Comparing Prices for Multi-City Tickets
Feb 18, 2018, 5:51 am
#1
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Comparing Prices for Multi-City Tickets
I'm currently being drive mad by trying to book a BHX-DUB-LHR/LCY open jaw. I want to do DUB-LON in J, but of course that's not available for BHX-DUB, as it's an EI codeshare. Third party comparison sites can't handle a search for a multi-class booking (at least the ones I've tried), but the BA website requires me to select flights before showing me the prices. Do I actually need to manually select every combination to see them, or is there something else I'm missing?
Feb 18, 2018, 5:57 am
#3
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I tried but failed. That said, I'm only an initiate in the dark arts of the Matrix, so it's very likely there's something I'm missing. I used the drop-down menu to select the cabin, should I have left that in 'cheapest available' and use the routing codes instead?
Feb 18, 2018, 5:58 am
#4
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Feb 18, 2018, 6:00 am
#5
Join Date: Aug 2013
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ITA Matrix is generally your starting point for multi-class multi-city - it's giving me a price of £187 on random dates in April, EI A outbound, BA I inbound. £206 if you want the outbound on the BA codeshare. However you may get cheaper through BA since ITA isn't that reliable for SH Y fares due to Basic etc.
Kayak does now offer multi-class multi-city searches but it's not especially reliable.
Kayak does now offer multi-class multi-city searches but it's not especially reliable.
Feb 18, 2018, 6:00 am
#6
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Slightly off topic, sorry, but I found a rather nice fare out of ARN into PER and back to OSL with QR for December. Feeding will be with BA at start and end. Fare was the non BAflights, via reasonable connection time at DOH. Took s copy of the fare located via Itax Matrix, called QR and they would not recognise the fare..saying does not exist...so are we sure Itax is that good?
Feb 18, 2018, 6:04 am
#7
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Slightly off topic, sorry, but I found a rather nice fare out of ARN into PER and back to OSL with QR for December. Feeding will be with BA at start and end. Fare was the non BAflights, via reasonable connection time at DOH. Took s copy of the fare located via Itax Matrix, called QR and they would not recognise the fare..saying does not exist...so are we sure Itax is that good?
Feb 18, 2018, 6:07 am
#8
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Slightly off topic, sorry, but I found a rather nice fare out of ARN into PER and back to OSL with QR for December. Feeding will be with BA at start and end. Fare was the non BAflights, via reasonable connection time at DOH. Took s copy of the fare located via Itax Matrix, called QR and they would not recognise the fare..saying does not exist...so are we sure Itax is that good?
Feb 18, 2018, 6:08 am
#9
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 8,751
Slightly off topic, sorry, but I found a rather nice fare out of ARN into PER and back to OSL with QR for December. Feeding will be with BA at start and end. Fare was the non BAflights, via reasonable connection time at DOH. Took s copy of the fare located via Itax Matrix, called QR and they would not recognise the fare..saying does not exist...so are we sure Itax is that good?
(a) useless agent
(b) wrong point of sale (shouldn't be an issue on QR as their married segment logic is usually consistent across POS, although distribution fee can vary)
(c) occasionally, YQ can be erroneous
An exception is shorthaul Y fares as mentioned above, but that should tidy up as BA's fare structure becomes normalised.
Feb 18, 2018, 6:14 am
#10
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Massive thanks to everyone who helped. I managed to work out I was supposed to use the +CABIN extension codes on ITA Matrix. I should have known there would have been a way to make it work. Couldn't find a guide for it easily though, annoyingly took a bit of trial and error. Oh well, learn something every day!
Feb 18, 2018, 6:53 am
#11
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It priced at £217.49 for my dates, but I could buy it from BA at £201.49 (not the first time this has happened either, but I'm certainly not complaining). Thanks again to everyone who helped!
Feb 18, 2018, 7:44 am
#12
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The £16 difference can be explained by the fact that there is an £8 charge per fare component, known as DTC (Distribution Technology Charge), for sectors not booked directly with BA or those agents that use the preferred platform known as NDC. So if you book with BA it will be often cheaper than external agencies.
https://www.britishairways.com/asset...ogy-charge.pdf
https://www.britishairways.com/asset...ogy-charge.pdf
