nbevan

Again, what information are you trying to obtain from ExpertFlyer (for example that you are not getting from Orbitz)?

dcman2

Mostly I'm confused because the Orbitz price comes back at one cost, but on Expertflyer the fares for the flight combinations I'm trying keep coming back with a higher total price and since experflyer doesn't add taxes and such, my impression is the fares should be lower. This makes no sense to me because if Orbitz is using the same fare information AND tacking taxes and their fees on to the cost, I can't figure out how this happening. So, I think I'm using the software incorrectly somehow.

Obviously, I'm hoping that I can come up with a fare/routing combination with a better cost than Orbitz. I just can't figure out why I'm doing worse.

dcman2

anabolism

You may be trying to use EF prematurely. Personally, I use other tools to figure out some basic strategies (e.g., round-trip vs around-the-world vs multi-city, basic routing, airlines, etc.) then turn to EF to get info on specific flights and fares.

Do you care about airlines, alliances, etc.? If so, I'd start there. If not, start with IATA as suggested. Figure out if you want a multi-city (which is usually a round-trip with stop-offs) or something else. Are you looking for coach, business, or first? With more expensive fares, one-ways may be workable, and sometimes even with coach you can combine different one-ways into a round-trip for fare calculation.

You may be better off employing an experienced travel agent.

Can you see the specific fare codes on Orbitz?

nbevan

I have not found EF useful for finding the total fare (I can never work out what the taxes and fees will be), though it is useful for finding the difference between fares in different fare classes.

Orbitz is pretty good, but itasoftware can search for a wider range of routes for specific permutations of carriers, and gives the fare breakdown. Once you have found the routing and fare you want on itasoftware, you can usually find a way to get the same routing and fare from Orbitz.

dcman2

I'm not wedded to Orbitz, I'd actually prefer to book directly through the airline, I was using them just as a comparison.

If anyone has additional thoughts they would be helpful, but it sounds like the problem is I'm using the wrong software. Thanks for the help, it's much appreciated.

dcman2

aktchi

If I were in your shoes, I'd start out with ITA, giving myself +/- 1 or even 2 days for each flight.

anabolism

I'll mention once more that this seems to be a situation where it may be well worth it for the poster to employ an experienced travel agent. I've benefited from having one such TA book corporate travel, and have been continually amazed at his ability to find optimal ways of achieving complex itineraries at excellent cost. The combination of less-than wizard-class traveler, multiple people in the party, complex itinerary, and good number of variables, makes this sound like a situation where expert human assistance can be invaluable.

Shareholder

I just checked the seating chart for one of my flights tomorrow on both ExpertFlyer and AA.com. Curiously, the EF one showed the seat next to me occupied, while the AA version showed it empty. The AA version also showed several other seats in business empty which on EF were shown as occupied.

So which chart am I to believe is the more accurate?

Upon further checking, EF also shows my flight is wide open with 7s in every fare category except F/A which are 4s. However, the AA site doesn't even bring the flight up when I do a search for flights, implying it's sold out. It's AA133 JFK-LAX. Most curious.

FWAAA

Good question; I'd be inclined to believe AA's seat maps over anyone else's - after all, you can't select a seat via EF. So if AA says it's occupied (or available), that would seem to be the authoritative source.

HNL

When I look at AA133 from JFK to LAX for Saturday November 10 the seat maps on EF and AA are identical.

IME EF is very accurate.

Shareholder

If I do a general search and pull up the AA seat map and the EF one, they are indeed identical now. Weird but thanks for you sleuthing.

JDiver

Time delay for the information to show up? I believe it's been discussed before.

ExpertFlyer Voice

Seat Maps are displayed in real time. Since this is for a flight tomorrow, it is probable that there was a change in progress between the time you looked up the map on EF vs AA.com. Personally, I have seen many occasions where my seating assignment changes were reflected on EF as they happened.

AA 133 is still shown as available on AA.com (booking into an M fare). Maybe you were looking at the wrong flight/day?

easelpad

Is there a best suggested tool to use for actually booking all the routing and fare goodness ExpertFlyer offers? We gave up our travel agent ages ago, have found that most carrier sites and almost all convenience booking sites will not let us book the fares/routes we want.

So please can someone recommend a way to realistically use EF's data - without having to go through an agent - and we would prefer avoiding calling the airlines as well.

Thanks much, much in advance!

Frequentflyer99

I am UK based and would also value an answer to this question. The ba.com booking tool is shockingly primitive and I was told by a sales agent only a few weeks ago that BA deliberately makes it difficult to book certain types of ticket online I have, however, found that if one knows precisely what one wants in terms of fare type, it is possible to talk the BA telesales people through the booking process. But I can't believe it should be so difficult and time consuming !