Book the Cheapest Rates You Find on the ITA Matrix With Hipmunk
Google’s ITA Matrix is the power users’ preferred tool for finding flights, including cheap first class flights and city-to-city connections, but you can’t book directly online. However, you can use the ITA Matrix codes on Hipmunk , another one of our favorite travel booking sites .
Why would you want to do this and not just go to Hipmunk or another travel site directly? The Boarding Area explains that the ITA Matrix often offers flight options that you cannot find anywhere else, and sometimes the price you see in the ITA Matrix does not appear on travel booking sites or the airline’s own website.
However, by entering a specific code from ITA into the Hipmunk search box, you will receive the promised lower price.
It looks like it works mostly for multi-stage trips:
Unfortunately, trying other permutations in the ITA language often returns an error message on Hipmunk. But that’s not bad for airlines and connecting cities, which are usually enough to get you what you need.
If Hipmunk does not find the flights you want, you can play with the Multi-city option and split the flight legs into separate entries (but still enter them using ITA codes). This often helps, although even so, from time to time you may not be able to get the flights you want. In this case, you are out of luck if you cannot find your route elsewhere.
But more often than not, Hipmunk finds it for you … with a little help from the ITA.
It is worth trying if it helps you save money while traveling.
Bet You Didn’t Know: Using Hipmunk to Book ITA Matrix Flights | Landing zone