[PREM FARE GONE] Ba/aa cai-lhr-lax-hnl (840 tp)= us$1556
Sep 14, 2017, 8:50 am
#271
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 732
1) You need to find I class availability using ExpertFlyer.com for:
CAI-LHR
LHR-JFK
LAX-HNL
and back
2) You need to find A class availability (and importantly with no I class) on the JFK-LAX flights.
End of April onwards is easier to find.
3) Use http://matrix.itasoftware.com/ multi-city planner to construct the route.
If you have done it right, it should come out at £1294.
4) Call British Airways (i called the bronze line) and spoon feed them each date + flight number.
5) Pay
It took me a good 2/3 days of figuring stuff out to manage all this. ITA Matrix and ExpertFlyer are not simple tools. Most of the details + hints you'd need are in this thread. If you read all of the pages, you'll probably find your answer. Good luck!
CAI-LHR
LHR-JFK
LAX-HNL
and back
2) You need to find A class availability (and importantly with no I class) on the JFK-LAX flights.
End of April onwards is easier to find.
3) Use http://matrix.itasoftware.com/ multi-city planner to construct the route.
If you have done it right, it should come out at £1294.
4) Call British Airways (i called the bronze line) and spoon feed them each date + flight number.
5) Pay
It took me a good 2/3 days of figuring stuff out to manage all this. ITA Matrix and ExpertFlyer are not simple tools. Most of the details + hints you'd need are in this thread. If you read all of the pages, you'll probably find your answer. Good luck!
Sep 14, 2017, 6:34 pm
#273
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Denver • DEN-APA
Programs: AF Platinum, EK Gold, AA EXP, UA 1K, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 21,603
Thanks Frequent flyer 101 for your helpful posts. It did take a few days of trial and error to finally get it. Was able to book a February/March CAI-LHR-JFK-LAX//LAX-HNL-LAX//LAX-JFK-LHR-CAI RT with JFK-LAX-JFK in A. $1,714 and 1,290 TPs. Now working on round 2.
Sep 15, 2017, 12:26 am
#274
Join Date: May 2007
Location: ORD, DEL
Programs: AA (Plt Pro; 1.5 MM)
Posts: 6,185
My comments in BLUE.
Hi all, Thanks for being patient and helpful.
when I check availability on expertflyer, I see availability on days in December which dont show up on your list. @aktchi mentioned this maybe because they are assigned to different sale countries. How does your availability match that of expertflyer? Is there a way to find sale country in expertflyer?
In EF you can specify the purchasing city in Fare Information. In ITA on the main search page. If you don't specify the sale city, both EF and ITA default to the departure city and can have unpredictable consequences. Certain fares may not be offered in this country or that. So best to specify something reasonable yourself. This is not rocket science, but still somewhat tedious and time consuming.
The cheapest fare I am finding in ITA is with sale city of LHR. However as others have pointed, have not been able to replicate booking with any websites like expedia, priceline etc. amextravel is closest in price but still $2000. What is the best option to book?
As for booking, there are a few options:
(1) Take your ITA output to Book With Matrix.
(2) Install ITA Power Tools and go to one of the links. In my experience works best on Firefox.
(3) Try google flight.
(4) Call BA. We all love working online, but often reservation agents can see more info than provided on consumer websites. Be ready to feed them flight times (works better than flight numbers in practice).
(5) Try similar at any major OTA, ie, call and request specific flights.
Regarding options (4) and (5) it would obviously be preferable to avoid times when the phone agents may be super-busy. Try to find a less hectic time.
Also if there are 4 free stopover, I should be able to add 5 sectors in ITA without price increasing significantly, correct?...
Yes, but only if the lowest booking class is available on all flights those dates. Check ITA output for fares being used and see if it is the same you saw at EF.
when I check availability on expertflyer, I see availability on days in December which dont show up on your list. @aktchi mentioned this maybe because they are assigned to different sale countries. How does your availability match that of expertflyer? Is there a way to find sale country in expertflyer?
In EF you can specify the purchasing city in Fare Information. In ITA on the main search page. If you don't specify the sale city, both EF and ITA default to the departure city and can have unpredictable consequences. Certain fares may not be offered in this country or that. So best to specify something reasonable yourself. This is not rocket science, but still somewhat tedious and time consuming.
The cheapest fare I am finding in ITA is with sale city of LHR. However as others have pointed, have not been able to replicate booking with any websites like expedia, priceline etc. amextravel is closest in price but still $2000. What is the best option to book?
As for booking, there are a few options:
(1) Take your ITA output to Book With Matrix.
(2) Install ITA Power Tools and go to one of the links. In my experience works best on Firefox.
(3) Try google flight.
(4) Call BA. We all love working online, but often reservation agents can see more info than provided on consumer websites. Be ready to feed them flight times (works better than flight numbers in practice).
(5) Try similar at any major OTA, ie, call and request specific flights.
Regarding options (4) and (5) it would obviously be preferable to avoid times when the phone agents may be super-busy. Try to find a less hectic time.
Also if there are 4 free stopover, I should be able to add 5 sectors in ITA without price increasing significantly, correct?...
Yes, but only if the lowest booking class is available on all flights those dates. Check ITA output for fares being used and see if it is the same you saw at EF.
Last edited by aktchi; Sep 15, 2017 at 12:36 am
Sep 15, 2017, 6:45 am
#277
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: London
Posts: 17,007
As with most airline tickets, the ticket will be valid for changes and refunds for one year, starting from the day on which first travel on the ticket commences.
Sep 15, 2017, 8:52 am
#278
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Manila, Philippines (MNL)
Programs: BAEC Gold [>20k Lifetime TPs] | Hilton Honors Lifetime Diamond [as is Mrs PtF] | Various Others
Posts: 6,156
Without wishing to spoil anyone's party please be aware that Egyptian Presidential elections are due to take place some time during the period 8 February - 8 May 2018. What degree of disruption/turmoil this may cause is anyone's guess, but recent history has not been encouraging in that regard.
Sep 15, 2017, 11:07 am
#279
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: Bradford, England
Programs: BA GGL/CCR , HH Diamond
Posts: 274
Without wishing to spoil anyone's party please be aware that Egyptian Presidential elections are due to take place some time during the period 8 February - 8 May 2018. What degree of disruption/turmoil this may cause is anyone's guess, but recent history has not been encouraging in that regard.
Sep 15, 2017, 11:19 am
#280
Join Date: Mar 2015
Programs: BA GGL
Posts: 2,447
Sep 15, 2017, 1:57 pm
#282
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Denver • DEN-APA
Programs: AF Platinum, EK Gold, AA EXP, UA 1K, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 21,603
Just booked a 2nd one this afternoon. One thing I discovered is that ITA doesn't show all the available flight options even though there can be plenty of I inventory on other unlisted flights. Also, married segments will frequently show I inventory while individual point-to-point flights may not. As long as EF shows I (or I0/IL on the BA JFK-LAX codeshares), the $1,714 fare should be bookable in I/A on the phone with BA or Amex.
Sep 15, 2017, 4:16 pm
#283
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2014
Programs: Top Tier with all 3 alliances
Posts: 11,670
Also, is it possible to get a stopover at ORD for less than $2k?
Sep 15, 2017, 4:20 pm
#284
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: WAW ✈ LHR ✈ GLA
Programs: BA GfL/GGL/CCR, HH Diamond, IHG Diamond Ambassador
Posts: 2,502
it's better to stick with JFK-LAX transcon I guess...
Sep 15, 2017, 4:24 pm
#285
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: NYC
Programs: AS MVP Gold, BA Silver, AA Gold, Marriott Titanium, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 1,619
One thing I discovered is that ITA doesn't show all the available flight options even though there can be plenty of I inventory on other unlisted flights. Also, married segments will frequently show I inventory while individual point-to-point flights may not. As long as EF shows I (or I0/IL on the BA JFK-LAX codeshares), the $1,714 fare should be bookable in I/A on the phone with BA or Amex.
If you're successful in constructing your ideal itinerary on ITA, in addition to calling BA or AMEX, you can simply email the the ITA itinerary to your regular, friendly travel agent. Powertools doesn't work too well with these fares; AA Germany typically works very well on tickets you're happy to book on 001 ticket stock, and Delta Germany also works a charm on most every ST itinerary; Priceline can often ticket complex itineraries, but I'd advise using them primarily for tickets where you're uncomfortable working directly with an airline or friendly TA
).