Two flights or one?

I have an airline ticketing question for you air travel experts. We have reservations at two different locations on consecutive weeks:

Home: MDT (Harrisburg)
Week 1: LAS (Vegas - HGVC Flamingo) 5/7/06 to 5/14/06
Week 2: SJD (Cabo - Westin Regina) 5/13/06 to 5/20/06
There is an overlap of one day between the two weeks which allows us to travel LAS-SJD on either 5/13 or 5/14.

I'm not sure if I should look at this as two separate trips (MDT-LAS and LAS-SJD) or one trip (MDT-LAS-SJD-MDT).

Is there is a way to book this as one trip and, if so, is there a financial advantage?

I'm also concerned with the return trip on 5/20 from SJD-LAS and then LAS-MDT. I'm concerned that two separate flights/tickets/airlines may create a nightmare for getting our checked luggage to the final destination if lost on the first flight and/or missing the LAS-MDT flight if the SJD-LAS is delayed/cancelled.

Any input from the gurus would be appreciated!!

Thanks.

That can be a sticky one. If you book 2 different tickets MDT-LAS-MDT and LAS-SJD-LAS and they are on different airlines, you could run into a big problem on the way back if your SJD-LAS runs late. The first airline would have no obligation to you for missing your flight. The second airline also has no obligation to you though they probably would try to accomodate you on a later flight.You would also have to retrieve your checked baggage and recheck it in LAS.

Have you looked at pricing for the one ticket? Does anyone fly from MDT to SJD? I love MDT by the way, wish it was closer.

P.S. I assume you meant 2007 not 2006?

Pat,

Thanks for your reply. I made a mistake on the dates in the original post (March 2006 instead of May 2006). I've now corrected the dates.

There are a number of flights from MDT to SJD with 1 or 2 stops along the way. The pricing for a roundtrip MDT-SJD is about the same as a roundtrip MDT-LAS plus a roundtrip LAS-SJD. But how do I arrange for the week in Vegas? Is this a one week layover on the MDT-SJD ticket? Is this what you mean or am I missing something?

I actually priced it out on AA.com and you can do one ticket with the 2 stopovers in LAS & SJD for $727. That does involve several stops but the flight from LAS-SJD is a non-stop. For about $150 more, you can cut out 1 stop each way. Not a bad deal.

One week layover?

Pat,

How do I book the ticket with the one week "layover" in LAS in the middle of the MDT-SJD ticket?

At the AA home page, click on "Multi-City" in the reservations section. Then enter your airports and dates.

Dave M,

Got it. This was so obvious I overlooked it. Thanks!

Looks like I'll be spending a little time over at ITA piecing this trip together.

Doug, let us know how you make out.