Newbie question for booking ITA Matrix flight via BA call centre

[Annetteewan]

I hope someone can help – I’m going to Mexico in November with my wife and was hoping to use it to rack up some tier points.
I’ve found 2 x business return flights DUB-LHR-JFK-LAX-SJD on the ITA Matrix site for £2,998 (see below) but when I called BA to book the agent was mystified at how we’d got them so cheap and said he couldn’t book them. Was I doing something wrong? Is there a code I need to give him in order that he can find the flights?

Fare 1: Carrier BA INX1C1S4 DUB to SJD (rules)
Passenger type ADT, round trip fare, booking code J, I
Covers DUB-LHR (Business), LHR-JFK (Business), JFK-LAX (Business), LAX-SJD (Business)
£474.82
Fare 2: Carrier AA INW1C1S4 SJD to DUB (rules)
Passenger type ADT, round trip fare, booking code I, Y
Covers SJD-LAX (Business), LAX-JFK (Business), JFK-LHR (Business), LHR-DUB (Economy)
£540.64
Fare Construction (can be useful to travel agents)
DUB BA X/LON BA X/NYC BA X/LAX AA SJD Q15.77 5M 552.12INX1C1S4 AA X/LAX Q1.75 AA X/E/NYC AA X/E/LON AA DUB 5M 644.87INW1C1S4 NUC 1214.51 END ROE 0.950867 XT 7.30UP 54.37UB 10.60YC 11.20XY 6.20XA 34.00US 9.00AY 7.30S1 28.30UK 47.40XD 131.90YQ 131.90YR 3.60XF JFK4.50
Total Airfare & Taxes
£2,998.14

[Froggee]

You will need a competent travel agent most likely.

Try:

https://bookwithmatrix.com/

to see if it can price the fare up but there are no warranties on the online agents it uses.

[ringingup]

They certainly can book it, but some agents will be difficult about it. Try calling again, you might be luckier.

Alternatives are the website mentioned above or a specialist travel agent.

[AL]

Occasionally, you come across an agent at BA who is happy to take a fare basis code (INX1C1S4 in your case) and book with that. Of course, given BookWithMatrix uses OTAs, then I’d strongly suggest booking the flights on a credit card. When using BookWithMatrix, the Chrome extension is handy – but be aware that its partner agencies, like Priceline, have a habit of deconstructing your journey and trying to offer you all sorts of stuff.

I wonder if Emyr can help you book it – he’s well-regarded in this parish: https://www.headforpoints.com/virtuoso-agent-london/

[dougzz99]

I’d stay away from travel agents, assume this is an advance purchase fare. Almost certainly timings will change and airlines handle this better than TA. Did it have AA flight numbers in any of the LHR-JFK-LAX legs? Because BA agents will not book these unless you press them, they’ll default to BA flight numbers, and on occasion refuse to book AA flight numbers. It’s very likely that the transcon legs in the USA are married segments to the transatlantic flights. The BA flight numbers may not have the same availability on the trans cons as the AA flights numbers.

[Annetteewan]

Thanks for the advice. I chanced my arm and called back and got a different agent who seemed completely clued up on Matrix. One of the legs wasn’t showing up (maybe seats had been snapped up?) but he found an alternative that only bumped up the price by £100, so very happy.