ITA Matrix fare

I like to fly from MAN and have an upcoming trip to SLC from 10/12 to 15/12.

Via Google Flights or the VS site, J is coming out at about £5,600, 1 stop each way, ATL outbound, MCO inbound.

On ITA Matrix, I can find a fare for about £4,300. Same outbound, but inbound it's a 2 stop via ATL and MCO. The connection is tight at 46m in MCO.
https://matrix.itasoftware.com/#view-de ... vjsj2rJ001

If I go to https://bookwithmatrix.com/ and copy in the ITA Matrix screen from the link above, I get a booking option with DL. Clicking that sends me to DLs site where i can book the trip.

However I can't find this fare by simply search DLs website. Nor can a VS rep find it over the phone. Seems odd, does anyone know why this might be? Would people by comfortable booking this on the DL site (ignoring the 46m connection time in MCO worry)?

I'd much rather book this direct with VS for the extra credit card miles, but it's not worth £1,000!

46 minutes sounds very tight to me. Ok, DL and VS use the same concourse at MCO so it’s simply a question of walking from one gate to another. But VS close the gate at T-20 so effectively you’ve got 26 minutes to play with. If DL are late, you’ll misconnect.

So I guess the question is - how risk averse are you? If you’re willing to accept you may miss your flight back to the UK and have to be rebooked on to the next one, and DL are selling it as a valid connection, go for it.

But if you’re the type of person who’ll spend your entire holiday worrying about whether it’ll work, it’s really not worth it.

Thanks for the reply gumshoe.

Yes 46 minutes is very tight, but that's not my reason for posting. I'm wondering more about the validity of the fare. Going via ITA Matrix, bookwithmatrix.com and then DL seems a very roundabout way to find a fare. Does the fact I can't find this fare by simply searching on DLs website indicate anything? And is there a way to get VS to price this up?

Thanks

If it will sell it what's the worst that would happen? A night in a hotel at DL's expense if you misconnect?

If bookwithmatrix is directing you to a bookable fare on delta.com, and delta.com lets you complete the booking, it’ll be fine. VS should also be able to book it if you call up with the fare code info Matrix gives you.

I guess the reason you can’t find it via a direct search on delta.com is because it’s not a routing their systems assume anyone would want to take. There are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of different ways of flying from SLC to MAN on DL and its partners, so the website will only throw up the quickest and simplest ones.

That’s the beauty of Matrix - it gives you access to routings that previously were only really accessible to travel agents. The consumer facing airline websites, for obvious reasons, have to keep things as simple as possible.