’d net over more trips like this are fantastico.
Option #2: Head Home. If you’re happy to finish your Leg Stretch, you can buy a round-trip ticket to/from the starting point and return destination, or two one-way tickets.
Think about using your miles to kickstart your Leg Stretch too.
FCF has examined a whole bunch of Leg Stretch itineraries over the years to destinations including Asia, the Middle East, and South America.
See you up front, every time.