Thinking about flying to Israel this summer. trying to understand my options in regards to stopover rules (and maybe an open jaw)
Since I live in NY I would like to do.
1. LAX - EWR (stopover for a couple months)(return trip from pesach in LA)
2. EWR - TLV
3. TLV - EWR (stopover for a couple months)
4. EWR - LAX (likely Dec 25ish)
Couple questions though.
Can I book open jaws/stopovers on partner airlines also
For leg 1 there is no availability as of now since it is the day after peach. I have other flights booked, however I assume if something opens up last minute I can switch and use the united ones. Wait till then to book the entire itinerary? Otherwise its risky that I won't be able to take the first leg from LAX-EWR and that would ruin the rest of the trip?
Assuming I can't do leg 1 is just doing legs 2,3,4 a valid routing? I Can't get it to show on the website so I assume I need to call in.
and finally. Do I need to fly out of the same NY airport every time? i.e. something like. LAX-JFK, EWR-TLV, TLV-EWR, and then JFK-LAX would work or not?
Stopover rules depend on which miles you use. Since you posted in this thread, I'm assuming you're using UA miles.
--Cannot have more than one stopover on a RT award. You have two, so invalid.
--No guarantee leg one opens, so if you book another date now, hoping to switch closer in, and nothing opens, you'd be stuck paying a change fee to delete leg one.
--Waiting to book the entire itin until leg one is open is very risky because (i) it may never open, and (ii) your other legs may be gone at that point.
--Yes, doing 2, 3, and 4 is valid.
--Using UA miles, on this itin, they're co-terminals and interchangable.