Jan 21, 2015, 10:55 am
Last edit by: hillrider
Here are some more hidden features of the ITA software.
The extensions to the itasoftware routing language are accessed by postpending commands after a '/'. There's a wide set of commands available, but there's no description of them available on the ITA web site. Unfortunately, each command applies only to one part of the trip, so they must usually be entered in each box.
EXCLUDE SPECIFIC AIRLINES
Command is "-airlines XX ..."
Ex: prohibit jetBlue or Delta
from: BOS ::/ -airlines B6 DL
to: LAX ::/ -airlines B6 DL
LIMIT TO SPECIFIC AIRLINES
Command is "airlines XX ..."
Ex: consider only jetBlue or Delta
from: BOS ::/ airlines B6 DL
to: LAX ::/ airlines B6 DL
LIMIT TO A SINGLE ALLIANCE
Command is "alliance star-alliance|oneworld|skyteam"
Ex: oneworld carriers only
from: BOS ::/ alliance oneworld
to: LAX ::/ alliance oneworld
EXCLUDE CODESHARES
Command is "-codeshare"
Ex: prohibit jetBlue or Delta
from: BOS ::/ -codeshare
to: LAX ::/ -codeshare
LIMIT DURATION OF ITINERARY, IN MINUTES
Command is "maxdur XXX"
Ex: no more than 5hrs for each part of trip
from: BOS ::/ maxdur 300
to: LAX ::/ maxdur 300
EXCLUDE OVERNIGHT STOPS, AIRPORT CHANGES, REDEYES, PROPELLER PLANES, TRAINS, HELICOPTERS, ANY KIND OF SURFACE TRAVEL
Commands are "-overnight", "-change", "-redeye", "-prop", "-train", "-helicopter", "-surface"
Ex: no overnight stops, no airport changes, no redeyes, no propeller planes
from: BOS ::/ -overnight, -change, -redeye, -prop
to: LAX ::/ -overnight, -change, -redeye, -prop
SET MINIMUM OR MAXIMUM TIME FOR CONNECTIONS, IN MINUTES
Commands are "minconnect XX", "maxconnect XX"
Ex: no less than one hour, no more than two hour connections
from: BOS ::/ minconnect 60, maxconnect 120
to: LAX ::/ minconnect 60, maxconnect 120
EXTRA CONNECTION TIME
Command is "padconnect XX"
Ex: require at least 20 minutes more than airline specified minimum connection time
from: BOS ::/ padconnect 20
to: LAX ::/ padconnect 20
PUTTING LOTS OF THINGS TOGETHER
Separate with commas.
Ex:
from: BOS :: UA UA / f bc=l|bc=y, -redeye, -prop
to: LAX :: UA+ / f ua.bos+lax.yup, padconnect 20, -overnight
The extensions to the itasoftware routing language are accessed by postpending commands after a '/'. There's a wide set of commands available, but there's no description of them available on the ITA web site. Unfortunately, each command applies only to one part of the trip, so they must usually be entered in each box.
EXCLUDE SPECIFIC AIRLINES
Command is "-airlines XX ..."
Ex: prohibit jetBlue or Delta
from: BOS ::/ -airlines B6 DL
to: LAX ::/ -airlines B6 DL
LIMIT TO SPECIFIC AIRLINES
Command is "airlines XX ..."
Ex: consider only jetBlue or Delta
from: BOS ::/ airlines B6 DL
to: LAX ::/ airlines B6 DL
LIMIT TO A SINGLE ALLIANCE
Command is "alliance star-alliance|oneworld|skyteam"
Ex: oneworld carriers only
from: BOS ::/ alliance oneworld
to: LAX ::/ alliance oneworld
EXCLUDE CODESHARES
Command is "-codeshare"
Ex: prohibit jetBlue or Delta
from: BOS ::/ -codeshare
to: LAX ::/ -codeshare
LIMIT DURATION OF ITINERARY, IN MINUTES
Command is "maxdur XXX"
Ex: no more than 5hrs for each part of trip
from: BOS ::/ maxdur 300
to: LAX ::/ maxdur 300
EXCLUDE OVERNIGHT STOPS, AIRPORT CHANGES, REDEYES, PROPELLER PLANES, TRAINS, HELICOPTERS, ANY KIND OF SURFACE TRAVEL
Commands are "-overnight", "-change", "-redeye", "-prop", "-train", "-helicopter", "-surface"
Ex: no overnight stops, no airport changes, no redeyes, no propeller planes
from: BOS ::/ -overnight, -change, -redeye, -prop
to: LAX ::/ -overnight, -change, -redeye, -prop
SET MINIMUM OR MAXIMUM TIME FOR CONNECTIONS, IN MINUTES
Commands are "minconnect XX", "maxconnect XX"
Ex: no less than one hour, no more than two hour connections
from: BOS ::/ minconnect 60, maxconnect 120
to: LAX ::/ minconnect 60, maxconnect 120
EXTRA CONNECTION TIME
Command is "padconnect XX"
Ex: require at least 20 minutes more than airline specified minimum connection time
from: BOS ::/ padconnect 20
to: LAX ::/ padconnect 20
PUTTING LOTS OF THINGS TOGETHER
Separate with commas.
Ex:
from: BOS :: UA UA / f bc=l|bc=y, -redeye, -prop
to: LAX :: UA+ / f ua.bos+lax.yup, padconnect 20, -overnight
TIP: More hidden features of ITA
Sep 24, 2016, 9:27 pm
#481
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Chicagoland
Posts: 375
Are you looking for a particular airline? If so, you can specifically search for flights on, say, UA and then you'd only have to exclude cities that UA flies to HKG from (SFO, ORD, and EWR, I believe?) and you wouldn't have to bother excluding other cities like PHX, DFW, etc. as UA doesn't fly to HKG from those cities.
Sep 25, 2016, 1:29 pm
#482
Join Date: Jul 2009
Programs: M&M
Posts: 992
Is there was a way to code a request such that there is at least one stop in the route, but exclude airports in a particular country for the stop(s)? For example, I'd like to do a trip from the US to PVG, returning with a stop in a 3rd country to eliminate the need for a visa. I know I can code in specific cities like NRT, but I wondered if I could just let the system choose for me. Or am I making this too complicated?
Having said that yea, you'd need to disallow city-by-city.
Sep 26, 2016, 12:05 pm
#483
Company Representative - ITA Software
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Cambridge, MA
Posts: 362
Is there was a way to code a request such that there is at least one stop in the route, but exclude airports in a particular country for the stop(s)? For example, I'd like to do a trip from the US to PVG, returning with a stop in a 3rd country to eliminate the need for a visa. I know I can code in specific cities like NRT, but I wondered if I could just let the system choose for me. Or am I making this too complicated?
l:nXX
(l: means "location" and n is the prefix for "nation")
So to say "flight sequences with one stop not in the US" you would type
~l:nUS
in the advanced routing codes field.
Sep 26, 2016, 1:36 pm
#484
Join Date: Jul 2009
Programs: M&M
Posts: 992
Woohoo, this is amazing!
Also a question: is there a way/chance to implement "o:" to work with specific flight numbers? For example I want to fly jfklhr on BA178, right now it takes a separate search to get all the codeshare flight numbers, noting them, then specifying all in the new search. Also relevant to the other 2 alliances where a flight can have 3-4-5 codes.
Also a question: is there a way/chance to implement "o:" to work with specific flight numbers? For example I want to fly jfklhr on BA178, right now it takes a separate search to get all the codeshare flight numbers, noting them, then specifying all in the new search. Also relevant to the other 2 alliances where a flight can have 3-4-5 codes.
Sep 26, 2016, 1:58 pm
#485
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: DFW
Programs: AS, BA, AA
Posts: 3,670
It's not clear to me exactly what you want to do, but you can refer to an entire country using the syntax:
l:nXX
(l: means "location" and n is the prefix for "nation")
So to say "flight sequences with one stop not in the US" you would type
~l:nUS
in the advanced routing codes field.
l:nXX
(l: means "location" and n is the prefix for "nation")
So to say "flight sequences with one stop not in the US" you would type
~l:nUS
in the advanced routing codes field.
Besides n=nation, what other modifiers are there for the "location" parameter?
Sep 26, 2016, 3:01 pm
#486
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Chicagoland
Posts: 375
That's exactly what I'm looking for. Thank you! And if I want a flight with more than one stop, none of which are in the US, do I just add a + afterward (as in ~l:nUS+), or how do I designate this?
Sep 26, 2016, 9:56 pm
#488
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Chicagoland
Posts: 375
Outstanding! I have never seen this parameter listed, so I appreciate your passing it along. Makes me wonder what other ones are out there that don't seem to be listed in the various wikis I've seen.
Sep 27, 2016, 11:00 am
#489
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: London
Posts: 17,007
Oct 1, 2016, 9:23 am
#491
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: London
Posts: 17,007
Certainly possible, the more constrained you can be the better chance ITA has of finding what you want, given the limited resources it allocates to each search.
Nov 20, 2016, 3:47 pm
#492
Join Date: May 2003
Location: RDU, NC, USA
Programs: UA 1K/MM, Hilton something
Posts: 841
I've tried what I think are all the combinations to get this to work, with various errors such as "illegal faring spec" and "maxconnect expects exactly one argument". What I'm trying to construct is something along the lines of:
"Get me from RDU to LHR on no more than two UA flights, with a maximum connection time of 180 minutes and a base fare code of 'W'".
None of these work as routing strings:
I think this should be possible somehow, I'm just not quite sure how... ;-)
"Get me from RDU to LHR on no more than two UA flights, with a maximum connection time of 180 minutes and a base fare code of 'W'".
None of these work as routing strings:
Code:
UA UA / f bc=w, maxconnect 180 UA UA / maxconnect 180, f bc=w UA UA / maxconnect 180 f bc=w UA UA / f bc=w / maxconnect 180
Nov 20, 2016, 5:31 pm
#493
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: London
Posts: 17,007
I've tried what I think are all the combinations to get this to work, with various errors such as "illegal faring spec" and "maxconnect expects exactly one argument". What I'm trying to construct is something along the lines of:
"Get me from RDU to LHR on no more than two UA flights, with a maximum connection time of 180 minutes and a base fare code of 'W'".
None of these work as routing strings:
I think this should be possible somehow, I'm just not quite sure how... ;-)
"Get me from RDU to LHR on no more than two UA flights, with a maximum connection time of 180 minutes and a base fare code of 'W'".
None of these work as routing strings:
Code:
UA UA / f bc=w, maxconnect 180 UA UA / maxconnect 180, f bc=w UA UA / maxconnect 180 f bc=w UA UA / f bc=w / maxconnect 180
UA UA / f bc=w ; maxconnect 180