MR Tool
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 43
MR Tool
I know that many people here like the ITA software web site for doing travel searches (beta.itasoftware.com).
But I haven't seen anyone mention the advanced search features that make the site really useful for finding MR itineraries. These are documented under "help" -> "extra for experts".
For example, you can type in "ABE::US US US US" in the "from" box and "LON::US US US US" in the "to" box. This will try to find the cheapest itinerary with four USAir flights in each direction [for the default dates in April right now, the best solution is $489].
This removes a lot of pain in finding interesting MRs.
Edited to note that the search is for USAir flights
[This message has been edited by USCheapskate (edited Mar 18, 2004).]
But I haven't seen anyone mention the advanced search features that make the site really useful for finding MR itineraries. These are documented under "help" -> "extra for experts".
For example, you can type in "ABE::US US US US" in the "from" box and "LON::US US US US" in the "to" box. This will try to find the cheapest itinerary with four USAir flights in each direction [for the default dates in April right now, the best solution is $489].
This removes a lot of pain in finding interesting MRs.
Edited to note that the search is for USAir flights
[This message has been edited by USCheapskate (edited Mar 18, 2004).]
#7
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 43
Yes, just put in "X X X X" if you want 4 connections (stopovers are a different thing from connections).
Unfortunately, when you use "X" to mean any city the search engine often times out. I think the number of possibilities grows to quickly when you can connect anywhere at all on any airline.
Anything more than about 2 Xs per direction seems to fail, but you can specify particular airports as much as you want, e.g.:
From: NYC:: X HNL X
To: NRT
This means exactly one connection on the way to HNL and one more on the way to NRT on the outbound.
You can get arbitrarily complex:
From: NYC: L ATL DL+ CHI UA,AA DFW N
To: LAX
would mean:
- one DL flight NYC-ATL (nonstop)
- one or more DL flights ATL-CHI
- one UA or AA flight CHI-DFW (nonstop)
- one nonstop on any carrier DFW-LAX
It's extremely powerful.
(this particular search finds a $398 solution on DL and AA, going LGA-ATL-MDW-DFW-LAX on the outbound, and a nonstop LAX-JFK on the return)
[edited to keep : from being a smily]
[This message has been edited by USCheapskate (edited Mar 19, 2004).]
Unfortunately, when you use "X" to mean any city the search engine often times out. I think the number of possibilities grows to quickly when you can connect anywhere at all on any airline.
Anything more than about 2 Xs per direction seems to fail, but you can specify particular airports as much as you want, e.g.:
From: NYC:: X HNL X
To: NRT
This means exactly one connection on the way to HNL and one more on the way to NRT on the outbound.
You can get arbitrarily complex:
From: NYC: L ATL DL+ CHI UA,AA DFW N
To: LAX
would mean:
- one DL flight NYC-ATL (nonstop)
- one or more DL flights ATL-CHI
- one UA or AA flight CHI-DFW (nonstop)
- one nonstop on any carrier DFW-LAX
It's extremely powerful.
(this particular search finds a $398 solution on DL and AA, going LGA-ATL-MDW-DFW-LAX on the outbound, and a nonstop LAX-JFK on the return)
[edited to keep : from being a smily]
[This message has been edited by USCheapskate (edited Mar 19, 2004).]
#8
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Greener Pastures
Posts: 10,515
Thanks for this description - I added a link to this post & added it to the MR Tools Thread.