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The ultimate travel geek toolbox: http://matrix.itasoftware.com http://matrix.itasoftware.com - especially once you learn the advanced QPX language, e.g.:

by joshwa 15y ago

The ultimate travel geek toolbox: http://matrix.itasoftware.com http://matrix.itasoftware.com - especially once you learn the advanced QPX language, e.g.: SFO,LAX CX,AA,KE F HKG,ICN,NRT ~CZ+ KMG Search for flights from LAX or SFO, on Cathay Pacific, American, or Korean Air, a single flight to stopover cities Hong Kong, Seoul, or Tokyo, then any number of flights except on China Southern to Kunming, China (where I happen to live). They're also the source of inspiration for Hipmunk's Time Bar interface. The one downside: you can't book directly through them. But once you know your exact itinerary you can go book somewhere else. Sometimes you'll have to call to get the fare code/construction that Matrix recommends, as it won't always come up in an airline website or kayak search. http://kvstool.com/ http://kvstool.com/ (Subscription required, windows/WINE) Search all kinds of fare, routing, timetable, award info. Uses the Sabre, Amadeus, and Worldspan (the 3 major info brokers). Has a pretty decent mobile website that has saved my ass more than once (I can see that there's open seats in business on a particular flight, etc). And down the rabbit hole: http://flyertalk.com/ http://flyertalk.com/ Lots of people also like http://expertflyer.com/ http://expertflyer.com/ (subscription required) as a web-based alternative to KVSTool, but I find its search engine too restrictive and the results more difficult to quickly parse.

ben1040 15y ago
The ITA Matrix tool was ridiculously helpful when dealing with my old company's corporate travel agent. They would invariably put me on some horrible flight schedule unless I used Matrix to find the best route and just give them the flight numbers to book. It also was great the one time I was 4 segments away from requalifying for platinum on AA and needed to make it up before the end of the year. That routing language is good when you need to stuff extra segments into a trip and have them be on a specific airline. Turned out the cheapest route was to have me go to Omaha (by way of Chicago) where I met a friend for lunch in the airport cafeteria and then hopped right back on a plane home.

by joshwa 15y ago

ben1040 15y ago

The ITA Matrix tool was ridiculously helpful when dealing with my old company's corporate travel agent. They would invariably put me on some horrible flight schedule unless I used Matrix to find the best route and just give them the flight numbers to book. It also was great the one time I was 4 segments away from requalifying for platinum on AA and needed to make it up before the end of the year. That routing language is good when you need to stuff extra segments into a trip and have them be on a specific airline. Turned out the cheapest route was to have me go to Omaha (by way of Chicago) where I met a friend for lunch in the airport cafeteria and then hopped right back on a plane home.