Why I Would Rather Connect In Domestic First Vs Fly Direct In Economy

Next week, I am embarking on an expedition to countries 82 and 83, Nicaragua and Honduras respectively. Flight prices out of Nicaragua are notoriously high for some odd reason and decided it might be best to fly out of El Salvador (a bus goes from Managua to Salvador). With this in mind, I wanted to share a couple of the options I had on the table and why I think it is better to sometimes connect in domestic First, then fly directly in economy.

If I were to fly from Managua to Los Angeles, this was the cost in economy.

Yes, you are reading that correctly. A one-way in Main Cabin came out to 515$, ridiculous! First Class was 977$ as well!

Then it got me thinking: what if I took a bus through country 83 (Honduras) and flew out of San Salvador, as fares are notoriously low? Liberia was off the table due to 3000$ in J...

I managed to scoop a fair with 3 segments, all in J for 483$...

I had some remaining trip credit to book, which meant using that and paying the rest on my Amex Gold card for 3x membership points. The thing is here: this run will give 120 tier points when crediting to British Airways, and hopefully, by the end of May, I should be up to around 400.

If I had flown direct in economy, the price on United would have come out to 340$ for an economy seat or 508$ for an economy plus seat!!!

I flew this route in February and might go down as one of the worst redeyes operated by United, only due to the departure time.

The Moral Of The Story

In this case, I had the time to make the connections, and hopefully, it pays off with some tier point earnings. However, in some cases, you might not have the time so the direct option is better.

Airlines will charge less money (usually) if you are willing to rough it out and take the connections. For me, that's not an issue. I love flying, and there are more products to review!

Next time you fly take a look at nearby airports, as you might be able to fly Business Class for cheaper than economy plus!