ITAsoftware question
 

I want to travel from IAD->BOM on Dec 18th and return on Jan 10th. The fare I see on itasoftware is $1319, but I see $1764 for the same flights on Delta.com. Is it possible? The fare classes are the same too. What am I doing wrong?

DLrunner

It looks like the fare code is different. The $1,319 on ITA is booked in KLABUSIA while the $1,846 on Delta.com is booked in KHABUSIA. Someone who knows more about Delta booking codes might be able to explain the difference. Try some other 3rd party booking sites (orbitz, travelocity, expedia) and see if you can get the lower rate. If not, a good travel agent should be able to find the $1,319 price.

Definitely check other agencies than just the DL website, but also keep in mind that the inventory listed on ITA pages are NOT real time.

It's possible that the fare just sold out.

(If you look carefully at the search results page, it will show a time stamp for when the data was loaded that it was showing results from.)

What I usually do after checking fares on itasoftware is to go to the airline's own website and book directly. From my experience (somewhat limited), domestic tickets can usually be booked this way without any fare difference (sometimes this requires putting the different segments together yourself with the "multi-stops" option). However, for international tickets, the airline's own website is always higher than itasoftware. What I do in cases like these is to use Orbitz. More often than not, Orbitz can find the same itinerary at exactly the same price plus its booking fees. One piece of advice, though, is that itasoftware does not always have the lowest available fare. Sometimes consolidators can beat it by several hundred dollars (only on international itineraries IME). Good luck.

LAX

Thanks all. A lot of sites (orbitz, kayak and farechase) are able to pull up the cheaper fare. However they all bail out when I try to book it. Looks like the systems are not all updated.