Deltahater

We have all noticed a big change in the results ita delivers vs matrix1. Can you, without divulging highly sensitive internal information, explain what else has changed?

The interface is one change, but their are productivity changes as well.

Thanks

angatol

.....

janetdoe

Based on my PMs, I think WWE made a statement about ITA that many people are misinterpreting. It's like he said, "Oh, what they teach you in Chemistry 1 about the structure of the atom is all a lie. Quantum mechanics proved that was all wrong." Which is, in a sense, true, but it doesn't help you learn Chemistry.

What he said was that ITA is no longer the place to go for the BEST results. It is still good, and absolutely without a doubt the best place to train. If you can't find anything on ITA, then it is almost infinitely harder to find something 'outside', where your only option is to search one route, one strike at a time, and you have to repeat the search many times for each combination. It truly becomes "billions" of searches at that point.

The people who find things on outside search sites are usually people who have spent a lot of time working with FDs, have a very specific idea of what is likely to work ("intuition"), and have gone around doing targeted searches on many sites. The place they honed their skills was massive numbers of searches on ITA, along with closely reading and working through the entire thread, and probably some innate talent and luck.

Of course there is always the chance of blindly stumbling into a trick on other sites... a broken clock is right twice a day, and accounts for many of the MR deals than get moved into the tricks forum.

WingedWorldExplorer

No I am quite clueless. Wish I had a friend with your analytical abilities who can give profound answers by use of questions.

Maybe someone else's posting may better describe what I was so unable to articulate myself.

FrankTalk

ITAHacker stated on more than one occasion (ironically, right after my post) that the search logic is the same for both versions (note that (s)he doesn't say the search itself is executed exactly the same way, not to mention actually combining the fares!*). Based on that the most logical explanation should be that they rolled out improvements in handling complex itins. If your dumps worked on big-oh before but now they don't chances are there were changes in the logic and it's futile (eg. useless) to bash ITA for "nothing" (in a sense that the changes are just updates as usual).
*we all know M1 and M2 didn't handle same fares the same way. Think of Fat Pax not working on one of them. Clever wording form our friends...


@ITAHacker: I'm not sure this is a thread you want to participate in.

Firewind

I've been thinking this is so, but don't have nearly the breadth of perspective (data points) to tell. For example, was it because of day of week, time of day - e.g., usage - or did I imagine it? And with the labor intensity of each search, I'm not likely to gain a better perspective.

TAs, what say you?

ulzimates

Just booked my first C1-C2 sub 300 ticket for summer travel. Wanted to thank all the ones who aided along the way. Despite what everyone thinks, this board is very helpful. You have to do your own research and don't expect anything handed to you on a silver platter.

broms

+1 ^

Firewind

[*symbolic kiss on cheeks*]

Congratulations, ulzimates, you're Made! Now, time to go to the mats for a while (batten down the PM hatches) until this blows over.

OskiBear

I haven't carefully followed this thread for awhile. Novice at FD'ing here - did it a few times when it was easy to do a 3x.
However, I was playing with a couple of trips recently where I need to do a r/t overseas and found that if I add a 3rd leg, it essentially eliminates a portion of the YQ commensurate with the fare of the 3rd leg. It's a 3rd leg in a foreign country that I need to take on a wholly unrelated trip.
Still seems like savings to me - swapping YQ for a usable fare/flight.
Feels a bit like FD'ing-lite. Any other thoughts/suggestions?

IrishRed

Seems completely strategic to me, and certainly FD-ing. After all you'll get the miles for the flown 3x, so all the better!

bittul

Agree with IrishRed. Sounds like a perfect strategy.

How far ahead is your 3x? Might be cheaper if you don't need a specific date. You should weigh that against the odds that your "unrelated trip" works perfectly according to schedule, and you can actually take the 3x.

The Juiceman

I have found if you book multiple r/t's on one PNR (on the same carrier or alliance) you will generally only be charged the YQ once. Of course, YMMV.

Minos

Reversing trends...

Just to let you know that I was able to price a 3 segment TATL on ITA at
US$ 7,794,500.00 on Air France

In case you are interested, let me know...

EmailKid

Screenshot

EmailKid