TIP: More hidden features of ITA
 

Here are some more hidden features of the ITA software.

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.

PREVENTING AIRLINES

Command is "-airlines XX ..."
Ex: prohibit Jet Blue or Delta
from: BOS ::/ -airlines B6 DL
to: LAX ::/ -airlines B6 DL

RESTRICTING TO AIRLINES

Command is "airlines XX ..."
Ex: consider only Jet Blue or Delta
from: BOS ::/ airlines B6 DL
to: LAX ::/ airlines B6 DL

LIMIT DURATION OF ITINERARY, IN MINUTES

Command is "maxdur XXX"
Ex: no more than 5hrs for each part of trip
from: BOS ::/ maxdur 300
to: LAX ::/ maxdur 300

PREVENT OVERNIGHT STOPS, AIRPORT CHANGES, REDEYES, PROPELLOR PLANES,
TRAINS, HELICOPTERS, ANY KIND OF SURFACE TRAVEL
Commands are "-overnight", "-change", "-redeye", "-prop", "-train", "-helicopter", "-surface"
Ex: no overnight stops, no airport chanes, no redeyes, no propellor planes
from: BOS ::/ -overnight, -change, -redeye, -prop
to: LAX ::/ -overnight, -change, -redeye, -prop

SET MINIMUM OR MAXIMUM TIME FOR CONNECTIONS, IN MINUTES

Commands are "minconnect XX", "maxconnect XX"
Ex: no less than one hour, no more than two hour connections
from: BOS ::/ minconnect 60, maxconnect 120
to: LAX ::/ minconnect 60, maxconnect 120

EXTRA CONNECTION TIME

Command is "padconnect XX"
Ex: require at least 20 minutes more than airline recommended
minimum connection time
from: BOS ::/ padconnect 20
to: LAX ::/ padconnect 20

PUTTING LOTS OF THINGS TOGETHER

Separate with commas.
Ex:
from: BOS :: UA UA / f bc=l|bc=y, -redeye, -prop
to: LAX :: UA+ / f ua.bos+lax.yup, padconnect 20, -overnight


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On another note: CoMETS is coming along slowly but surely, as I add more features. New screenshots will be posted in a few days and I am hopeful that beta testing will start shortly thereafter.

thanks!
 

once again a great post. ita gets more useful every day. and now i know how to avoid those helicopter segments :D

SeattleFred, do you know if anybody is consolidating all the ITA tips in one place? This is a goldmine of info, ^ ^ making all sorts of searches possible and easier than with other engines. :cool:

Maybe we could add this to a sticky on the MR forum?

bhatnasx has been adding these to the Mileage Run Tools (Part II) sticky at the top of this forum.

One more tip
 

For those who hate regional jets (or like to get upgraded!), in addition to the various other trip constraints (e.g. -prop, -overnight), you can now specify

-nofirstclass

This removes from consideration all flights without a first class cabin. All flights returned will have a first class cabin (though it will still quote you a coach price if that's what you've asked for).

Should remove all prop planes and any regional jet (or big jet!) without a first class cabin.

That is fantastic, thank you! :)

I would love to att the /airlines option implement alliances. Something like /airlines *A (for Star Alliance) or /airlines OW (for OneWorld). ITA Hacker - any chance?

I think this is a good place to ask because I haven't found an answer so far:

Suppose I wanted to find flight between Toronto and London Heathrow

on BA in T or W class OR on AC in C or S class. How would I enter it?

I have tried YYZ:: BA / f bc = W?| bc = T?, AC / f bc = C?| bc = S?

but it hasn't worked. Can anyone help?

Thanks,

When I first saw this I started hyperventilating. :eek:

Then I read the rest of the post. ;)

Nice... and here I thought I was bored with ITA ;)

What, you don't want the ability to specify Executive Airlines (carrier code OW) in your query? :)

More seriously, the alliances are constantly changing, and keeping track of which airlines are in which alliances isn't something we've had to do up until now. The schedule data we receive theoretically contains this information (an alliance identifier for each flight), but the last time I checked it was very incomplete.

Still, we might add this functionality in the future. The best way to ask for enhancements is to go through the comments link on the site, though.

Until we have such a functionality, though, you can of course just cut and paste the list of airlines into the search box.

You can only have one "route specification" and one "faring specification" per box. Nevertheless, it's possible to cram what you're trying to do into one of each.

To constrain fare basis codes, you can do:

YYZ:: BA,AC / f ba..w-|ba..t-|ac..c-|ac..s-

Constraining booking codes is somewhat more difficult. Let me know if you'd rather do that and I'll figure out what the syntax would be.

I'm not getting how this is meant to work,

I put in LON::/ -airlines BD
and FRA::/ -airlines BD

expecting to only get results back for BMI flights but instead get

KLM, United, Lufthansa, British Airways, etc, etc.

What's the go?

From post #1 above ... BOS :: UA Just replace BOS with LON and UA with BD-- you'll see BMI flights. Spaces are important, I think this works. Hope it does & helps.

Duplicate

You don't need to add "-". You are actually trying to exclude BD flights.

LON::/ airlines BD
FRA::/ airlines BD

However, this syntax makes sense if you want to restrict two or more airlines on the route.

LON:: BD
FRA:: BD

is simpler and need less keystrokes.

Please Help
 

At one point in time, I had a one-line "script" that would allow me to specify the airline and class of service that I wanted, which was great if you needed a specific fare for bonuses (ie: Last winter AA had a huge bonus, but only for specific fares).

Does anyone know what I am talking about and, if so, can you provide it for me.

Many thanks

XXX:: AA /f bc=J|bc=I|bc=D
YYY:: AA /f bc=A|bc=F|bc=P

Thanks for your quick reply. Much appreciated

I know I can use the -redeye function to specify no redeyes, but how do I specify if I do want them?

I found another nice function just by guessing: -codeshare ^

Ohhhh that IS good. No more US/LH when searching for UA!

In the date line(s), change the "anytime" box to "night (9pm-3am)" or "10pm-2am" departures.

That option is not available for multi-day searches.

You're right, that SFO-BOS redeye on the whirlybird is a real pain. Especially with the four stops along the way to refuel.

;)

Nice! Good way to ensure those BIS miles... ^

Constraining booking codes
 

It looks like the '/f bc=Y' constrains by primary booking code of a fare rather than by actual RBD. So it is useless for interline and IATA fares where RBD chart 2 is to be checked.

But the good news is that things like this are combinable in one query: 'XXX:: /f bc=b, f ..yif-'

It's not that clear now...

How would you use the -codeshare in a routing search?
xxx::dl- ?

BRU :: SN / -codeshare
FRA :: SN / -codeshare

Can't force overnight layover on ITA
 

I'm trying to figure out a routing to maximize mileage on UA's amazing B fares ex-LHR. On the fares I'm looking at any stop under 24 hours is considered a transfer, but I can't seem to force an overnight transfer.

If I try multi-city, then the flights on the second day get priced as their own one-way fare, not combined with the first day's flights.

If I try

lhr :: ua x ua x ua x ua x ua /f bc=b, maxconnect 1400
lax :: ua /f bc=b

I get "No flight options were found for the first segment of this trip."

On the other hand, .bomb is able to get me the fare I want with LHR-FRA-ORD-DEN-SEA-LAX on the outbound, with an overnight in DEN.

Any ideas?

Forcing red-eyes?
 

I'm trying to find lowest-cost red-eyes with a month long search. Any idea how to force ITA to show red-eyes?

[oops]

that doesn't work for month long search [looking for redeyes only] - is there another way? this would be REALLY helpful for MR's

Sorry, we don't have a way of forcing redeye flights or overnight layovers, other than the obvious ones like using the multi-city page or the departure/arrival time boxes, which of course are not available for the month-long search.

Any chance of getting a more extensive help page on the site itself?

As seen above, many FTers have come up with some helpful hints. I bet the ITA group could put together a pretty comprehensive package of hints for their help screen, beyond what's there now.

Well, it was never our intent to expose most of our internal debugging commands to the world at large. It happened sort of by accident when one of our company founders (who wrote most of our original pricing system) met someone from FlyerTalk because their children went to the same daycare. It sort of spiraled out of control from there.

In the end, these tools are just what I described above: internal debugging commands. Writing them up in an official document would commit us to a level of support and backward-compatibility that I'm not sure we'd be comfortable with. But I'll raise the issue internally.

Perhaps you could ask the FT community what sorts of commands or specific needs would be most helpful and post a revised help page based on that information. I don't think any of us expect ITA to be our own personal CRS (well not officially). But getting us through some of the the stickier planning tangles would be appreciated.

I have to say the ITA site is a godsend for most of us who use it. So regardless of what you decide to do, many, many thanks to all of you for the site. You cannot know the number of flights you've enabled and time you've saved by creating the site.

What a nice accident it was. As far as I can see it has led to nothing bad and a lot of good. :)

I can understand that. However, if ITA would disclose the commands to one of us, we could write an informal guide ourselves for use within FT community. I'd even volunteer for that service. :) You'd not have to provide any service beyond what you are doing now - ie, answering questions, or not, at your convenience and discretion.

I believe what you may be missing is that de-bugging commands are typically not tested for scalability, therefore having them more out in the open may affect the usability of the tool.