Introduction to ITA Matrix

and Advanced Routing Language

Scott Mackenzie

Chicago Seminars – 18 October 2014

What ITA Does …and Doesn’t Do

• Search for flights

• Specify fare classes

• Specify carriers

• Search multiple dates

• Multiple display options

• Some fare rules

• Some saved searches

• Combine multiple fares

• Can’t book flights

• Can’t search for awards

• Can’t find some LCCs

• ITA is not meant to replace Kayak, Hipmunk, or your

favorite airline

• ITA is not meant to be used by infrequent travelers for

typical round-trip flights

• ITA is a great way to compare many options when you

have specific needs …even if otherwise very flexible

Is ITA for You?

But ITA Does NOT Do Magic!

Sometimes the answer is: You will not fly today.

Credit: xkcd.com/1133

http://matrix.itasoftware.com/

Let’s Go to the Site!

• I will provide some overview of search options during this live presentation.

• For those reading later, you can find detailed walkthroughs of each ITA feature on my blog:

– Introduction to ITAtravelcodex.com/2012/01/introduction-to-using-ita/

– Advanced Routing Languagetravelcodex.com/2012/01/advanced-routing-language-in-ita/

– Other Featurestravelcodex.com/2012/01/other-ita-features/

In this PowerPoint:

• Fly a Star Alliance carrier booked with a United flight number to credit the miles to United MileagePlus

• Book a W fare on United-operated flights to use a Global Premier Upgrade

During Live Presentation:

• Connect in two cities, one of which must not be Chicago, in order to add extra miles to my itinerary

• The cheapest time to visit any of four European cities in the next month for a trip of 3-5 nights

Example Searches Using ITA Matrix

• ITA will automatically price fares in the currency of the

departure city

– Change the currency if you want to see USD

• If selecting multiple airports, ITA will automatically allow

airport changes

– Uncheck if you must arrive/depart from same airport

Precautions before You Search

DEMO 1: Book a Star Alliance Carrier

• Chicago to Barcelona, flying any Star Alliance carrier

• Use the routing language: /alliance [name]

– /alliance oneworld

– /alliance star-alliance

– /alliance skyteam

• Remember this may exclude some partners such as

Alaska Airlines or Etihad

– They will still be included if sold as codeshares with an alliance

flight number

Enter Routing Language Underneath

Initial Results Are Limited to Star Alliance

You can filter results even further by choosing a carrier or the number of

stops. To filter by both, click on the price where they intersect.

Display Results as “Time Bars”

Prices indicate the lowest possible fare using each option. Orange is

absolute lowest. Remember, total could go up after picking return.

Results Automatically Sort by Price

To sort by price per mile, access ITA Matrix using a different URL:

http://matrix.itasoftware.com/?showPricePerMile=true

DEMO 1: Book a Star Alliance Carrier

Sorted by price per mile, you can see Turkish Airways at the top. This is

a decent option, and they have a good lounge in Istanbul.

Hover on Flights or Stops for Details

Each Choice Narrows Future Results

Sometimes there will be only one return option, usually due to rules that

limit combining fares. Click on “Change” to go back and choose a new

segment.

Go Back and Try Again

This time we’ll fly Lufthansa via Munich. It’s less time and about $100

cheaper, although the price per mile goes up ($0.071 to $0.088).

Return Options Display the Final Price

Note: We’re still sorting by price per mile

Finally, We Have a Complete Itinerary

Scroll Down to View the Fare Breakdown

Usually only two areas matter. Provide this information to a travel agent

or search tool, especially the fare basis code (e.g., LLXNC415).

Base fare

Total fare &

construction

Fare Information Is Useful for Awards

Base Fare:

$135.50 * 2

Fuel Surcharge:

$496

Taxes and Fees:

$130.20

Miles always cover

the base fare; not

all carriers waive

the fuel surcharge

You Can Also View Some Fare Rules

Learn the Three IATA Areas

What We’ve Learned…

• How to specify basic information and simple routing

language

• How to view, sort, and backup as we navigate through

search results

• How to obtain useful information from the final itinerary

– This last part is key. ITA doesn’t book anything, but we can

still learn a lot from our search.

DEMO 2: Book a United W Fare

• Booking a ticket eligible for an upgrade is difficult and

depends on many factors:

– Operating carrier

– Fare class

– Upgrade availability

• ITA can’t help with the last one, but it can limit results to

operating carrier and fare class

A Good First Start: Only UA Flight #

“UA” means United Airlines and “+” means unlimited segments.

Use “UA UA” to specify only two segments, or “UA UA UA” for three.

But Nearly All Flights Are Ineligible

Codeshares indicated by “*” are ineligible, as are cheap fare classes such

as “N”. Flights must be operated by United and W fare or greater.

Two Ways to Be More Specific

The “O:” command indicates the flights must be operated by that

airline, but it could be someone else’s codeshare.

Don’t use “/ nocodeshare” for reasons we’ll get to in a moment.

Lesson: Better to Filter Some than All Results

Using “O:”

Problem: some

codeshares, but at

least UA metal

Using

“/nocodeshare”

Problem: can’t

specify fare class

Specify the Fare Class

• Use “/f bc=[booking class letter]” to restrict results to a single fare class.• This command must come LAST. • Only ONE command with slash (can’t combine with “/nocodeshare”).• List each fare class separately using a pipe “|”.

Success!

All fares are now on United metal and fare class W.

Some flights are codeshares, but they’re easy to skip over.

Strategies for Searching by Fare Class

• We specified two fare classes for the return. Why would

we do that?

– Possible no W fare exists.

– Possible no W availability exists

– Possible V fare is only slightly more expensive and will

confer greater upgrade priority.

• Don’t list every fare class and waste your time. But don’t

limit yourself to one.

Open Questions

• We specified two fare classes for the return. Why would

we do that?

– Possible no W fare exists.

– Possible no W availability exists

– Possible V fare is only slightly more expensive and will

confer greater upgrade priority.

• Don’t list every fare class and waste your time. But don’t

limit yourself to one.