I'm not sure that's better

I'm calling the airline daily to see if I can't get a better flight back from Istanbul.

See, if I was actually paying for the ticket, it would be Istanbul to London; London to L.A. Easy peasy.

But I'm trying to do this for free, on miles.

I mentioned that the original offer included an overnight in Helsinki. It was, in fact:
Istanbul to Budapest
Budapest to Helsinki
Overnight in Helsinki
Helsinki to London (all of that just to get to London!)
London to Toronto
Toronto to LA.

The nice lady investigated further, and came up with:
Istanbul to Madrid
Madrid to Boston
Overnight in Boston
Boston to L.A.
Which would be pretty much perfect if I could get on a Boston to L.A. flight the same day, but that's not available (unless I pay) so this looks like about it.

I called today, and they were able to come up with an alternative with all flight on the same day, although it only left two days later.

So, I mean, right now, I've got myself leaving Istanbul on Sunday and (after the overnight in Boston) returning to L.A. on Monday, getting in around noon.

The alternative left on Tuesday, and was Istanbul to Madrid; Madrid to New York; New York to L.A., all in the same day. I'd get home just around midnight on Tuesday.

Which would make me totally useless for work on Wednesday, so the fact that all the travel is technically done in the same day doesn't really help.

... it continues. We call again tomorrow.