Combine Business and Economy flights
- By
- Aparna Patel
- |
- 12 Aug, 2023
- |
There is no easy way to do it. Still, ITA Matrix has very powerful fare search tools that will reduce, though not eliminate, your legwork.
Specifically, as noted under the Faring tab of the help for what are now called extension codes, you have routing language options for specifying a cabin:
SYNTAX EXAMPLE MEANING
+CABIN code1 code2 ... +CABIN 1 Require booking in the specified cabin classes.
-CABIN code1 code2 ... -CABIN 3 Prohibit booking in the specified cabin classes.
So, for example, I can set up a search from GVA to SYD via DXB and specify economy on the first leg and premium on the second leg as such:
And I do get plenty of results:
Now, as commenters predicted, this itinerary is actually more expensive than simply booking business class all the way through. The all-Emirates, all I-fare GVA-DXB-SYD is only 3808 CHF, is much shorter (especially by avoiding an extremely out-of-the-way connection at ICN), and would be on an airline many people would prefer to the others.
The principal downside, as you know, is that you would need to re-run this search for every single possible transfer airport, of which there are at least a dozen options, though the choice of connection correlates with the airlines you prefer; no need to check VIE if you don’t care for Austrian, for example. And then, once you’ve finally settled on a reasonable itinerary, you can’t book it directly. An airline agent might not be willing or able to find the partner flights, in which case you’d need a travel agent.
If you really like the hunt, though, don’t let me stop you. You can search not only by cabin, but by fare class, and indeed even by individual fare basis codes. These codes are all explained on the “Faring” tab of the help.
SYNTAX EXAMPLE MEANING
F BC=code F bc=y Use fares with the specified prime booking code. Note: the actual booking class used may be different due to being overridden by the carrier's booking code exception table.
F BC=code|BC=code|... F bc=y|bc=b Specify that fares use one of several prime booking codes (e.g. book in either Y or B class). See the note on the above item.
Credit:stackoverflow.com‘