My Guide to Matrix ITA by Google
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- Опубліковано 22 лип 2024
- You asked for it! Here is my guide to the Matrix Airfare Search product from ITA Software, even if it will probably not do my UA-cam statistics any good! This is a free tool offered by Google, which powers the excellent Google Search product but which is also an extremely powerful resource if you want to explore your travel options fully. It is a computer system, so you need to approach it with a logical mind, and the syntax can be irritating, so my video will reflect that in its approach by explaining the offering in 3 phases:
Firstly, I'll walk through the core system, explaining each function. At the end of this you should be able to source detailed answers to simple questions.
Secondly, I'll walk through the extension codes. These are extremely powerful and allow you to search with pretty much every condition or consideration you might want to take into account.
Finally, the major drawback of the system is that you cannot book through it, so I will explain the 3 ways of taking the results you find and turn them into a booking.
This is my longest ever video, was probably the toughest to make and will probably not be a huge hit with channel viewers! But I hope it will be a valuable resource that people will come back to as and when they are looking to book travel. Remember you can pause the video to look at input or result screens, and I recommend "playing along" with a Matrix tab open alongside this video, so you can run your own experiments on your own travel plans.
Thanks for watching!
My series on Tier Point Runs:
Part 1: • Tier Point Runs Part 1...
Part 2: • Tier Point Runs Part 2...
Part 3: • 740 Tier Points for £6...
Websites Featured:
The Matrix: matrix.itasoftware.com/
Google Flights: www.google.com/travel/flights
Book with Matrix: bookwithmatrix.com/
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⏰ Timestamps:
0:00 - Intro
1:09 - Background
3:12 - Basic Walkthrough
7:30 - Navigating the Results
9:42 - Advanced Controls - Routing Codes
15:17 - Extension Codes
18:08 - Booking something you found
A better watch than the line of duty finale!
I can now confirm that my black and white helper is the real fourth penguin...
Lovely Video! I am an intermediate matrix user and learned a lot!
I hope it helped!
This will revolutionise my world of travel! Thanks Matt. Amazing videos you're producing!
Thanks! Enjoy!
I'm 2 years behind, so still playing catch-up... Off to watch the TP run planning vids next. I reckon I'll be Patreon-ing you at some point soon...
Been at this for a while now so there's quite a back catalogue.... You'd be more than welcome in Patreon - but I would say that wouldn't I???
Perfect, thank you, so very glad I found your channel
You are very welcome
Brilliant! Thanks man for that well detailed video!
You're more than welcome. Thanks for watching!
Easily the most informative video for understanding how to maximize air travel options. THANK YOU for putting this together!
Thanks! It was my pleasure - glad you got something from it.
Thanks for all your efforts. I will definitely share.
Thanks Gary - quite enjoyed making that one so I'm glad you enjoyed watching it!
thank you for taking the time to create this thorough and useful vid. Now off to book my trip!
Good luck and enjoy!!!
Just dropping a comment to say thanks for another really informative video. Been binging your channel since my 2021 tier point run got completely torpedoed; glad I did and keep at it!
Thanks - nice to learn I have a following amongst "relatively large ground squirrels". Indeed from their lord! Not a good year for tier point runs but things must be better next year? With a 6 month advanced purchase rule, its not a bad time to start looking for 2022...
Best ITA tutorial on UA-cam, period. Thanks!
Thanks so much!
Thanks for another great video/tutorial with step by step instructions on how to use Matrix ITA!
You're working your way through the back catalogue...
Such an insightful video. I've been playing with it as I watched the video - so powerful! thank you!
It's a great resource....
Thank you Matt! Really love all of your videos and have learned a lot. I hope you make it big!
Perhaps another question, how must the dialogue be structured over the phone when booking the flight with the airline? Do you recite the symbols under "Fare Construction" (@minute 18:32) or will you have to give sections of it? Thanks in advance here from South Africa!
Hello - thanks for the kind words. I've (almost) always been able to get the fare by just going through the flights - never needed the construction gobbledegook. Sometimes takes the agent a few goes to jiggle the right combination of codeshare flights but it is usually straightforward. If you go though an agent the construction codes are probably more helpful as they may not be as familiar with the airline codes as the airline agent is! I say "almost" as I've been working on one recently which just won't work and everyone (including the agents) are at a loss to explain why... But it should work with just the flights. The moment when the fare pops out and the agent is amazed at how low it is is always the highlight!
Great Vid as always Matt, I'm hooked on your channel.Your knowledge of the Airline industry is un matched..
Thanks Jamie
Matt, thank you so much for this! I have recently switched airlines with work, from Etihad to Qatar, which obviously opened up the whole universe of Avios and therefore by extension your videos. I have been following you for around 6 months and have found your channel to be an absolute gold mine! I am now worried about quite how boring I have become that I find it necessary to check all available fare options of flights to find the optimum cash / Avois balance through Matrix ITA. I could see in this video, you could see the humour in quite how boring this all is... but nevertheless vital stuff!! Thank you for your service.
Thanks for watching! It's dull right up until the moment you wow your friends with how great a ticket you were able to snag at an impossibly low price!
Great video Matt! Thanks 😊
Thanks!
Amazing video 📹 👏 ❤ 💪💪💪
Thanks so much mat love it
Enjoy!
Great video Matt - I use Maxtrix a lot but still learnt some bits so very useful info indeed! Thanks 👌
Thanks Alex - appreciate the watch. Glad there was something in there for you - would have been a long slog if there'd been nothing new!
Surprised you don't have more views. You have a wealth of information with all your travel experience. Thank you!
Thanks! They say you should "pick a niche" when you start YouTubing and I certainly have done that with ITA Matrix - I'm surprised 70 people wanted to watch this, let alone 700+! But thanks for the kind words and if you wanted to tell your friends about me to get those views up, I won't complain!!!
Fantastic Matt. Thanks ever so much for doing this, it is very helpful & informative. The effort you've put in is much appreciated and as always such a clear & engaging explanation.
Also the penguin clearly knows what he is talking about :-)
The penguin is frequently the smartest person in the room....
Excellent. Very useful. Great vids.
Thanks!
Thanks for your hard work! I've been using Matrix for years for personal and business travel, and now my son and I are going to increase the number of amateurs in the industry by another couple of newbs. You gave me several hints on shortcuts on the routing and extensions, as well as making it MUCH easier to train someone else to use Matrix.
Thanks Brian. New look to Matrix too in the last week or so... I think its the same although the front end is now a little "flasher"...
Thanks Matt, having watched this when it went live, coming back for another watch to refresh my understanding.
Thanks Ed. They changed how it looks since I made this video but the guts of it are still the same!
@@MattsPlanet agreed looks to be the same functionality. I remember using it in the old incarnation about 8 years ago. Helped me identify a routing with US airways from Gotenburg via London to NYC on the BA babybus. Their computer system had coded the babybus as a one class economy service, and priced it accordingly. Unfortunately they didn’t honour the ticket and never got to fly on the A318 over the pond.
A work of art. Thank you
Thanks - there's a sequel now too....
@@MattsPlanet Thanks will take a look.
I just stumbled upon your site while searching on Matrix software and ended up watching your very well done video. Nicely done! Thanks.
You're very welcome. Hope it helped. Different colour screen these days but the guts are the same
Absolutly brillant, thank you from the LX country :-)
Thanks - hope it was helpful! Still don't know why they use LX! Although a quick google suggests its a carry over from Crossair???
@@MattsPlanet Hello Matt, unfortunately I also have no idea. If I find out, I will let you know. Thanks again :-)
Great insight to ITA Matrix! As a novice I’ve struggled with the system vagaries. I will now watch your other videos to finesse my newly acquired knowledge. Thanks 🙏🏼
Thanks - good luck!
Thanks Matt for this. Incredibly helpful video. I've signed up on your Patreon page yesterday on the back of this great video. I've always thought ita matrix would be too complicated for me but am finding it very helpful for planning trips that are a combination of points and cash fares. Cheers a New Zealand fan of yours.
Thanks so much. I think I must have worked my way into the Kiwi UA-cam algorithm as I've had a couple of sign ups from NZ in the last week or two! See you in the WhatsApp chat???
@@MattsPlanethow do I get on to the WhatsApp chat?
Thanks for the video, Matt. Just managed to get return to San Diego on BA CW A350 for under £1300, thanks to your tips here. Saved me thousands of pounds!
Excellent work Jon - this kind of comment makes all the work involved in making these videos worthwhile! And at the end of your flight you're going to be in America's best City too!
I travel a lot making videos for my UA-cam channel so this is great information. I will have to watch it a few times to hopefully understand everything.
Thanks Doug! There is no charge for watching it again! Probably best to have a session of Matrix open as you watch so you can test out the steps for real. It takes some effort, but its really helpful once you get the hang of it.
EXCELLENT!!! You said it!!!! On mastering the basics you outline on here, there is a greater understanding. I just did it, for the first time. Took a while to wrap my head around, once I got formula and codes, OMGosh! Thanks Matt, you are a great teacher. Appreciate all your hard work and giving us all the knowledge. 💗
Thanks Elaine. Not too hard and very useful when you get used to it!
@@MattsPlanet 👊👊👍
Thank you. This helps a lot, though I can see it will take some time to get used to all the quirks before I become proficient. I watched the entire video first, then played it again pausing and jumping while working with the ITA Matrix as well...that seemed to be very advantageous with the hands on learning...thanks again!
Thanks Swifty. Matrix looks a bit different these days, but its not sufficiently different I've felt the need to invest the time in remaking this video with the new interface... As with most things, practise helps!
I only ever make easy-to-book, uncomplicated flights and have no need for Matrix ITA. However, I watched the video all the way through - stopping multiple times to make sure I understood what was being said - and will most likely use the Matrix in the future. It looks like my idea of a good time and can't wait to play around with the advanced settings even though they are of no use to me. Excellent video!!!
Thanks Ian - possibly my favourite comment of the month! Matrix will make rainy afternoons fly past...
Great job 👏
Thanks!
Awesome! Thanks a lot!!
Hope it helped
Thanks Matt for another great informative Video. you seem to have found a missing Niche great, information not generally available in one place well presented to be interesting and timed just right as not to get bogged down in too much detail. Looking forward to open skies again not long to go see you up there sometime.
Thanks for that - another few weeks and a small corner of the skies might be open!
Great video!
Thanks!
Another great Video Matt - you're building a fantastic set of "go-to" videos for all of us who want to understand how to get the most out of our travel routing, and find the flights that work best for us - thanks :-). Looking forward to also seeing more of your trip reports once you get to travel again - can't be long until your US run now? I have my first (albeit domestic) flight in a few weeks - really excited for it, given it's the first flight for me since mid-2019.
Thanks - a labour of love this one! Tier Point run is late July, provided the US and Bulgaria let people in (and out again!). Looking at doing something the week after the travel restrictions are lifted, and don't really care where that is provided its warmer than here! Did contemplate dashing to Jersey this week, as that is now allowed, but a 40 minute flight makes for a fairly dull video!
@@MattsPlanet Sounds like Jersey's having some teething issues with recognising the testing results for some passengers (going by other posts i've been seeing), so you may have dodged a bullet by leaving that one for a week or so!
Thanks Matt for this video, I have been playing with 'the matrix' since watching your video on tier point runs - something we plan to do as a family once we have more freedom to travel! This has shown me more of the power that is available and certainly have learnt some new features and skills, so thank you very much.
Thanks for watching and thanks for commenting. Extremely gratifying to know that someone will benefit from the work done!
Outstanding Sir. Great content. Thank you..... yeah it would have been somewhat boring if I were not ultra interested in how ITA works and how to make it work for me. THUMBS UP and I will subscribe.
Thanks - someone with no interest at all would last 15 seconds? 10???
I've given you a hat tip on Flyer Talk, Matt, but just to say I have just successfully booked my first Tier Point run linked holiday with my wife thanks to this tutorial and the wider tier point run explainer series. We will both be Silver status after the trip.
Thanks Aiden - congrats and congrats also on getting the Missus to tag along! Not everyone manages that... I hope you have a great time and it sounds like you're looking on it as a holiday with a lot of flights which is the perfect attitude to adopt! First of many, I'm sure....
@@MattsPlanet I tried to convince her of the joys adding a Phenix stop could bring between LAX and JFk but she wasn't having it :D. I bought her a lounge pass at Manchester airport last month so has had a taste for airport lounges and would like more...a good trick for anyone there!
@@aidankerr1125 Quite a downgrade in aircraft from JFK-PHX versus JFK-LAX so I have to side with your wife on that one!!!
@@MattsPlanet I didn’t even think about that…I was thinking about the TPs from PHX to LAX 🤣. Can’t wait now! DUB-LHR-JFK-LAX-JFK-LHR-DUB all in business. The positioning flights to Dublin from GLA/EDI will bring me right back down to Earth 🤣
How was the journey. My wife and I are considering it!
I’ve been coming back to this video multiple times over the last couple of months. Any more news on any tier point run videos Matt or any tier point run trips book. Thanks for your top work in making a difficult video very simple for myself.
Thanks Shaun - good to hear it helps! I toyed with a run a few months back but had my status extended (again) - August year ends got unexpectedly extended before I managed to book anything which meant I didn't need to do one... Will be looking again in a few months for my 2023 renewal.
Thanks a lot Matt. Your herculean efforts are very much appreciated. I have recently gotten into the airmiles game. I'm based in Germany so the LH M&M programme is the easiest one for me to collect points on (through regular on the ground activities like shopping etc. moreso than actual flying!) The Star-Alliance-LH extension code is actually really useful because LH levies very hefty surcharges on its M&M tickets. It is very nice to be able to search for flights ex-Germany that are not operated by LH but are in the *A.
Thanks - and Lufty's discounted P fares do earn into the scheme I believe which opens some options.... Heard that other day that M&M collectors often look at Amman....
@@MattsPlanet I've not yet decided if I will assign miles (called points since January) into M&M (assuming *A flights) or join another frequent flyer scheme. M&M Senator status is not realistically achievable for me as a family man. We might take one intercontinental business class flight a year, the rest being in Euro-Economy or LCC. I could cut my losses, assume status is not really achievable until the young lad is older and my wife and I are flying more often to farther flung places (in Business/First) and just bung the miles into M&M. Might scrape Frequent Traveller status the odd year but nothing higher. That grants LH only lounge access on LH group flights only. We live near Berlin and to be honest it's more of a LCC provincial airport. I'm Irish and it makes no sense to fly anything other than direct with FR or EI (much less so with EI as their flight times to DUB are not great with school kids). BER is better served by LCCs than any *A airline including LH Group. I am only really in the M&M scheme because it's the only one you can collect meaningful amounts of miles/points in for redemptions without flying and the points are protected from expiration by holding a M&M blue credit card. As an example I've collected ca. 170k points since mid December, all through on ground activities that I would have spent money on anyway (I tell a lie, we flew to MUC on LH and got a whopping 56 miles each way and 40 status points, out of the 650 you'd need to even get to silver status lol). That's enough to allow our family of 3 to fly to North America on a so called Meilenschnäppchen (miles deals), which cost 55k miles return to the US/Canada or 60k to Mexico in Business, including the business class connecting flight in D/A/CH (no free connecting flights to LOT flights out of Warsaw sadly). The surcharges are a hefty €600 on each return ticket and availability to the west coast is limited, but east coast and Toronto/Chicago availability is good, even in the school holidays. So we can fly in business for the price of economy. That's how I look at it. The only way to redeem M&M miles on return flights from Europe to somewhere intercontinental without hefty surcharges is to position to Warsaw and fly with LOT, but availabilty is much less compared to LH. That's a lot more than I wanted to say, sorry. The end result is that I can see myself just pushing the miles back into M&M for a few years but then looking at status through Aegean a little bit down the line. I've watched your video on that and it seems to be a fairly popular tactic even among Germans as the LH Senator status is very difficult to qualify for unless travelling long haul for work very regularly. I have also wondered to myself if it wouldn't make sense to forget about *A for the status and look at OneWorld. As I said, BER is not exactly a *A hub. I would be as well served on OneWorld perhaps. I would be concerned about expiration there though as we'd have to accumulate Avios purely through flying and that would likely take longer than 36 months, though from what I hear it's not as brutal as the M&M system.
So nice that you made a video that was requested by your viewers, for me this shows you are so involved with what your content brings for people! This video was also an extention of the previous ITA Matrix, Matrix, ITA Software... Whatever.. video you made about the tier point run. Thank you for this content Matt!
If I may, I would like to request a video that even extends this one, and for me a subject that I can not seem to get right myself, about booking periods regarding prices, especially business class from the EU and UK. If one is looking and flexible, how far or short in advance is best to search for fares? Is there a sweetspot? Could you share examples from your knowledge? I'd love to see you giving tips on dates in combination with start/end locations to minimise prices. Not just for a tier point run, but also eg. for a return flight moderated in such a way, that the price is almost too good not to book. (Yes I watched your Ex-EU video too, I just can't seem to find itineraries with dates in business involving NL/UK that are great value)
Great content again Matt, liked as always!!
Thanks for that - really appreciate the feedback. That's an interesting video idea but the challenge may be that things change so much. Generally booking 6 months in advance will produce the very best pricing, but last minute can also be attractive. I will take a look at whether there's a video here - I have had an idea to track a fare (or perhaps several) every week for 6+ months to see what prices do over time so there may be something to build on there... Thanks again
Thank You its GREAT
Thanks! Even if it now looks a little different to when I made the video, the functionality is still there.
Brilliant! I have dabbled with the Matrix a couple of times, without really making any progress, partly as I didn't need it.
I haven't been able to travel for about 3 years, but now I may need to travel at fairly short notice to the US west coast, so I'm keen to maximise TPs and restore my BA status (at least silver for now!). Price isn't going to be competitive at short notice, but this should help me minimize cost, and maximise TPs. At the moment, the best seems to be something like BUD-LHR-ATL-SJC and return, but I'm about to start trying some more options - I'll probably be watching the video at least twice more in the next day or so!
Thanks Keith... Matrix has had a refresh since this video and the guts are the same even if it feels a little temperamental... ATL-SJC is >2000 miles if its a direct flight so should be good for 140 TPs... A more "traditional" route would be BUD-LHR-JFK (although I think ATL will work) - LAX-SJC which squeaks out another 40 TPs each way...
@@MattsPlanet Thanks - only just got back to looking at this after my trip. It turned out that there were no OneWorld direct flights ATL-SJC, although it appears in the BA Tier point calculator. So I ended up with ATL-DFW-SJC in each direction, so 80TPs each way. However, I also ended up with a stop in every other leg, mainly due to the short notice I guess. My final routing (on 3 tickets) was LHR-BUD-LHR-CLT-ATL-DFW-SJC-DFW-ATL-ORD-LHR-BUD-LHR 12 flights in 12 days! But at least I squeaked out 680 TPs, and 4 BA flights. My BAEC year reset about 10 days before I started, so straight back to Silver. Now to see if I can manage Gold, I've just booked a short haul plus trip with double TPs, I think I could do with one more this year while the offer's still going, as I don't see any long haul travel on my horizon at the moment.
Congratulations. I don’t think I have ever learnt so much in 20 minutes. (One small point, the space symbol in the screen looks a bit like an underscore.)
Thanks! I used an underscore to denote a space - vaguely recalled it was a convention used in computing as a space is otherwise invisible! Sorry if it was confusing...
@@MattsPlanet Some references (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitespace_character#Visible_space) suggest using the Bottom Square Bracket symbol ␣ but it is only slightly different from the underscore. Thanks again for a fascinating video.
Great video Matt, just as i've spend the whole day on ITA trying to organise a tier point run!!!!
Great timing! Haven't looked for a while - is Sofia still a good starting point?
@@MattsPlanet Yes it is. Its funny as the one i'm interested in is very close to your video thumbnail. SOF-LHR-JFK(not HEL)-LAX-LAS
Very good - I added HEL mainly as it was an interesting option even though it isn't the absolute optimal routing for TPs. Hopefully will make a good video! You may be able to squeeze MAD or BCN in out and/or back - I mention it in the videos in case you've not watched them...
@@MattsPlanet i think i've watched everyone one of your videos so far!! I have a few time constraints, so need to not have too many days off work :-), but might have a look once i get the money together to book. thanks for all the excellent advice and keep on doing it, not far from getting monetized and you deserve it.
Thanks Peter - really appreciate it. Started this as a distraction when locked down to see if I enjoyed it, and I seem to have found an audience. Monetisation wasn't the initial objective but it looks likely I'll get there. Thanks for the support, and if you've watched all the videos, watch them again!!! Tee hee - kidding. Thanks again.
Another great video. One more suggestion: Whenever you use 'AA' for an AA flight just use 'AA+' to see more options unless you absolutely need a non-stop. If you don't know whether there's a DFW-SAT in your AA87 example your 'AA87 AA' would fail in case there's no non-stop whereas 'AA87 AA+' would work.
Thanks Hendrik. The AA87 was a tad clumsy - I knew there was lots of direct AA connection options but viewers may not - was keen to show that you could filter by a specific flight number. Hopefully people will know what I meant!
Sorry to carry on Matt but another great video, this one will need more going over and over again together the finer points sorted out
Carry on carrying on, Peter!
It's a great video Matt! You certainly deserve more subscribers and views!
I agree! Tell your friends...
Next watching your tier point videos. I live in LA and looking to build an itinerary to reach gold status from scratch
@@MrPerfusionist That's a challenge! It's 12 (ish) flights between LA and London so getting it in one hit is tough. My tip would be to see if you can build something with a stop in London and look into the BA double tier point promotion. A holiday that qualifies has to start from the UK and last for at least 5 days so its not completely straightforward for a US resident but is currently the best way to boost collection
@@MattsPlanet thank you! That’s a great suggestion. Will certainly look into it
@@MattsPlanet Managed to find a booking in Sep. JER-LHR-JFK-SFO-JFK-LHR-JER with a car booking for 5 nights. Total is £3728.37
BA agent helped book this. This will give me a total of 1280 tier points.Considering I am not booking 6 months in advance, do you think this is decent? Any tweaks I can do to minimize the price or maximize the tier points to get to 1500? I paid a deposit of 200 pounds, but can cancel without any penalty within the first 24 hours.
I've been using ITA Matrix for several years now (I prefer the 'Old 'software, am getting used to the new one too). It is the only place I've found which can consistently tell you the booking class of each flight in your itinerary. Useful if you find a matching ticket to know your eligibility to earn frequent flyer points/miles on each segment. That letter in brackets when you click details is the one, e.g. the 'K' in "Economy (K)". Go back to your frequent flyer program site - select earning miles from partner airlines and select the partner airline in question - and check what percentage of miles flown (125%, 100%, 50%, 25%, none, etc) you'll earn as FF miles/points for that booking class on that airline for that segment. Airlines and travel agency sites are notorious for being completely opaque about actual booking class. ITA Matrix takes off the veil.
Matrix certainly lifts the veil.... And usually shows that the wonderful Lufthansa fare I'm looking at books into P class which earns 0 into my Aegean scheme!
@@MattsPlanet Bingo!!
Thank you 😊
No - thank you!
Great video thank you! Such a shame that the ITA Matrix has stripped away so many of these features already
Thanks Jacky - chaos or otherwise! I've had a few plays with the "new" matrix and I didn't think that much has been stripped away? Some of it is a bit hidden but I think most of it is still there? I know you can't query by day part (morning / afternoon etc) although you can filter the results that way which I guess gets you to the same place... What have you noticed is missing?
Can you do a deeper dive into the multi city planning optimisation please. I'm struggling to add an extra leg into a tier point run with the round trip tab. Cheers Matt!
Will do Roy. Looking at my own plans for 2023 and will almost certainly make an updated matrix video in the process.... Thanks and stay tuned!
Very informative video Matt. does the updated version of "The Matrix" screen work in exactly the same way?
Its very, very similar. I did notice a couple of trivial differences but not enough to invest the time in a complete new video... From memory, you can filter results by time of day but you used to be able to search by time of day - that sort of thing. Looks a little different but the guts are still very much the same.
Thanks for another clear video. Is there an advantage to calling the airline rather than just booking the flights online with the airline?
The advantage for me is not having to speak to anyone!!! It is quicker to do it online and you do remove the (albeit slim) opportunity for human error. Otherwise calling gets the job done just as well.
Great Video, the first of your's I watched so far. I'll also check out the others too. Thank you for putting so much effort in it. The Matrix is quite new to me. I tried to find a flight from ARN to LAX via LHR. Each time I try "LHR" (i didn't write ") in the routing code field, no results were found in the calendar for the lowest fares. I tried it without "LHR" and the calendar lists results with a LHR connections. I tried to search for specific dates by using LHR routing code, failed as well. No results found. What did I do wrong? Or are there any changes to the matrix in 2023?
I don't think Matrix changed so much that LHR is no longer a valid option! There's a lot of factors that could have inadvertently blocked that as a valid option and without seeing the screens its hard to guess what might have been the issue... Its a free resource so I don't think we can be too annoyed when the error trapping capabilities of the service are poor... All I can say is try tweaking dates or split the routing out into the multi-city tab to see if you can get it to catch. Cheers and good luck
Matt. Please can you do a video on the latest software version of Matrix ita?
It's very similar... There are a few very subtle differences that I've noticed but I haven't judged them important enough to make a video about... I will make one as and when I book my next tier point run though...
Great video.
Anytime I try booking I see different prices from what I saw on ita matrix platform.
Can you kindly assist.
I really need to book asap
Call the airline with the fare details at the bottom of the results page. Or give that info to a travel agent
Thank you! You really helped me!! Only one question, how can I pay only the tax for the company ? (Is it possible so it would be cheaper?)
I'm not sure I understand your question... What do you mean by "tax for the company"?
@@MattsPlanet I saw a video of a guy saying there’s a code for paying only the amount of money really is required and it’s the cheapest thing. Using the powertools. Idk if it’s true though.
Hola! Do you know if there is a way to search for flights where the return is a different class from the outbound? IE fly out business and return economy?
Yes! In the extension codes box you need f bc=w|bc = e|bc = t to limit flights to those booking codes (those are the three for premium economy on BA). If you leave the other flight field blank it'll give PE one way and economy the other. The club codes are J, C, D, R and I. Clunky formats but its basically F (fare) BC (booking code) = C with the | symbol separating the various options. Enjoy!
@@MattsPlanet Thats great thanks mate :)
Is there a way to filter by aircraft equipment? i.e 787, 777
Yes! In the Extension codes adding "Aircraft t:787" should work - aircraft type... I believe you can be even more specific although it might take some trial and error to get the text right...
i am having trouble opening book with matrix, can anyone help me with this?
Me too. I think the chrome extension still works but the website does seem to be down... No idea why, I'm afraid!
So if I want to search AA saver space from PHL - FCO I would type "f bc=u" correct?
If that's the correct fare bucket, then yes. A quick search suggests that's an award code for business class, which may not show up in travel agents systems so may not show up on Matrix, but in principal that's what you'd do.
@@MattsPlanet Ya it's for AA saver biz space which never shows up anymore it seems.
Thanks, Matt. Just found ITA Matrix and it's quite a cool tool. Do you know, is there any way to allow it to search for connecting flights with any separate airline? Ex. search for any of airline for the first leg, then any airline for the second leg? There are no flights between me and my desired destination but I don't mind buying separate tickets and want to see all my options.
Actually, it does this automatically. It's just that those flights are normally more expensive and are rarely shown on the first page. Gotta dig a little bit to find them.
I think you've spotted the opportunity... When matrix converted to the current version (white to black you might say) I think it cut down on the number of processes it allowed you behind each query before giving you results... So some of the more exotic options aren't found in the time available. Hard to prove this and hard to explain.... Anyhoo, the way around it is to narrow the search criteria so there's a greater chance of finding everything before the timer runs out. You can do it within the basic search screen, but its easier to split the journey into legs through the connecting points then filter by "airlines = CX" (or whatever) to only show the multi-airline options. You need a good idea of who you'll be flying but it should work...
@@MattsPlanet As a software engineer, this makes sense as it's a n^2 problem. Thanks for the tip!
Hello, thanks for the video. But its not proven very helpful for me. The price on Matrix was USD 853 and USD 2993 when used bookwithmatrix. Dont know why a big fare difference. Any explanation?
Very hard to say without any detail... Keep trying and also look at the Chrome Powertools add-in which pushes routings directly into booking engines....
Good video - how would i go about booking using ITA matrix and maximising using BA holiday option? Would I have to call BA to do this?
You'd use Matrix to find the flights you want then call BA to book them - a double tier point qualifying trip needs to be booked through BAH (I assume that's what you're after!!!). Occasionally, the routing you want will be offered online through the Holidays website but if its in any way complicated, it probably won't so you'll need to call
@@MattsPlanet great thank Matt - love your videos!
Why ita matrix not showing Quatar airways flight
Just looked for London to Singapore and Qatar was showing for me...
Matt, I've been having a play around and found something that I was very happy with, 800TP for $1,486. But when I plug that trip into bookwithmatrix, Priceline, American and OneTravel said the fare is no longer available and it is almost like starting again. When you say call a travel agent who do you suggest? Thanks!
The go-to guys for complex bookings are Propeller travel. I don't have an email to hand but they're easy to google. They understand the whole tier point thing and can access multiple points of sale to get things through. Either them or the prime airline would be where I would start if the online options don't work. Good luck!
@@MattsPlanet Does it cost money to fill in the 'Complex Air Booking' page from Propeller Travel? How does it work if you fill in the page and let them do the work?
@@anneverhoeven7260 I think they make money from earning commission on the booking - never needed to get that far with them myself. I'd ping an email and ask them!!!
I tried to find a flight from cologne to Istanbul. It said 147€. When I put it into the website you mentioned it costs me 450 $ ???? I don’t understand
Where did you see the $147?
Do you offer a service whereby people can request a route to maximize tier points? Example, fly from uk to Vegas in July 2023.
HI there - I don't... My aim is to give people the tools to do this themselves... If I did offer something it would have to be at a significant cost, to make it worthwhile for me to spend time on that rather than something else and I don't think anyone would pay it...
@@MattsPlanet makes sense. I have started looking but find the cost is at least £2.50 per point in summer 2023. Dunno if its worth it nowadays!
cool video - whats up with the penguen ? 😄
Everybody loves 'em!
@@MattsPlanet Especially us Orcas!
The website "BookWithMatrix" does not seem to work. Is this the old or new Matrix ITA software?
Cheers Jojo. It's quite possible the bookwithmatrix site can't cope with the output from the new look matrix yet. The old matrix is still available (there's a link on the new matrix page) so perhaps try that and see if bwm will accept it?
@@MattsPlanet Thanks Matt.
💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐
If this sort of thing is your thing, I hope it worked for you!!!
Send help!!! All i want is a e hour nonstop flight😭😅🤣 I will have e a play have saved the Matrix 😁
Putting N in the routing code will limit results to just non stops...