ITA Software/Google Flights

[tgmtgm]

I’m looking to book a one way BNE/LAX business class flight on Fiji Airways for next October (transpacific cruise) that I’ve priced on ITA/Google. I have a substantial travel credit with a local brick and mortar TA that I would like to apply towards said flight. My question is: Do I pass along to the TA the fare basis codes found on ITA for the flight, or is there more to it? Do TA’s still use CRS’s like Amadeus anymore, and is that the format where fare basis codes are inputted? 

 

Thanks for any insights.

 

[Gardyloo]

Yes, the big GDSs are still in business; I believe ITA scrapes them to get fare information.

 

I'd definitely convey the fare basis to the TA in hopes they can replicate it.  If the flight has two components (e.g. BNE-NAN and NAN-LAX) be sure to include both.  It looks like it's an "I" bucket from Oz to Fiji, and a "Z" bucket from Fiji to the USA.

Edited November 24, 2019 by Gardyloo

[FlyerTalker]

Just print out the page which has the flight information as well as the fare construction.  Give that to your TA.

 

If he's really a TA, he will know what to do with that.  If he is instead an order taker, you'll know that by the blank stare you receive.

[tgmtgm]

3 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

Just print out the page which has the flight information as well as the fare construction.  Give that to your TA.

 

If he's really a TA, he will know what to do with that.  If he is instead an order taker, you'll know that by the blank stare you receive.

That’s what I’m hoping doesn’t happen. I haven’t used a TA in years, and usually just book things direct. We’ll see if they know their p’s and q’s. 

[YXU AC*SE]

Unrelated question -- which I should perhaps be asking on FT.  I use ITA for pricing everything and hold it up as a gold standard. Interesting issue has arisen - my in-laws are heading to CPH this summer ex-YYZ for a CPH-BOS cruise itin.   AC flies the route.  ITA is showing a price that it is roughly double what I was able to book on AC.com or see w/ Google Flights -- any guesses as to why? 

 

Scott. 

[Gardyloo]

1 hour ago, YXU AC*SE said:

Unrelated question -- which I should perhaps be asking on FT.  I use ITA for pricing everything and hold it up as a gold standard. Interesting issue has arisen - my in-laws are heading to CPH this summer ex-YYZ for a CPH-BOS cruise itin.   AC flies the route.  ITA is showing a price that it is roughly double what I was able to book on AC.com or see w/ Google Flights -- any guesses as to why? 

 

Scott. 

It happens; while ITA is usually pretty good, there are sale fares that slip by.  Usually they're fares with very limited lifespans, or ones that are only for certain points of sale, or sometimes fares only made accessible through very limited channels.  You see these from time to time in places like Australia, where e.g. Qantas will make super-discounted fares available only to chosen travel agencies.  

 

There's also lag time between fares turning up on the GDSs and ITA finding them.  

 

That's why it's good to lurk on the Flyertalk "good deals" boards, https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/mileage-run-deals-372/ and https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/premium-fare-deals-740/ .  You never know what might show up (or vanish) before ITA knows.

[YXU AC*SE]

K -- I had (erroneously) thought that Google Flights was QPX-powered and a downstream of ITA, so seeing the price in the child and not the parent was odd.    Thanks  for the clarification.     Scott. 

[iancal]

We had one itmatrix price/fare code on an international flight where the airline price, when we called, was considerably more that the itmatrix option.  $1500 direct with the airline vs $1050. on itmatix.  We checked on three common booking websites.  Only the third one had the flight at the price itmatrix displayed...plus the web site displayed the same fare codes.  Never happened to us before or since that time.   This all done with 15 minutes of getting the itmatrix price options.

Edited December 2, 2019 by iancal

[Globaliser]

On 11/24/2019 at 11:43 PM, Gardyloo said:

Yes, the big GDSs are still in business; I believe ITA scrapes them to get fare information.

 

I believe that ITA's access is entirely legitimate; "scrape" has a certain connotation which is not warranted here. ITA's Matrix is basically a huge free public testing ground for ITA's software, which has real-life applications in which live GDS data is being used "in anger".

 

This site means that ITA can tinker with all sorts of things to optimise how it works; we users typically see some subtle irritating/frustrating/surprising/welcome changes reflecting what's happening behind the scenes, but without ever knowing exactly what ITA is up to.

[Gardyloo]

I didn't mean "scrape" in a pejorative sense.  I should have said "accesses."  

 

The more I use it, the more I'm impressed with the power of the site.  

[Globaliser]

On 1/17/2020 at 7:24 PM, Gardyloo said:

The more I use it, the more I'm impressed with the power of the site.  

 

Indeed: for the airlines and fares that it covers, it is undoubtedly the most powerful publicly-available search/pricing tool, and all the better for the fact that it's free to use. You do have to allow for its disadvantages, but the way that you can slice and dice all your options is (for me) simply magnificent.

[klfrodo]

Thanks for this link to the ITA Matrix.

Crazy pricing structure

I'm look to go the LHR

From SEA to LHR in business is $6500pp

If I drive up to YVR, I can connect in SEA to LHR and take the same SEA-LHR flight for $2700.

I can spend a very nice night in YVR for $4K