Jan 1, 2018, 1:51 am
Last edit by: Pat89339
Older portions of the thread have been separated into archive thread by year. They are listed below
2008 Trick It / negotiate it / special savings lounge thread
2009 Trick It / negotiate it / special savings lounge thread
2010 Trick It / negotiate it / special savings lounge thread
2011 Trick It / negotiate it / special savings lounge thread
2012 Trick It / negotiate it / special savings lounge thread
2013 Trick It / negotiate it / special savings lounge thread
2008 Trick It / negotiate it / special savings lounge thread
2009 Trick It / negotiate it / special savings lounge thread
2010 Trick It / negotiate it / special savings lounge thread
2011 Trick It / negotiate it / special savings lounge thread
2012 Trick It / negotiate it / special savings lounge thread
2013 Trick It / negotiate it / special savings lounge thread
2011 Trick it / negotiate it / special savings lounge thread
Jul 28, 2011, 11:28 pm
#4670
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: SMF
Programs: Bonvoy Titanium, SPG LTP
Posts: 1,527
Jul 29, 2011, 12:37 am
#4671
Join Date: Jul 2009
Programs: *W Plat, Hyatt PLT,PC RA Plat, Virgin Gld, CO Gld, DL Gld, HH Diam, KL Gld
Posts: 280
awesome was thinking of writing something up... I say this as I sit here doing it manually 
Jul 29, 2011, 1:05 am
#4672
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: DTW
Programs: AA EXP, DL FO
Posts: 1,719
I jumped on the skypesos YYZ-HND-LAX posted a few pages back. In my case doing a DTW-LAX-HND-LAX-CVG-DTW-YYZ and getting off early made this an easy choice at $694 all in considering $650 in vouchers I had to burn.
I'm having a philosophical problem with accumulating miles in the new fatty environment we fly in. Why should I keep accumulating miles when every year it becomes more difficult and expensive to redeem them due to the expanding adipose?
Of course I understand the value of status, but surely many of us value our RDMs highly as well. I've been leaning towards burn now when in the past I leaned more towards earn if the decision was anywhere on the fence in terms of the earn vs burn calculation.
I'm having a philosophical problem with accumulating miles in the new fatty environment we fly in. Why should I keep accumulating miles when every year it becomes more difficult and expensive to redeem them due to the expanding adipose?
Of course I understand the value of status, but surely many of us value our RDMs highly as well. I've been leaning towards burn now when in the past I leaned more towards earn if the decision was anywhere on the fence in terms of the earn vs burn calculation.
Jul 29, 2011, 5:02 am
#4673
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: BOS
Programs: AS MVPG75k
Posts: 353
...today, I decided to write some scripts to brute force every possible one-way in existence...
...I can also query for alliances, airlines, etc in certain regions. So if say you know a certain airline in a certain location dumps your route, I can now easily find other fares with that airline in that region.
...I can also query for alliances, airlines, etc in certain regions. So if say you know a certain airline in a certain location dumps your route, I can now easily find other fares with that airline in that region.
Do you plan to share some of the information on request or will it be a tool for personal use only?
Jul 29, 2011, 6:06 am
#4674
Suspended
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: New York Metropolitan Area 45 km from JFK
Programs: UA,AA,AS,BA
Posts: 4,607
So today, I decided to write some scripts to brute force every possible one-way in existence. This includes the same flight in reverse as those sometimes are more or less expensive, or nonexistent.
Methodology
I'm using 2 databases from the airline route mapper, the list of routes and the airport locations. So for any route in there, I am calculating the distance and then finding the cheapest fare in the next month or so through ITA's month-long search.
I expect this to be a fairly useful tool for the theory guys, but honestly its more for those of us who dont have the time and/or energy to keep up with changing times. Though I'd be surprised if this doesn't already exist out there somewhere...
Thoughts? Comments? Ideas?
Methodology
I'm using 2 databases from the airline route mapper, the list of routes and the airport locations. So for any route in there, I am calculating the distance and then finding the cheapest fare in the next month or so through ITA's month-long search.
I expect this to be a fairly useful tool for the theory guys, but honestly its more for those of us who dont have the time and/or energy to keep up with changing times. Though I'd be surprised if this doesn't already exist out there somewhere...
Thoughts? Comments? Ideas?
EXACTLY MY GOOD MAN. SYSTEMATIC APPROACH - BRUTE FORCE - I LOVE IT Yes it does exist "out there". I have been doing that for about a year now. Finally someone else applying discipline . Only problem with your approach is that distance is not 100 % correlated to price or FD ability. My suggestion is not to let your computer waste time sorting by distance. It has the capacity to do 100s of millions of combinations per second anyway. So let her run loose. Once you start demonstrating your results, I will have some ideas for you.IYKWIM
Last edited by WingedWorldExplorer; Jul 29, 2011 at 6:51 am
Jul 29, 2011, 7:03 am
#4676
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: SAT
Programs: AA EXP BA Gold, TK Gold, Hyatt Globalist, Hilton Diamond, AS 100K, QR PLT, SAS Gold, IHG Spire, AMR
Posts: 5,899
Any fare with a high YQ is a candidate fare for a FD. AA has recently begun to add YQs to their fares. The matrix will show you how much of a YQ your particular fare has. Yes, AA is dumpable.
Jul 29, 2011, 7:09 am
#4678
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: SAT
Programs: AA EXP BA Gold, TK Gold, Hyatt Globalist, Hilton Diamond, AS 100K, QR PLT, SAS Gold, IHG Spire, AMR
Posts: 5,899
I've followed this thread off and on when I need to go somewhere but it has been hard to keep up with, as many have previously commented. So today, I decided to write some scripts to brute force every possible one-way in existence. This includes the same flight in reverse as those sometimes are more or less expensive, or nonexistent. Obviously not all of these are suitable 3xs in all/any situation, but the idea is to compile a list of all one-way routes and their prices.
The question is what is the effect on the marketplace. It seems that today a few of us, excluding myself, have the skills, experience, knowledge on how to FD. Based on what I read is that the risk is that if too many people FD, we either end up with a AFWD disaster or the airlines will see a substantial spike in reservations for a certain routing and then shut that down. If that is correct, this tool, if released uncontrolled, could make FD a widely popular and widely used technique which may force the airlines to adequately respond.
I like the thought process behind it and I like the potential time savings. I just don't want it to kill the golden goose.
Last edited by Deltahater; Jul 29, 2011 at 11:31 am
Jul 29, 2011, 7:13 am
#4679
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: WAS
Programs: UA 1P / PC Plat / SPG Gold
Posts: 15
Jul 29, 2011, 7:15 am
#4680
Join Date: Jul 2009
Programs: M&M
Posts: 997
Quite often how a one-way prices out by itself has nothing to do with it's applicability as a strike. There are the obvious combinality restrictions and at other times mainline carriers combine only with certain fare buckets. Also as WWE pointed it out distance usually has little to do with dumpability: for quite some time the best 3X for Patriot was a 1345 miler flight.
I also don't think it's ethical to exploit a free service with automated queries. I'm sure none of us wants to see captchas or stuff on ITA.
Finally there are many things ITA will do for you and there are many it won't.
I also don't think it's ethical to exploit a free service with automated queries. I'm sure none of us wants to see captchas or stuff on ITA.
Finally there are many things ITA will do for you and there are many it won't.