ITA software flight search

Hi all,

I've seen many Ozbargainers recommend ITA matrix software http://matrix.itasoftware.com/ when people are searching for cheaper flights. (For those of you that don't know it will find you flights for your chosen dates and destination but lacks the ability to book, you have to book through the carriers separately or take your results to a travel agent).
I was just wondering how many of you have managed to book cheaper flights using this method? In my case I'm trying to book flights home for xmas, ITA software has shown me flights that are approx. $400 cheaper than anything on Skyscanner, STA, etc, with a much shorter travel time. Seems too good to be true but I'm going to take it into a the flight centre tomorrow to see if they can match the price for me. Does anyone have any tips on how to approach it to ensure I get as good a price as possible?

Thanks!

Comments

  • Flight Centre will match it if the flight starts/end in Australia. For example they gave me the great from off ita from Sydney - Ireland, return from London to Syd. BUT they wouldn't book my internal flights Ireland to France, etc (states it on their lowest price guarantee thing that it must be from Australia). The ITA matrix shows standard published fares so it might be worth your while to take the price to flight centre and then take that quote to somewhere else to get it slightly cheaper. (I ended up saving like extra $20)

    • Cheers, yeah I have a feeling that ita matrix is showing the standard fare without the xmas-time premium bumped on. Will see what flight centre can do for me later today!

      • +1

        Ita should be showing the standard fare for the correct time you ask of it (high season premiums included), so you most likely will be able to get those fares. Good luck and let us know how it goes!

  • Have you tried just going direct to the airline with the exact flights from ITA?

    • +2

      I've went onto the individual websites and tried to book the same flights, but the prices I was being quoted were much higher than the results I got on ITA. Will try and phone the airlines for a better price if the flight centre don't offer a good price later today.

  • Cheaper flights can bring trouble, book direct with big airlines for peace of mind.

    find flights I use..

    https://www.google.com/flights/#search;f=HKG;t=JFK,EWR,LGA;d…

Login or Join to leave a comment