Search by Fare Class
Feb 13, 2007 | 12:01 pm
#1
Original Poster
Company Representative - AutoSlash and HotelSlash
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: autoslash.com | hotelslash.com
Posts: 5,981
Search by Fare Class
I have been using FareCompare.com lately and found it a great tool. One thing I have noticed though is that in many cases, when a great fare is located using their tool, it's almost impossible to actually book at that rate.
Their site theoretically shows you the dates that the fare is available for, but when I actually try to go and search for that fare, a much higher fare comes up either using their booking engine (Kayak?) or going to the airline site directly. (Note that I'm talking here about fares that are more than 4 hours old, so they should be in the online booking systems).
My question is, on the date selection page, they show you a box with the Fare Rules for the selected city pair (example below)...
---------------------------------
Fare Rules
$557 (w/taxes $596) roundtrip
Created Feb 09 2007
Fare Class TE73D6NX
Min Stay 3 days
Max Stay 60 days
Flt Restr No Restriction
---------------------------------
...is there any way to search by the Fare Class to find dates that this fare is actually valid? This would help me tremendously.
Thanks,
Jonathan
Their site theoretically shows you the dates that the fare is available for, but when I actually try to go and search for that fare, a much higher fare comes up either using their booking engine (Kayak?) or going to the airline site directly. (Note that I'm talking here about fares that are more than 4 hours old, so they should be in the online booking systems).
My question is, on the date selection page, they show you a box with the Fare Rules for the selected city pair (example below)...
---------------------------------
Fare Rules
$557 (w/taxes $596) roundtrip
Created Feb 09 2007
Fare Class TE73D6NX
Min Stay 3 days
Max Stay 60 days
Flt Restr No Restriction
---------------------------------
...is there any way to search by the Fare Class to find dates that this fare is actually valid? This would help me tremendously.
Thanks,
Jonathan
Feb 13, 2007 | 12:28 pm
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Worldwide
Posts: 12,952
Feb 13, 2007 | 2:24 pm
#3
Original Poster
Company Representative - AutoSlash and HotelSlash
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: autoslash.com | hotelslash.com
Posts: 5,981
OK, I just want to make sure I understand this and am doing it correctly... I went into the KVS Availability tool and I plugged PDX-PHL into the tool and brought up the trip using the Sabre: Fares/DotRes method. I got the following:
[KVS Availability Tool 2.7.3/Platinum - Sabre: Fares/DotRes/US/USD]
I then selected the first entry to view the fare rules. It basically said the fare was blacked-out on weekends, was only available on Tue/Wed, required a 14-day advance, no min stay and 30-day max stay.
I then proceeded to plug in every Tue-Wed combination in July to try to get the $158 rate. I could not come anywhere close. Does this just mean that the fare class is sold out for all of July?
Is there any way of using the KVS tool to cross-reference the available fare classes before I go off on a wild gooose chase?
Thanks,
Jonathan
[KVS Availability Tool 2.7.3/Platinum - Sabre: Fares/DotRes/US/USD]
Code:
PDX Portland Int'l OR US [KPDX] PHL Philadelphia Metro / Philadelphia Int'l PA US = PHL TTN [KPHL] TUE 17 Jul 2007 / WED 18 Jul 2007 / RT Carrier From To Fare Cur Fare Basis --------- ------ ---- --------- ---- --------- ---- ---- ---------- UA PDX PHL 158 USD LRA14ON5 UA PDX PHL 318 USD SRA14N10 UA PDX PHL 346 USD SA7NX UA PDX PHL 406 USD WA7NX UA PDX PHL 526 USD VA7NX UA PDX PHL 586 USD QA7NX UA PDX PHL 644 USD QRNX UA PDX PHL 824 USD URNX UA PDX PHL 1248 USD BUA UA PDX PHL 1458 USD YUA UA PDX PHL 3032 USD Y
I then proceeded to plug in every Tue-Wed combination in July to try to get the $158 rate. I could not come anywhere close. Does this just mean that the fare class is sold out for all of July?
Is there any way of using the KVS tool to cross-reference the available fare classes before I go off on a wild gooose chase?
Thanks,
Jonathan
Feb 13, 2007 | 2:31 pm
#4
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Worldwide
Posts: 12,952
OK, I just want to make sure I understand this and am doing it correctly... I went into the KVS Availability tool and I plugged PDX-PHL into the tool and brought up the trip using the Sabre: Fares/DotRes method. I got the following:
[KVS Availability Tool 2.7.3/Platinum - Sabre: Fares/DotRes/US/USD]
I then selected the first entry to view the fare rules. It basically said the fare was blacked-out on weekends, was only available on Tue/Wed, required a 14-day advance, no min stay and 30-day max stay.
I then proceeded to plug in every Tue-Wed combination in July to try to get the $158 rate. I could not come anywhere close. Does this just mean that the fare class is sold out for all of July?
Is there any way of using the KVS tool to cross-reference the available fare classes before I go off on a wild gooose chase?
[KVS Availability Tool 2.7.3/Platinum - Sabre: Fares/DotRes/US/USD]
Code:
PDX Portland Int'l OR US [KPDX] PHL Philadelphia Metro / Philadelphia Int'l PA US = PHL TTN [KPHL] TUE 17 Jul 2007 / WED 18 Jul 2007 / RT Carrier From To Fare Cur Fare Basis --------- ------ ---- --------- ---- --------- ---- ---- ---------- UA PDX PHL 158 USD LRA14ON5
I then proceeded to plug in every Tue-Wed combination in July to try to get the $158 rate. I could not come anywhere close. Does this just mean that the fare class is sold out for all of July?
Is there any way of using the KVS tool to cross-reference the available fare classes before I go off on a wild gooose chase?
Did you check availability in L class (Step 4)?:
[KVS Availability Tool 2.7.4/Platinum - Apollo: ITN/US-BMB]
Code:
PDX Portland Int'l OR US [KPDX] PHL Philadelphia Metro / Philadelphia Int'l PA US = PHL TTN [KPHL] TUE 17 Jul 2007 Carrier Flight From Depart To Arrive A/C St Availability --------- ------ ---- --------- ---- --------- ---- ---- -------------------------------------------------- UA 250 PDX 07:35 IAD 15:33 319 0 F3 Y9 B9 M9 E0 U0 H0 Q0 V0 W0 S0 T0 K9 L0 G0 P2 A2 -> UA/YV 7126 IAD 17:20 PHL 18:28 ER4 0 Y9 B9 M9 E0 U0 H0 Q0 V0 W0 S0 T0 K9 L0 G0 UA 598 PDX 08:00 DEN 11:24 320 0 F9 Y9 B9 M9 E9 U9 H9 Q9 V0 W0 S0 T0 K9 L0 G0 P9 A9 -> UA 1120 DEN 12:15 PHL 18:08 733 0 F8 Y9 B9 M9 E9 U9 H9 Q9 V0 W0 S0 T0 K9 L0 G0 P5 A3 UA 722 PDX 08:35 ORD 14:26 320 0 F9 Y9 B9 M9 E9 U9 H9 Q0 V0 W0 S0 T0 K9 L0 G0 P9 A9 -> UA/US 2344 ORD 16:10 PHL 19:17 734 0 F4 Y4 B4 M4 E4 U4 H4 Q4 V4 W4 S4 T4 K4 L4 G0 P4 A4 UA 722 PDX 08:35 ORD 14:26 320 0 F9 Y9 B9 M9 E9 U9 H9 Q9 V0 W0 S0 T0 K9 L0 G0 P9 A9 -> UA 896 ORD 16:00 PHL 19:22 735 0 F8 C8 Y9 B9 M9 E9 U9 H9 Q9 V0 W0 S0 T0 K9 L0 G0 P7 A7 D8 Z6
Feb 13, 2007 | 2:45 pm
#5
Original Poster
Company Representative - AutoSlash and HotelSlash
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: autoslash.com | hotelslash.com
Posts: 5,981
Ah, thanks. I guess I didn't really understand the last step, but your explanation clarified things. Appreciate the help!
Jonathan
Jonathan
