martian

Sorry if this is in the wrong sub-forum - as I'm not sure where to ask it - and i could see how the question could be useful for all sorts of mileage runs. I'm trying to book the below itin that I've found on ITA. My travel agent can't figure out how to book it, and online platforms e.g. Expedia don't seem to want to do it. I think it is because of the extremely short connection time in Doha on the return.

Does anyone know of a way to force short connections like this on any platform? Does anyone know of any way I could book this?

Thanks in advance :-::-:



Dublin (DUB) to Manchester (MAN) — Sun, Aug 21
Aer Lingus 208
Dep: 2:00 pm
Arr: 2:55 pm
0h 55m
Airbus A320
Economy (Q)
Food and Beverages for Purchase
Layover in MAN
1h 15m

Manchester (MAN) to Doha (DOH) — Sun, Aug 21
Qatar Airways(Q.C.S.C) 46
Dep: 4:10 pm
Arr: 1:15 am
7h 5m
Boeing 777
Economy (N)
Meal
Layover in DOH
Mon, Aug 22
1h 25m

Doha (DOH) to Johannesburg (JNB) — Mon, Aug 22
Qatar Airways(Q.C.S.C) 1363
Dep: 2:40 am
Arr: 10:00 am
8h 20m
Boeing 777
Economy (N)
Meal
Johannesburg (JNB) to London (LHR) — Fri, Aug 26
Tight connectionOvernight flight

Johannesburg (JNB) to Doha (DOH) — Fri, Aug 26
Qatar Airways(Q.C.S.C) 1360
Dep: 8:45 pm
Arr: 5:55 am
8h 10m
Boeing 787
Economy (L)
Meal
Layover in DOH
Sat, Aug 27
0h 45m

Doha (DOH) to London (LHR) — Sat, Aug 27
Qatar Airways(Q.C.S.C) 7
Dep: 6:40 am
Arr: 12:00 pm
7h 20m
Boeing 777
Economy (L)
Meal
Mileage
14,532 total miles
Airport Information
Dublin International (DUB)
Johannesburg O.R. Tambo International (JNB)
London Heathrow (LHR)
Manchester (MAN)
Doha Hamad International (DOH)
Cost per passenger (including taxes & fees)
Ł692.42
Total cost for 1 passenger
Ł692.42

SpammersAreScum

According to Minimum connection time Doha airport ..., the MCT for QR-QR I-I (which is what you have) is 45 min. So it looks like what you want is allowed (but risky when you're flying econ, according to the experts there). Your best bet is probably to ask the question in that forum.

martian

Thanks! That is helpful. I suppose my broader question is if anyone knows how I can book this thing that I found on ITA. The people on that forum might not know, because this also contains an Aer Lingus leg. If anyone has any tips about how to book this, I'd be grateful. Thanks!

klanfa

Try using the ITA Matrix scripts, you get more airlines to try to price it. Search for it, there's a thread with all the info. I suggest installing it with Greasemonkey or whatever the name is.
You also get Priceline (advanced direct link) which priced for me what no one else could.

martian

Sorry: I'm not fully following. What do I do with the ITA codes? I tried pricing this with Priceline and it doesn't work? Why would ITA show it if it doesn't actually price anywhere else??

Thanks!

SpammersAreScum

klanfa is referring to a Greasemonkey script you can install in your browser which lets you click through from the ITA Matrix page to any of a number of airlines and OTAs. More info in the ITA-Matrix-PowerTools forum.

Other alternatives would be
1) Call up QR or a regular Travel Agent and feed them the itinerary
2) Try to construct the itinerary on Google Flights or Kayak and click through from there

I actually tried to do 2 on GFlights, and found I couldn't get it to offer me a direct JNB-DOH as the 4th leg, for some reason. When I tried to just construct the JNB-DOH-LHR return, GFlights was happy to offer me the flights you had in mind, and I was able to click through to QR and re-select them there, for almost exactly the same price GFlights said.

So, I'm not sure the MCT is your problem. Did you try selecting all the specific flights directly on qatarairways.com? If that doesn't work, it looks like maybe you could at least book the two one-ways, either directly or via GFlights.

Fr33faller

You can also try forcing it through Hipmunk, I just had a look but the prices are higher on those dates with the short connections, perhaps due to availability. Have a look and perhaps play around with other dates if your timeframe allows.

if you search for ITA and hipmunk you'll see tutorials on how to force itineraries, but for what you want it is:

depart: dub:: EI MAN QR DOH QR
return: JNB:: QR DOH QR

then select your flights depending on the layovers you want.

pnt1

Typically, Google flights works pretty well with this. I would also try greasemonkey.