How to Book a Multi-City Trip
A multi-city (or "multi-destination") booking lets you fly into one city and out of another, with one or more stops in between, all on a single itinerary. It differs from a simple round trip and from booking separate one-way tickets.
When to use multi-city vs separate one-ways
- Multi-city: one ticket covers the whole route, baggage is usually checked through, and it's often cheaper than booking each city pair separately when the route follows an airline's natural hub connections
- Separate one-ways: more flexibility to mix airlines or alliances, but each leg is its own contract - a delay on one flight isn't the next carrier's responsibility, and baggage isn't automatically checked through between them
How to search a multi-city itinerary
- Use the ""multi-city"" search option, not ""round-trip,"" on a flight search engine or airline site
- Enter each leg's departure city, arrival city, and date separately
- Compare the total multi-city fare against the sum of separate one-way fares for the same legs
Things to check before booking
- Minimum or maximum stay rules between cities on some fare types
- Whether baggage is checked through the entire itinerary or needs to be re-checked at each stop
- Visa or transit requirements for every country you'll touch down in, not just your final destination
- Cancellation and change policies, which may apply per segment rather than to the whole ticket
Tips to reduce cost
Build your route around how airline alliances and hub cities naturally connect, rather than plotting a straight line between destinations. Try pricing the same trip in a different order too - reversing the route can sometimes change the fare due to point-of-sale pricing differences.