ITA Matrix & AA.com - trying to maximise SCs, am I doing it wrong?

[flyingfan]

OK, so in my other thread I mentioned a North American trip and Instant Upgrades to maximise QF SCs. I've looked at the YUPP research and booking thread and have tried to find first-class fares on ITA Matrix. For instance I want to get from NYC to ORD and decide to add a CLT stopover in between. Leaving aside the question of whether this stopover will actually get more SCs for the money (I can play around with the SC calculator and GCMap later), I have the below. P class, no codeshares and $343 which looks good.


But when I go to aa.com I can't get anywhere near that price. Searching for NYC-ORD in the one-way tab won't of course give me CLT or indeed any other connection as an option. And using multi-city and searching for Business/First (because searching for economy with multi-city doesn't show instant upgrade) I get the below - far higher prices.


What am I doing wrong in trying to replicate ITA Matrix itineraries on AA? Is it completely impossible now and ITA Matrix is basically useless for trying to plan YUPP fares like this?

Similarly I can't get AA to replicate four-sector itineraries like LAS-DFW-ORD-DCA at anywhere near the prices of ITA Matrix, even when trying to search for say just LAS-DFW-DCA in multi-city.

Any help or pointers in the right direction would be fantastic.

 

[defurax]

It works. Just make sure you go on AA US website, not the Australian one. Search for Business class and higher restricted fares.

 

[flyingfan]

It works. Just make sure you go on AA US website, not the Australian one. Search for Business class and higher restricted fares.

Aahhhh... that would be a good start. No wonder the description in serfty's thread was different to what I saw on the website. I have almost certainly read on AFF before the warning to use aa.com not the Australian website too

Thank you so much, I'd spent the last couple of days going around in circles! Love your work!

 

[defurax]

I'd spent the last couple of days going around in circles!

A different kind of mileage run! :mrgreen: