portatour® always checks whether it is possible to drive the route between two appointments by car, which is seldom possible when routes are actually being travelled by plane.
However, there is a trick on how to skip this check: If an appointment starts at 12:00 a.m., there will be no availability check for it. Likewise, when appointments end at 11:59 p.m., no drive home is scheduled. You can now use this state of affairs to plan flights. The following example provides an explanation:
Let’s say you fly from Chicago to Miami on Monday at 5:00 p.m., to set off the next day at 7:30 a.m. from your hotel in Miami to visit customers there and in the surrounding areas. To do this, create a new appointment (at custom address) on Monday from 5:00 p.m to 11:59 p.m. with the address of the Chicago airport. This tells portatour® that the Monday route ends at Chicago airport. You then create an appointment on Tuesday from 12:00 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. at the address of the hotel in Miami. This lets portatour® know that your route will start at the hotel on Tuesday at 7:30 a.m. No route feasibility check between these two appointments takes place, thanks to the set times of 11:59 p.m. and 12:00 a.m.
Important: To enter these special times (12:00 a.m. or 11:59 p.m.), change the Schedule setting in the appointment to All-/Multiday and then adjust the appointment’s start time and end time accordingly.
For the return flight, create an appointment at Miami airport from, for example, 6:00 p.m. to 11:59 p.m. In this way, your route for the following day will begin from your home location.
Notes:
- If you are staying several days in Miami, you either create several additional overnight appointments at the desired hotels or enable overnight stays in the portatour® Options. You can optionally enter your favorite hotels in the region under “My Places”, so that they are automatically scheduled.
- Currently, it is not possible to book a flight in the middle of the day, whereby you would visit customers before and after the flight.