Introduction to ITA Matrix and Advanced Routing Language - Chicago Seminars 2014
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Transcript of Introduction to ITA Matrix and Advanced Routing Language - Chicago Seminars 2014
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Introduction to ITA Matrix
and Advanced Routing Language
Scott Mackenzie
Chicago Seminars – 18 October 2014
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What ITA Does …and Doesn’t Do
• Search for flights
• Specify fare classes
• Specify carriers
• Search multiple dates
• Multiple display options
• Some fare rules
• Some saved searches
• Combine multiple fares
• Can’t book flights
• Can’t search for awards
• Can’t find some LCCs
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• ITA is not meant to replace Kayak, Hipmunk, or your
favorite airline
• ITA is not meant to be used by infrequent travelers for
typical round-trip flights
• ITA is a great way to compare many options when you
have specific needs …even if otherwise very flexible
Is ITA for You?
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But ITA Does NOT Do Magic!
Sometimes the answer is: You will not fly today.
Credit: xkcd.com/1133
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http://matrix.itasoftware.com/
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Let’s Go to the Site!
• I will provide some overview of search options during this live presentation.
• For those reading later, you can find detailed walkthroughs of each ITA feature on my blog:
– Introduction to ITAtravelcodex.com/2012/01/introduction-to-using-ita/
– Advanced Routing Languagetravelcodex.com/2012/01/advanced-routing-language-in-ita/
– Other Featurestravelcodex.com/2012/01/other-ita-features/
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In this PowerPoint:
• Fly a Star Alliance carrier booked with a United flight number to credit the miles to United MileagePlus
• Book a W fare on United-operated flights to use a Global Premier Upgrade
During Live Presentation:
• Connect in two cities, one of which must not be Chicago, in order to add extra miles to my itinerary
• The cheapest time to visit any of four European cities in the next month for a trip of 3-5 nights
Example Searches Using ITA Matrix
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• ITA will automatically price fares in the currency of the
departure city
– Change the currency if you want to see USD
• If selecting multiple airports, ITA will automatically allow
airport changes
– Uncheck if you must arrive/depart from same airport
Precautions before You Search
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DEMO 1: Book a Star Alliance Carrier
• Chicago to Barcelona, flying any Star Alliance carrier
• Use the routing language: /alliance [name]
– /alliance oneworld
– /alliance star-alliance
– /alliance skyteam
• Remember this may exclude some partners such as
Alaska Airlines or Etihad
– They will still be included if sold as codeshares with an alliance
flight number
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Enter Routing Language Underneath
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Initial Results Are Limited to Star Alliance
You can filter results even further by choosing a carrier or the number of
stops. To filter by both, click on the price where they intersect.
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Display Results as “Time Bars”
Prices indicate the lowest possible fare using each option. Orange is
absolute lowest. Remember, total could go up after picking return.
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Results Automatically Sort by Price
To sort by price per mile, access ITA Matrix using a different URL:
http://matrix.itasoftware.com/?showPricePerMile=true
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DEMO 1: Book a Star Alliance Carrier
Sorted by price per mile, you can see Turkish Airways at the top. This is
a decent option, and they have a good lounge in Istanbul.
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Hover on Flights or Stops for Details
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Each Choice Narrows Future Results
Sometimes there will be only one return option, usually due to rules that
limit combining fares. Click on “Change” to go back and choose a new
segment.
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Go Back and Try Again
This time we’ll fly Lufthansa via Munich. It’s less time and about $100
cheaper, although the price per mile goes up ($0.071 to $0.088).
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Return Options Display the Final Price
Note: We’re still sorting by price per mile
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Finally, We Have a Complete Itinerary
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Scroll Down to View the Fare Breakdown
Usually only two areas matter. Provide this information to a travel agent
or search tool, especially the fare basis code (e.g., LLXNC415).
Base fare
Total fare &
construction
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Fare Information Is Useful for Awards
Base Fare:
$135.50 * 2
Fuel Surcharge:
$496
Taxes and Fees:
$130.20
Miles always cover
the base fare; not
all carriers waive
the fuel surcharge
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You Can Also View Some Fare Rules
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Learn the Three IATA Areas
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What We’ve Learned…
• How to specify basic information and simple routing
language
• How to view, sort, and backup as we navigate through
search results
• How to obtain useful information from the final itinerary
– This last part is key. ITA doesn’t book anything, but we can
still learn a lot from our search.
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DEMO 2: Book a United W Fare
• Booking a ticket eligible for an upgrade is difficult and
depends on many factors:
– Operating carrier
– Fare class
– Upgrade availability
• ITA can’t help with the last one, but it can limit results to
operating carrier and fare class
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A Good First Start: Only UA Flight #
“UA” means United Airlines and “+” means unlimited segments.
Use “UA UA” to specify only two segments, or “UA UA UA” for three.
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But Nearly All Flights Are Ineligible
Codeshares indicated by “*” are ineligible, as are cheap fare classes such
as “N”. Flights must be operated by United and W fare or greater.
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Two Ways to Be More Specific
The “O:” command indicates the flights must be operated by that
airline, but it could be someone else’s codeshare.
Don’t use “/ nocodeshare” for reasons we’ll get to in a moment.
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Lesson: Better to Filter Some than All Results
Using “O:”
Problem: some
codeshares, but at
least UA metal
Using
“/nocodeshare”
Problem: can’t
specify fare class
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Specify the Fare Class
• Use “/f bc=[booking class letter]” to restrict results to a single fare class.• This command must come LAST. • Only ONE command with slash (can’t combine with “/nocodeshare”).• List each fare class separately using a pipe “|”.
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Success!
All fares are now on United metal and fare class W.
Some flights are codeshares, but they’re easy to skip over.
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Strategies for Searching by Fare Class
• We specified two fare classes for the return. Why would
we do that?
– Possible no W fare exists.
– Possible no W availability exists
– Possible V fare is only slightly more expensive and will
confer greater upgrade priority.
• Don’t list every fare class and waste your time. But don’t
limit yourself to one.
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Open Questions
• We specified two fare classes for the return. Why would
we do that?
– Possible no W fare exists.
– Possible no W availability exists
– Possible V fare is only slightly more expensive and will
confer greater upgrade priority.
• Don’t list every fare class and waste your time. But don’t
limit yourself to one.