droopydog

I am sorry to ask a basic question...

I have booked MR before, but have been successful using expedia or orbitz. Some, however, I cannot get all the cities in on a multi-city booking and in some cases, I cannot reduce the segments typed in to have it come up with the extra cities as a multi-segment flight.

I have a sample itinerary from ITA below. If I call United reservations to try to book this, do I just give them the routing or do I tell them the fare basis information as well?

Do I need to give them this fare code info:
UA PIT->PHL LA14AN
UA PHL->PVD SA14AN

or would I say the flights from PIT to PHL should book in L class and PHL to PVD in S class?

The text from ITA implies that you do give the fare code info....

Oh, by the way, this would not technically really be a mileage run, it would be a "segment" run as I will qualify on segments this year...

Thanks.
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Pittsburgh, PA to Providence, RI: 958 miles 9 hrs 4 min
United Airlines Flight UA2641 on an Embraer RJ-190 (jet) in coach class
(operated by US Airways as Flight US1432)
Departs Pittsburgh, PA (PIT) Fri, Dec 5 9:30a 1 hr 11 min
Arrives Philadelphia, PA (PHL) 10:41a
1 adult in booking code L, covered by fare (A1) below
Layover in Philadelphia 1 hr 14 min

United Airlines Flight UA2948 on a Canadair Reg. Jet (jet) in coach class
(operated by US Airways as Flight US2484)
Departs Philadelphia, PA (PHL) Fri, Dec 5 11:55a 58 min
Arrives New York, NY (LGA) 12:53p
1 adult in booking code S, covered by fare (B1) below
Layover in New York 1 hr 32 min

United Airlines Flight UA7775 on an Embraer ERJ-145 (jet) in coach class
(operated by UNITED EXPRESS/CHAUTAUQUA)
Departs New York, NY (LGA) Fri, Dec 5 2:25p 1 hr 31 min
Arrives Washington, DC (IAD) 3:56p
1 adult in booking code S, covered by fare (B1) below
Layover in Washington 59 min

United Airlines Flight UA7893 on an Embraer ERJ-145 (jet) in coach class
(operated by UNITED EXPRESS/TRANS STATES)
Departs Washington, DC (IAD) Fri, Dec 5 4:55p 1 hr 39 min
Arrives Providence, RI (PVD) 6:34p
1 adult in booking code S, covered by fare (B1) below
Note: You must change terminals in Philadelphia (PHL).
Note: You must change terminals in New York (LGA).

Providence, RI to Pittsburgh, PA: 932 miles 11 hrs 23 min
United Airlines Flight UA5340 on a Canadair RJ 700 (jet) in coach class
(operated by UNITED EXPRESS/GO JET)
Departs Providence, RI (PVD) Sat, Dec 6 6:00a 1 hr 38 min
Arrives Washington, DC (IAD) 7:38a
1 adult in booking code S, covered by fare (C1) below
Layover in Washington 42 min

United Airlines Flight UA7889 on an Embraer ERJ-145 (jet) in coach class
(operated by UNITED EXPRESS/TRANS STATES)
Departs Washington, DC (IAD) Sat, Dec 6 8:20a 1 hr 4 min
Arrives Philadelphia, PA (PHL) 9:24a
1 adult in booking code S, covered by fare (C1) below
Layover in Philadelphia 3 hrs 36 min

United Airlines Flight UA3164 on a De Havilland Dash-8 (prop plane) in coach class
(operated by US Airways as Flight US4296)
Departs Philadelphia, PA (PHL) Sat, Dec 6 1:00p 57 min
Arrives New York, NY (LGA) 1:57p
1 adult in booking code L, covered by fare (D1) below
Layover in New York 1 hr 48 min

United Airlines Flight UA2654 on an Airbus A319 (jet) in coach class
(operated by US Airways as Flight US1445)
Departs New York, NY (LGA) Sat, Dec 6 3:45p 1 hr 38 min
Arrives Pittsburgh, PA (PIT) 5:23p
1 adult in booking code L, covered by fare (D1) below
Note: The layover in Washington (IAD) has relatively little room for delays, and for this route a missed connection would likely be very inconvenient.
Note: You must change terminals in Philadelphia (PHL).


Booking details
If you want to buy this ticket, contact the airline (United Airlines: 1-800-241-6522, http://www.ual.com/) or a travel agent. If you use a travel agent to buy this ticket:
If your travel agent is online and has an e-mail address, e-mail this itinerary to them
If your travel agent is not online, print out this page and fax/give it to them
It is very important to use exactly the same booking codes and fare codes that we've used on this page in order to match the price we've found.

Fare (A1): UA PIT==>PHL LA14AN fare (rules) $66.05
Tax: US Transportation Tax $4.95
Fare (B1): UA PHL==>PVD SA14AN fare (rules) $69.77
Tax: US Transportation Tax $5.23
Fare (C1): UA PVD==>PHL SA14AN fare (rules) $69.77
Tax: US Transportation Tax $5.23
Fare (D1): UA PHL==>PIT LA14AN fare (rules) $66.05
Tax: US Transportation Tax $4.95
Tax: US September 11th Security Fee $10.00
Tax: US Passenger Facility Charge $18.00
Tax: US Flight Segment Tax $28.00
Total for 1 adult passenger: $348.00
(as of Monday, May 12, 2008 9:17pm; fares loaded Monday, May 12, 2008 8:05pm)
Fare construction (sometimes useful to travel agents):
PIT UA X/PHL 66.05LA14AN UA X/NYC UA X/WAS UA PVD 69.77SA14AN UA X/WAS UA X/PHL 69.77SA14AN UA X/NYC UA PIT 66.05LA14AN USD 271.64 END ZP PIT PHL LGA IAD PVD IAD PHL LGA XT 20.36US 28.00ZP 10.00AY 18.00XF PIT4.50 PHL4.50 PHL4.50 LGA4.50

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SANDIEGO

I believe you would tell the airline what flight # you want to be on, and in what booking class (L) etc, but have the "fare basis code" ready in case they need that. Then give them the next segment you want. If they can't get the same price you get in ITA, and you've checked ITA again just before calling, then maybe try a travel agent.
I would ask friends for a referral to a good travel agent they use. A good travel agent can come in handy for complex routings. And if you can fax/ email them the ITA info, it saves you a lot of time reading and waiting on the phone.

Also, if you don't feel the person you got on the phone at the airline is on top of their game, call back and try again with someone else, maybe at a less busy time (after midnight).