Originally Posted by
Smiley90
You can force stopovers by writing eg "AA AA AA" in the routing code (= has to be three AA flights), but it'll pick the cheapest stopovers, not the most mile-effective ones.
Best way to do it is probably find the cheapest direct routing without stopover restrictions, then read the fare rules carefully. Usually that'll tell you the stopover rules and then pick stops based on that. No easy way to do it or everyone would be
Originally Posted by
xenole
Is there a way in ITA of optimizing routings?
I want to get from LAX to JFK but to maximise TPs for the least cost.
Have found LAX-LAS-PHX-JFK (P/P/P/P) for £426 / 330TP etc but it would be easier for me if I wasn't randomly trying combinations of airports to see where I can fly into / out of without really increasing the cost.
I'ts not a DIRECT answer to your question, but I've found the 'SORT BY CPM' feature on matrix can be useful in these circumstances in terms of identifying longer routing - if used in conjunction with 'negation' of some of the less helpful airport from a TP run perspective such as ORD and DFW.
"Show CPM/Sort by CPM" can be done by holding down the 'shift' key while clicking on the price area, or click on the following link to enable the feature.
http://matrix.itasoftware.com/?showPricePerMile=true
(I'm no longer 100% on these steps as I seem to have it permanently enabled on all of the PCs I use regularly but this used to be the method of enabling it)