How to book this complex multi carrier roundtrip flight I found on ITA?

I am trying to book a roundtrip ticket from Chicago O'hare (ORD) to Mumbai, India (BOM). Traveling on Aug 9th and returning on Aug 24th. Now, I've been looking for several days (almost 10days!) for ways to book this itinerary I found on ITA. All other websites like Expedia, Kayak, Travelocity, Momondo, RouteHappy, and even google flights are quoting around $1200 roundtrip cost, sometimes as low as $1150. But the ITA Matrix website shows me several options, the lowest is $916 roundtrip.

Screenshot for the trip from ORD to BOM

You can see there are several flights in the $900 range.

from BOM to ORD

For the return trip there is only one option to get the low price.

Selecting the flights this is what I get: Final itinerary The codes used to buy this itinerary

I'm not sure how to use the fare codes the ITA website provides to purchase this itinerary.

These are some of the things I have tried to book the complex multi-carrier flight from ITA:

My first method was to try coding into HIPMUNK, using the multi-city option, my departure, connections, airlines flights number and dates. Following this method: http://maphappy.org/2013/10/book-google-ita-matrix-flights-using-hipmunk/

coding the segments into HIMPUNK

And the results page:

results from HIPMUNK

Here's what my code into HIPMUNK looks like:

ORD::LH9151 FRA LH756 for the first journey and

BOM::LX155 ZRH SN5104 BRU SN8803 for the return trip.

Don't think I'm making any mistakes in coding it, but there are two adjustments I also made which failed:

I used the dates of the first leg of the flight then tried using the other dates as well. So for example Aug 9th and Aug 10th.
I used the codes for the operating carriers and when it didn't work, the marketing carrier leaving the flight number unchanged.

This always returned no results. Breaking up the itinerary to just the oneway from ORD to BOM worked but gave me a price of $624. For some reason the second return trip was creating problems. I tried breaking he return trip down into different segments but no luck. Anyone knows why the return trip is creating difficulties? Coding issues/ hipmunk doesn't have such a large database?

Then I tried method 2: Calling up the airlines

United was able to find all the segments, even price it correctly sometimes (sometimes not) and gave me a confirmation number. I was to call them in 12hrs to check if they were able to procure the seats but when I did call they were not able to get the seats for the SWISS flight from BOM to ZRH and/or from ZRH to BRU. I've tried this at least 5 times changing small things everytime, but the same result. It seems Lufthansa waits for SWISS to confirm the seats but SWISS doesn't respond in time and I'm not able to book.

I tried calling Lufthansa but they were not even able to find the segments and instead told me to look at booking online where I will be able to find it cheaper.

Any insights into the methods that failed or suggestions on how to book this itinerary at the $900 price will be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Best Answer

The easiest way to do is -- and has been for a few years now -- is the bookwithmatrix service, independent of ITA Matrix/Google. You just "select all" the text on the last page of ITA Matrix and copy-paste the whole thing into this site, it'll do the rest.

Simplifying the process, there's a chrome extension and a firefox extension.

Pictures about "How to book this complex multi carrier roundtrip flight I found on ITA?"

How to book this complex multi carrier roundtrip flight I found on ITA? - Contemporary buildings and old majestic mosques near river under cloudy sky and birds flying in Turkey

How to book this complex multi carrier roundtrip flight I found on ITA? - Military airplane flying above modern skyscrapers in city

How to book this complex multi carrier roundtrip flight I found on ITA? - White Daisy Flowers Beside White Printer Paper

How ITA Matrix works?

How does the ITA Software Matrix work? The software is a search tool that is able to pull results from most airlines to help you find the lowest fare. It does this by allowing you to search a multitude of parameters including desired cities, connections, flexible dates, and more.

How do you use matrix flights?

ITA Matrix Tutorial

Book round-trip, one-way, or multi-city routes.

Pick the destination city (and nearby airports in the same country)

Select the best time of day to arrive or depart.

Pick your cabin class.

Pick exact dates or flexible dates within a month.

Select the desired number of stops.

What is an ITA in travel?

ITA Matrix is an all-in-one flight search engine that analyzes the flight routes and prices for most airlines. The platform was created by several MIT scientists in 1996 and was acquired by Google in 2010.

Is Matrix airfare legit?

I use it every other week for ideas of routes and fares and have found it generally reliable. I have always used matrix,you get all flight options in detail (except LCC) with breakdowns if you need them I use Emirates on longhaul and found all fares available, never had an issue.

ITA Matrix: How to book flights you've found

Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Images: Kelly, Oleksandr Pidvalnyi, Harrison Haines, Tara Winstead