Originally Posted by
hurnik
Not sure if this belongs here or over in the ITA Matrix forum, but here goes:
Since delta.com (even with "flexible" option) is limited to what, a week at a time, searching for Companion Fare certs (in my case, First Class only with the Reserve card), I tried ITA Matrix (since it can do by a month or so it seems).
I used this post from Reddit to do the query (since I know nothing about Matrix):
https://www.reddit.com/r/delta/comme...flights_using/
Issues I've found/noticed:
1) ITA Matrix will return dates that delta.com will show nothing for. *Usually* it's dates in Matrix with the "overnight flight" icon thingy.
2) ITA Matrix will return dates that delta.com will only have mixed cabin (one segment First and the other Comfort+) Although Delta.com will do the same thing as well. Just annoying to find that there's dates, but not in First entirely (I have no idea how to filter Delta.com or Matrix so it avoids this, but I have a feeling it's something Delta would have to fix).
Other than that, it is useful (IMO) to know how to construct the ITA Matrix search to get a "month" view vs. Delta.com week by week (PLUS, the very annoying feature of delta.com that every time you modify the search, it changes the cabin from First to Main).
Companion cert usage requires a single fare in each direction of travel. ITA Matrix will often show prices involving fare breaks (where there is more than one fare in a direction) which are not companion cert eligible. These are effectively multi-city bookings, rather than roundtrips. On US48 routes this will be anything with a layover of over 4 hours. ITA shows fare construction so you can readily see if a fare break is involved. I've already used my cert this year, but I believe you should be able to select "Price Calendar" view on delta.com to see a month at a time (just as you can when looking without the cert).
DL will only combine C+ and FC seats together when there is inventory availability in FC in a particular fare class on the longer segment, but not on the shorter segment. In these cases, it will combine the flights on a single fare (using the lower fare class on the longer segment), but only the longer segment will be booked into an FC class.
Fares to Caribbean, Mexico, and Central America allow for layovers up to 12 hours. You can actually have layovers over 12 hours on these fares, but it creates a stopover and there is a $200 additional fee added for a stopover.
