Is this what you're looking for?

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/milea...tures-ita.html

That would be if I was looking for buy a ticket, but I am looking for award flights only.

Thank you

Finding fare classes that can be combined
 

Is there any way in Expertflyer or otherwise to look up which fare classes of another carrier can be combined with a certain fare? What I mean by this is - you'll notice that when booking itineraries with two or more carriers, if one of the carriers' availability in a certain class disappears and is forced into a higher fare class, the other carrier's portion switches to a higher fare class as well, despite availability existing in the previous lower fare class. This seems to me that only certain combinations of fare classes across carriers are permitted.


I spent several hours today looking up some decent fares on OZ (H fares) which ITA matrix showed that I was able to combine with AC W fares to form one round trip itinerary YYZ-AC-LAX-OZ-ICN-OZ-PEK. However I was unable to book it online and when I brought it to the travel agent, her Sabre system showed that OZ H fares and AC W fares could not be combined, despite ITA matrix and google flights showing it as valid. How can I look up, for a given fare, which fare codes on another carrier can be combined with it to save myself this headache in the future?

Click to view the fare rules and look for the section called "combinations."

I pulled up an AC YYZ-LAX W fare and this is what that says:

Results from ExpertFlyer.comAFAICT, things look good there (there are some specific positive permissions for fares on AC and UA and a restriction against WS, but then there's a blanket "otherwise end-on-end combinations permitted."

Howveer, an OZ LAX-PEK H fare has:

Results from ExpertFlyer.comI think that just about kills it.

If ITA is showing a fare, though, it should be legal and doable. Did you try booking through sites that are known to use ITA to construct itineraries, like Hipmunk and Orbitz?

Also, if it priced out on Google Flights, did Google Flights give you a direct booking link? If so, what happened when you clicked it?

Also, you can try this tool that may help you find and book itineraries you found on ITA: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trav...h-lx-tk-9.html

Thanks jackal for the reply. I did try the usual booking sites as well as the PowerTools and BookWithMatrix; none worked.

I'm not so sure the issue is PEK-LAX fares not being able to be combined with other fares on an end-on-end basis - that seems to be about combining multiple fares on the same itinerary, whereas I'm looking at the combinations of fare classes across carriers as part of the same fare. Even I find that explanation confusing, so let me elaborate. I was in fact looking at a YYZ-PEK fare filed by OZ, which permitted travel on AC from LAX/SFO/CHI/NYC/SEA to YYZ in the routing rules. What I've deduced is that on this fare basis (HHWNC to be exact) only certain combinations of OZ and AC fare classes are allowed by ITA Matrix. For example, Matrix books OZ H together with AC W, but if OZ Q space opened up in one of my searches, it would book OZ Q with AC S (note that it would not book OZ H with AC S even though S is lower than W and was available). On top of that it turns out Matrix was wrong as my travel agent's Sabre system gave a "no combinable fares" error. I'm wondering if there's any easy way to know these inter-carrier combinable fare classes (for combining multiple fares in one itinerary I know that the combinability section of the rules is the way to go).

Thanks!

If you use "Fare Information" and call up the fare table, in the far right hand column you'll see a capital C. Click that, type in AC for the secondary airline, and click Search.

For HHWNC, it looks like the following lines may be relevant:-However, if Q class opens up on OZ, then presumably the fare would no longer be HHWNC? Doing the same exercise for the corresponding Q class fare (QHWNC) produces this:-And that is where you get your H/W and Q/S pairings from.

You cannot get an H/S pairing because the fare that's valid for OZ H class is only valid on AC W class, and the (different) fare that's valid for OZ Q class is only valid on AC S class. (Or, in either case, if AC W class or S class respectively are not available, then the fare must book in to AC L class.)

Wow, thank you Globaliser! That's exactly the information I wanted. I'll have to spend some time studying those secondary airline fare rules but I'm sure it'll be very instructive.

So this means that W/H combination is valid then. If the fare is valid, the W/H combination is valid, and live availability exists in the respective classes (even when looking up all segments at the same time to prevent married segment issues), is there anything else fare-rules related (or at all) that could be preventing even a travel agent from booking it in Sabre?

http://i.imgur.com/luPB4rq.png

Other things that could in theory be reasons for getting in the way: your TA may not see the same availability that you do, perhaps due to market/POS issues; your TA may be located in a country that's not allowed to sell the fare; your TA may be pricing a different itinerary from the one that you're thinking of, etc. But without knowing a lot more about your circumstances, it's hard to say whether any of these are in play. The basic rule is that if ITA can price it, it's valid: ITA is not wrong about these things.

Okay, I realize I have a ways to go with understanding the intricacies of ITA and EF, but I've looked at the two screen snips you attached to your post and still cannot see the apparently obvious clues in them that show "only valid on AC W class, and the (different) fare that's valid for OZ Q class is only valid on AC S class." What am I not seeing?

I've edited it right down here to show only the most pertinent bits, and the primary operative line is bolded in each case. On HHWNC, for a flight on AC using an OZ H- fare, AC W class is required. Similarly, on QHWNC using an OZ Q- fare, AC S class is required. That exactly matches what flyer05 was finding.

Technically, if W class or S class respectively are not available, you move down to the next line which provides that L class is required. However, I can now see that that's likely to be academic as L is a lower booking class than either W or S, so if they are sold out then L is likely to be unavailable too. However, in theory if W is unavailable but L is available, then the fare will book into L. But if there is nothing in L either, then the fare is not bookable into any available class and you will go empty-handed.

Thanks to all for the valuable knowledge! As for booking the fare, a phone call to Asiana did wonders. All confirmed and ticketed at the correct price. ^

By looking at your edited portion, I realized why I couldn't figure this out: I hadn't noticed the scroll bar on the screen capture, so I couldn't even see the "pertinent bits" you were referencing.

D'oh.

Sorry, I should have made that clearer to begin with!

But the query and the ability to find the answer on EF does remind me just how powerful a resource it is, particularly when coupled with the equally powerful ITA.

Hi!

I am an EF subscriber! Sorry if this should be posted somewhere else.

AA flight on EF changed overnight from J7 to J0 (AA) a week out.

Seatmap shows only 35% taken... what gives ? Did all seats got sold overnight ?

I am asking because I am waitlisted for an SWU...

Strange thing is that the return leg also changed overnight (same night!) from J7 to J0. Seatmap shows 40% taken...

Mindblown... does anybody have any idea of what is going on ?

Thanks in advance!

Sorry if this question has been asked and answered before but, when searching, is there any way to fast forward through the calendar? For example, when searching for flights a year in advance. Is there a drop down box where I can just choose the month and year I want rather than having to arrow through the calendar month by month? Or a fast foward button that takes me to the same month one year later with one click? I use an ipad and prefer a desktop version than a mobile skin and it is such a pain to have to click on the little right arrow 12 times.