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ITA-Matrix-PowerTools - Userscript for Orbitz/DL/UA/AA/BA/CZ/IB/LA/LH/LX/TK

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Old Nov 11, 2014, 10:54 am
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: IAkH
Welcome to the ITA-Matrix-PowerTools
*** About ***
The ITA-Matrix-PowerTools are a user script maintained by fellow flyertalk members to enhance the already powerful Matrix of ITA Software by providing new features and booking links.

Features added to the itinerary details page:
  • convert times into 24h format
  • translation support
  • open fare rules in new window by default
  • price breakdown (base fare, taxes & carrier imposed surcharges)
  • editor mode (adjust cabin prior extraction)
  • multiple handy links (Seatguru, Planefinder, WhereToCredit)
  • new on page features like detailed mileage breakdown*, GCM-Map* and earned frequent flyer miles*
  • create links to various providers (OTAs / airlines / other tools) to try direct booking of your itinerary

Originally Posted by Error: Unable to find class IR6M2QD-k-i for itinRow.
If you see this error, currently you'll need to manually edit your installed script.

See posts from October 1st, 2018 for more information.
*requires background requests

The script may have lots of bugs and comes without warranty of any kind! Not all fares will be bookable or will price correctly in the booking engines. You are responsible for the money you spend - so double check your flights before purchasing AND use your sanity! Read this and the next two posts as an example: click

*** How it works ***
Using pure JavaScript we are "creating" some sort of hook that is periodically checking for page changes while working with the Matrix. As soon as you reload or leave the page the script stops (leaving the page or using the console-version) or starts from the beginning (using the userscript and perfoming a reload). Also this script is only running in these tabs/windows in which you are looking at the Matrix.
As soon as the script detects the itinerary page it reads its content - unless you activated the editor mode. It's parsing all the information found and creates - based on this information - several links to OTAs, airlines and other tools. Since we are able to remove, replace and add content to the page - we make them visible and clickable in a way you choose. By default there are no background requests.

*** How to get it running ***
There are three methods to install the script. All three below run exactly the same underlying script but are listed in order of installation complexity:

Method 1: Browser Extensions
Method 2: As a UserScript
It takes a moment to get it running but after that it will start automatically everytime you visit the Matrix and we will be able to store your settings. You will need to install a script manager.

Warning: Using a script manager and installing user scripts is a potential security risk - We need to mention it here.
Step 1: Install a script manager Step 2: Install the script
See the FAQ of your script manager how to install the script.
  • Through GreasyFork
  • Through OpenUserJS
  • Through GitHub: you should be asked whether you want to install it - make sure your script manager is running.
Method 3: iOS Safari Shortcut

Get the "Add ITA Matrix Powertools" Shortcut

Instructions much be run each time
  • Open ITA Matrix in Safari on your iPhone or iPad
  • Tap on the Share button in the bottom navigation
  • Scroll down through all the actions
  • Select Add ITA Matrix Powertools

Method 4: Console/Debug mode
You need to access the command line of your browser to execute the script. You can use either the regular version or the minified version. Just copy the entire text.

Chrome:
  1. Open Chrome DevTools: developer.chrome.com
  2. Switch to the console tab
  3. Paste the script into the command line: developer.chrome.com
  4. Run it
Firefox:
  1. Open the web console: developer.mozilla.org
  2. Switch to the console tab
  3. Paste the script into the command line: developer.mozilla.org
  4. Run it
Internet Explorer:
  1. Open the web console by pressing F12
  2. Switch to the console tab
  3. Paste the script into the command line - at the very bottom
  4. Run it by pressing the green triangle

*** How to use it ***
Once the script is running you should see a new line above the ITA logo:
Code:
Passengers (1a) Settings (v0.18) (Cabin: Auto)
As long as you see this line, there is no need to reexecute the script. Make sure to get used to the "Settings"-feature -> just click on Settings. Within the settings menu you can configure the script towards your needs/preferences. Enabling/disabling features and/or setting standard editions of providers on the fly. When using a script manager these settings should be stored and automatically load as soon as you visit matrix.itasoftware.com - but the passengers as well as the cabin detection will not be stored!
Your settings are "reloaded" everytime the itinerary details show up! If you want to use other settings, just get back to the flight selection and reselect your flights - the new settings will be used. This belongs to the passengers and cabin detection as well

Passengers:
The passenger count will not be taken from your search results! Use the passenger config on the upper left and make sure they are set before you get to the itinerary details. We had to do it this way because some providers require the age of children. But always make sure to search for the equivalent passenger count. There might be seat availability for one passenger but not for two!

Cabin detection:
You should set the cabin on the upper right to the appropriate main cabin you are looking for. Sometimes you will have economy/business class segments in mainly business/first class itineraries. These mixed itineraries make it hard to autodetect the main cabin - so you can set it manually.

*** Background requests - Privacy issues ***
Some features require to contact other servers. As long as you do not activate any of the autoload features within the settings there won't be any automatic background requests. You will have to initiate them manually. The following list will tell which features are contacting what server and what information will be transferred. All websites will know you are using this script und you are currently using the Matrix - what by the way applies to the link targets you click as well.
  • GCM-Map in inline mode - contacting gcmap.com (non SSL) providing full route data
  • WhereToCredit.com mileage accrual breakdown - contacting wheretocredit.com (non SSL or SSL - depending on whether you use the Matrix with or without SSL) providing full itinerary
  • Skimlinks affiliate links - loads a js script to adds affiliate ids to some links if and only if the "Support this tool" setting is enabled. If it is disabled, no external scripts are loaded
*** FT-Posts you should read ***
General statement regarding this script: click
How to fix class names yourself: click
Problems and limitations regarding pricing itins: click

*** Contributors ***
paul21, Steppo, IAkH, 18sas, Benchmarc and others!

I'd like to give special thanks to paul21 for starting this idea.

*** Latest Version ***
GitHub Repo

OR install directly: Executable Version minified

FYI
Steppo & IAkH (Adam Hwang) have full access to this repository.

Discussion - written by paul21:
The original posting can be found here, related to building links on delta's booking engine. The script scrapes the flight info from the itinerary (flight numbers, dates, class of service, price) and builds a link string to two booking engines (Orbitz/Delta). These links are the same links used by Google Flights (owns ITA) , Kayak, et. al. to drive purchases. I used the Google referrer codes in the scripts, so they should get the commission. It's beyond me why ITA doesn't have some form of purchase link. This a userscript, and like an ad-blocker, it modifies the way a page is viewed by editing DOM objects in the browser. Keep in mind that this tool is meant to do something you already do yourself, but to save time in the process. Any tickets issued by Orbitz/DL via these links could be issued via phone or web search. If the links work, you are avoiding a phone booking fee potentially.







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ITA-Matrix-PowerTools - Userscript for Orbitz/DL/UA/AA/BA/CZ/IB/LA/LH/LX/TK

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Old Jul 4, 2020, 12:33 pm
  #871  
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: IAH ↔ PAR
Posts: 777
Originally Posted by CosmicGirl
Would it be possible to add a VS link? I think they use DL's booking engine with an overlay, or at least partially so that might make it easier.
VS should already be there Let me know if it's not working for a particular route
IAkH is offline  
Old Jul 4, 2020, 12:56 pm
  #872  
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 486
Originally Posted by IAkH
VS should already be there Let me know if it's not working for a particular route
Sorry, I must've missed that update. I'll look into it and will let you know if I run into anything.
CosmicGirl is offline  
Old Jul 4, 2020, 1:02 pm
  #873  
 
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: London, UK
Programs: BA GGL
Posts: 1,578
Originally Posted by IAkH
VS should already be there Let me know if it's not working for a particular route
I tested this with a VS-coded, VS-operated flight on a VS fare and the Virgin link doesn't show. OP is right, though; it might be good to show VS as a booking option for DL coded/operated/fared routes, as an option. Ditto showing KL for AF and vice-versa, if that's a thing (I recently found KL flights much cheaper when booked on AF codes).

armouredant is offline  
Old Jul 4, 2020, 1:04 pm
  #874  
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 486
Indeed, I just checked with a few KL/VS itineraries, and even a direct VS route but it's not showing up, even in v0.49 (I was on 0.48.7 before).
CosmicGirl is offline  
Old Jul 5, 2020, 1:42 pm
  #875  
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: IAH ↔ PAR
Posts: 777
My mistake all, I had started development on VS but stopped because they handle currency slightly differently than DL so I was waiting to fix it but then forgot to ever go back to it! I've added it to the 0.50 release but there might be some issues from when I originally was looking at it. Thanks CosmicGirl and armouredant for testing this. I also went ahead and made AF/DL/KL/VS all show each others links which might not always work


[0.50] - 2020-07-05

Edited by IAkH
  • added Virgin Atlantic link (thanks CosmicGirl )
  • show Air France, Delta, KLM and Virgin Atlantic links for each airline

View change log

Latest installation links:
IAkH is offline  
Old Jul 20, 2020, 5:11 am
  #876  
 
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 640
Is deeplinked to priceline working for anyone? Running 0.50.0, tried on Chrome, Edge, Firefox incl incognito / clean cookies
I cant get any itin work, no matter which carrier, route, cabin class,...

example:
https://www.priceline.com/m/fly/sear...0&num-youths=0



It always gives me the search result page then.

Cheapoair deeplinking still works, but it doesnt push the cabin / booking class anymore for mixed itins.
Example:
http://www.cheapoair.com/default.asp...2&tt=RoundTrip

fuyao is offline  
Old Jul 20, 2020, 2:27 pm
  #877  
 
Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 7
Is anyone still able to deep link itinerary to priceline
mh2305 is offline  
Old Jul 21, 2020, 8:56 pm
  #878  
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: IAH ↔ PAR
Posts: 777
This was a real head scratcher. I ran two searches, one in ITA and one with GF. Here were the resulting links (after removing all of the referral junk):

Powertools link:
Google Flights link:
The only differences were the "/desktop" and "_1-1-1". They were both working for me though, UNTIL I turned off the "support developer" feature. It turns out, that seemingly the key to priceline link working is to ensure it has a "refid" which is an affiliate link. Amazingly enough, without it, it does seem to send you to the search page. I have no idea why, but I've added the refid to 0.50.2. I really hate having to do this, but it is honestly the only thing I could find that made it work. I'm happy to change it if anybody finds another way.
fuyao likes this.
IAkH is offline  
Old Jul 22, 2020, 3:27 am
  #879  
 
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 640
Originally Posted by IAkH
This was a real head scratcher. I ran two searches, one in ITA and one with GF
Thanks for saving the day, as always and for the quick fix! I always had the support dev feature enabled but still it didnt work until 0.50.2

Any idea why mixed cabins are not working with Cheapoair anymore? I used to book all my mixed cabin bookings with priceline, but due to the current pandemic its horrible to preach them by phone, but with cheapoair you can rebook and file request refunds via their chat feature, much nicer!
fuyao is offline  
Old Jul 22, 2020, 8:15 am
  #880  
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: IAH ↔ PAR
Posts: 777
Originally Posted by fuyao
Thanks for saving the day, as always and for the quick fix! I always had the support dev feature enabled but still it didnt work until 0.50.2

Any idea why mixed cabins are not working with Cheapoair anymore? I used to book all my mixed cabin bookings with priceline, but due to the current pandemic its horrible to preach them by phone, but with cheapoair you can rebook and file request refunds via their chat feature, much nicer!
That's surprising but thanks for that detail. It sounds like 0.50.2 working again though? I'm at a bit of a loss to explain why, but the links should be identical to GF now at least

I can't prove this since its all based on their internal implementations, but there seem to be two types of search engine links. One where they actually take the booking class or fare basis and ticket it using that (this is why Priceline has been so beneficial) and another where it simply takes the search results and selects the matching flights. Again, I can't say for sure, but usually when an OTA appears to ignore the classes, my best guess is that CheapOair falls into the latter category. Even though we pass in the correct booking classes, it seems like they may just simply be doing a search on the travel class based on the booking class rather than the booking class itself. Either way, unless we can find a noticeable difference in the links, there's not much I can do unfortunately.
IAkH is offline  
Old Aug 5, 2020, 5:25 pm
  #881  
 
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: ORD
Programs: AA, UA, GE
Posts: 5,123
I've started seeing the following using v0.50.2. I see this on the initial load of the matix web page, before any searches are done.

Error: Unable to find Content on result page.

Any idea why this is happening?.
cheltzel is offline  
Old Aug 14, 2020, 9:04 am
  #882  
 
Join Date: May 2015
Location: <60¤N
Programs: LH,ITA,BA Silver,AY Gold
Posts: 74
Neither the script or extension works on my Android tablet Chrome browser

Is this me being thick, a bug, or a setting issue? Both work on the laptop running Win 10 with Chrome.
TIA
miandrew is offline  
Old Aug 15, 2020, 6:37 am
  #883  
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: IAH ↔ PAR
Posts: 777
Originally Posted by cheltzel
I've started seeing the following using v0.50.2. I see this on the initial load of the matix web page, before any searches are done.

Error: Unable to find Content on result page.

Any idea why this is happening?.
I haven't been able to reproduce this. Is it still happening? Sometimes when Google updates the page, it takes a bit of time to roll out to everybody
Originally Posted by miandrew
Is this me being thick, a bug, or a setting issue? Both work on the laptop running Win 10 with Chrome.
TIA
Mobile Chrome doesn't support user scripts or extensions. Mobile Firefox does support extensions though, so you could use it on Android with this:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/fir...ix-powertools/
IAkH is offline  
Old Aug 15, 2020, 6:58 am
  #884  
 
Join Date: May 2015
Location: <60¤N
Programs: LH,ITA,BA Silver,AY Gold
Posts: 74
Thx for the clarification. Will look at Firefox.
miandrew is offline  
Old Aug 15, 2020, 8:52 am
  #885  
 
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: ORD
Programs: AA, UA, GE
Posts: 5,123
Originally Posted by IAkH
I haven't been able to reproduce this. Is it still happening? Sometimes when Google updates the page, it takes a bit of time to roll out to everybody

Mobile Chrome doesn't support user scripts or extensions. Mobile Firefox does support extensions though, so you could use it on Android with this:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/fir...ix-powertools/
I started to see other issues with other sites shortly thereafter. I did a mass purge of all online content (basically everything short of stored passwords) in Chrome and all seems well now. Thanks..
IAkH likes this.
cheltzel is offline  


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