TIP: How to specify the fare basis code on ITA
 

In a recent thread, I showed how you can specify the booking code in ITA.

Here's another unpublished feature of the ITA software. This one allows you to specify the fare basis code.

I'm no expert on fare basis codes, but I suspect this will be useful to some FTers.

The extensions to the itasoftware routing language are accessed by postpending commands after a '/'. There's a wide set of commands available, but there's no description of them available on the ITA web site. Unfortunately, each command applies only to one part of the trip, so they must usually be entered in each box.

CONSTRAINING FARE BASIS CODES:

Command is: "f CC.AAA+BBB.FFFFF" or "f CC.AAA+BBB.FFFFF|..."
where CC is carrier code, AAA and BBB are fare origin
and destination city, FFFFF is fare basis code

Ex: fare only with NW BOS-LAX YUP fares:
from: BOS::/ f nw.bos+lax.yup
to : LAX::/ f nw.bos+lax.yup

Ex: fare with either YUP or F fares on any airline and between any
points:
from: BOS::/ f ..yup|..f
to : LAX::/ f ..yup|..f

Ex: fare using only "through" fares
from: BOS::/ f .bos+lax.
to : LAX::/ f .bos+lax.

Ex: fare using only NW YUP fares or UA F fares:
from: BOS::/ f nw..yup|ua..f
to : LAX::/ f nw..yup|ua..f


More to come…

That is seriously clever stuff! I love all the features you can access through the ITA language.

This is so good that I'm worried ITA might start charging!

Any chance someone can put together a cumulative set of ITA instructions rather than in separate threads? This info puts ITA miles ahead of other sites.

Can someone put it into simple English for us poor dummies who don't get that stuff above? (sigh). I need to organize an ITA Do...

nor4 - I've tried to link to every ITA thread I've seen in the MR Tools, Part 2 thread. At the very least it's a common place to find stuff.


Sharon,

Basically, ITA's got some amazing functionality that's just coming to light (for me anyways) - you can use it to search for multiple segments on one carrier (i.e. a 4 segment UA flight from IAD-LAX) - you can also use it to search a particular booking class (like what are all the possibilities of S fares on UA from IAD-LAX for a promo that requires you to fly an S fare - like that'd ever happen!) - or you can use it to find flights that are based off a particular fare basis code (which you can find on the Expedia site) - it makes cheap flying & mileage run flying & promo-run flying easier!

new tool (maximum price) at ITASoftware
 

You can now put a maximum price in your search at ITASoftware. It keeps getting better and better.

Bob Cowen
The Internet Travel Guru (TM)
www.InternetTravelTips.com

I've been trying to use this on a multi-leg flight with DL but have been unable to get it to work. Here's what I put into the multi-segment search for 4 DL flights EWR-ATL-MCO-ATL-SEA all in one day:

Segment 1

ewr::/ f dl.ewr+mco.mhqk
mco::/ f dl.ewr+mco.mhqk

Segment 2

MCO::/ f dl.mco+sea.mhqk
SEA::/ f dl.mco+sea.mhqk

Could someone tell me what I'm doing wrong? I did wind up calling DL but it's a big ole pain in the ... to go through the song and dance without tipping my MR hand.

Thanks again! Going to use this to make sure my DEN YMTWTU promo :)

Fred: does this still work? I entered

from lax ::/ f aa.lax+lhr.SLW7E3U
to lhr ::/ f aa.lax+lhr.SLW7E3U

and also used SLW7 and SLW7E

it found no fares yet I'd just found it before without the fare basis code.

any ideas.

While I can see how these advanced features are useful, I'm sure the lack of proper documentation is often frustrating ;)

Fares are generally filed to CITY codes, not to AIRPORT codes. LHR is an airport code, while LON is the city code. The fare language lets you narrow things down to a specific carrier, market, and fare basis, but you need to know the actual endpoints of the fare (city or airport).

In this case, you want:
From: lax ::/ f aa.lax+lon.SLW7E3U
To: lhr ::/ f aa.lax+lon.SLW7E3U

Which seemed to work okay for me just now.

In any case, the multicity option isn't allowing me to use any more then 2 stopovers ( 7 segments ), when I add a 3rd stop over with even just 1 segment it refuses to "Find" results with a generic "no results can be processed" ... I can copy paste the from/to stuff as one-ways and they all return results. They must be capping max segments. Ah well, need to find a good travel agent I guess...anyone have any recommendations, IM me plz

wow ^ :eek: and thanks - it works great.

does anyone know if it would work for YY fares?

I'm not sure what the problem is, but the following works to search for AA flights from LAX-LHR with booking code S:

from lax::aa /f bc=s
to lhr::aa /f bc=s

Could someone please help? I am not sure how to use this for fares which require more then one segment:

From: KHI ::/ f BA.KHI+YYZ. DFFPKOW
To: YYZ::

This should bring up 3 segments: KHI-BAH on GF, BAH-LHR on BA and LHR-YYZ on BA. However, I keep getting an error. Do I need to put a + somewhere or do I have to enter it as 3 flights?

Thanks!

Again, city code versus airport code. You want:

From: KHI::/f BA.KHI+YTO.DFFPKOW
To: YYZ

It should work for YY fares:

From: LON::/f yy.lon+bkk.yow
To: BKK

gives me some results.

Having trouble trying to use ITA with free saver ticket search. Looking for a XY or N booking class (per seatcounter) for UA going from ONT or LAX to PVG for 10 nights starting July 19th flexible until July 29th. I have tried the month search and daily to no avail.

You cannot use ITA to search for non-published fares (this includes special pseudo-fares, used in award bookings).

Does the ability to specify the maximum price still exist?

Where can I find a list of CITY codes... versus Airport codes?
I'm trying:
mia::/ f aa.mia+phx.yup
phx::/ f aa.mia+phx.yup

For yup fares Miami to Phoenix.... but it is not working.

Do I need the CITY codes for Miami and Phx?

No, in this case the proiblem is that AA doesn't have any fares called exactly "YUP". Usually their fares are "YUP26D" or some such thing.

If you add a dash to the end of the fare basis code, in your specification, it's a wildcard that matches any ending. So you want:

mia::/f aa.mia+phx.yup-
phx::/ f aa.mia+phx.yup-

When I did that just now, I got lots of answers that were around $1900.

Thx for your response.

.... as in your previous post mentions, that for some cities you do need the CITY CODE vs. the airport code (I believe the reference was to Lon(don) vs. LHR).....

I travel (MR's and business) quite a bit and I'm sure I will come across a need for city vs airport codes.....

So.... Where can I find a list of CITY codes... versus Airport codes?

thx

Again... can anyone answer this?

So.... Where can I find a list of CITY codes... versus Airport codes?

What is the correct way to specify a transit\via city when using the following search? My attempts at the correct syntax aren't working.

cvg:: / f nw.cvg+sin.VLXSA20
sin:: / f nw.cvg+sin.VLXSA20

Thanks

I'm not sure exactly what you're trying to do. Hopefully this helps.

Fundamentally, in between the "::" and the "/ f" is where you put the language that restricts the route. After the "/ f" is the language that restricts the fare.

For example:

cvg:: nw msp nw nrt nw sin / f nw.cvg+sin.VLXSA20
sin:: nw nrt nw msp nw / f nw.cvg+sin.VLXSA20

(not many days with "V" availability that I could find)

I just came across this thread and tried to use it but can't seem to get it to work. For example I'm trying to do:

fra :: / f yy.fra+lon.yrt
lon :: / f yy.fra+lon.yrt

But I keep getting a "no trips found" response. Am I typing something incorrectly?

Also, does anyone know whether this method can be used to specify the fare to be used when a trip involves a stop-over? For instance should I be able to use this method to specify that a trip involving OTP-LON and LON-NYC on different dates should use a specific BA fare (say otp+nyc.TLRCEUR)? I'm getting a no trips found error when I try to do this.

try:

XXX:: /f bc=F|bc=C|bc=Y
YYY:: /f bc=A|bc=J|bc=W

that's just an example for different booking codes, you could use just the one you are looking for or multiple. Hope this helps

Thanks for the suggestion. I tried that already before but the result I'm getting is a series of one-way fares (xxx-yyy and yyy-zzz) instead of booking both sectors on the through fare basis (xxx-zzz) which the rules incidentally allow. So I was looking to see if I could specify which fare code to use but it doesn't seem to work.

Are you sure YY fare exists, which has a fare basis code YRT, between FRA and LON? "YRT" is not a generic code for all unrestricted full Y fares. (e.g. YR) I am seeing YIFRT fare by using the syntax below, although not sure if this fare fullfill your requirements.

FRA:: / F YY.FRA-LON (or add, ".YIFRT")
LON::

Also, in case, you are looking for LH fllight:
LH finalises to abandon IATA fares
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=723020

Thanks Tclin - you answered my question. The problem I was facing wasn't the fare basis (though you're right that YIFRT works - i'd made a wrong guess for "yrt").

My problem was that following the instructions from the OP I was adding a dot after "lon" when I was trying to leave the fare basis undefined. And that never seemed to work. Spelling it without the dot yields the results I wanted.

Now does someone have an answer for my Otp-nyc issue also :) ?

This should work.

I just tried pricing a multi-city trip OTP-LON, LON-NYC, NYC-OTP on the default dates, specifying the fare with /f BA.OTP+NYC.TLRCEUR for the first segment, and it priced out okay using that fare.

It's strange, but we don't seem to have any one-way fares applicable to that market, so you have to come back to OTP.

Could you let me know what you were trying in more detail?

Where does this string go? I must be thick, but I cant find a place to type these commands in.

Thanks. I've played a bit more with it and was able to get a partial answer to my query. If I leave the NYC-OTP leg undefined and the cabin selected as "cheapest available" then I generate a ticket outbound in T class and return on the lowest available economy fare. I also generate a result if I specify the same tlrceur fare in the return leg.

But if I try to combine the outbound fare with a different inbound fare (i tried WFFEUR and DFFEUR) then I get no results. I also get no results if I leave the fare undefined on the return but I select "business class or higher" in the cabin.

I'm basically trying to get an OTP-NYC return with the outbound in T class and a stopover in London and a return in club world in D class.

If you want to take this off-line then I'm happy to PM you with more details.

Thanks for your help

It goes in the From and/or To boxes (where ordinary mortals would just type airport codes ;)).

See this ITA help page for an example.

Hope that helps.

Help with limiting the fare basis search
 

Need help with limiting the fare basis search on ITA. My below input is not returning results, although an earlier unrestricted fare search brought up the same fares.

lax/tyo rt

so, I enter:
lax/ tyo
sq.lax+tyo.VMSP3

and tyo/ lax
sq.lax+tyo.VMSP3

ita gives me an error message regarding my code.

I could find the VMSP3 fare by using:
LAX::/F SQ.LAX+TYO.VMSP3
TYO::/F SQ.LAX+TYO.VMSP3
(both "Month-long search" and "Specific dates search")

My guesses why ITA does not give you valid search result are:
1. missing "/F" from your syntax
2. your departure date (if you are using "Specific dates search") is not Mon/Tue/Wed/Thu. The fare does not allow Fri/Sat/Sun departure and/or not from January 18 through March 26.
3. Violation of minimum/maximum stay requirement
4. No V class seat(s) on your travel date(s)

Thanks for your help. I noticed I was missing the /F in my commands. Now, I need to figure out how to book this flight, since none of the online booking sites seem to bring it up.

I also noticed that when I try to add a third leg in multicity search using the same valid syntax, I will get an error message.

lax/ tyo
depart:LAX / F SQ.LAX+TYO.VMSP3
destination:TYO

tyo/ lax
depart:TYO / F SQ.TYO+LAX.VMSP3
destination:LAX

yvr/ sea
depart:yvr
destination:sea

Error

I'm trying to search for a UA SFO-LHR SWUable fare. Do I have this right: SFO :: / F bc=w? or is ITA experiencing problems right now? TIA.

How to specify multiple fare basis code?
 

I have searched but didn't find an answer for my problem:

How can I specify mutliple fare basis code in one single search process? (I know how to do it with

As an example: I want to specify a return flight from ZRH-TBS with two different fare basis code (either I fly with fare basis code one or fare basis code two, both with different airlines).

If I enter '/ f tk.zrh-tbs.WLN2PRO; /f az.zrh-tbs.LSPEU6' or '/ f ..WLN2PRO; /f ..LSPEU6' or '/ f ..WLN2PRO|f ..LSPEU6' as advanced routing code and search with flexible search, ITA will accept this query but will show me only the flights with the first fare basis (WLN2PRO). What do I wrong?

Some help would be nice! Thanks! ;)