So I've just discovered this - it is great, however... (isn't there always a but?)

I found a route and a great price that beats anything else - it is on 2 airlines that I don't think codeshare - USAirways and SAS. I think they are both members of Star Alliance. I can't find the routing when I try usairways.com and when I called in, the clueless woman on the phone didn't see it either.

How exactly do I book this ?

Go to Orbitz. They use ITA as their backbone and you can usually replicate the fares you see on ITA there.

thanks travelgourmet.

Are there any disadvantages booking at orbitz vs. the legacy website (usairways.com) ? Can we still do seat selection and everything there ?

You shouldn't have any more or less trouble selecting seats through Orbitz than you would have with the airlines themselves. If all else fails, copy down the booking locator (6-digit) code you get when buying the tickets (not the Orbitz "itinerary" code) then go to the airlines' websites and use it to pull up your reservation. You ought to be able to see seats there. You may need to look carefully on the Orbitz booking to find it, but it will be there somewhere.

There aren't a lot of downsides. There is some advantage to booking with the airline in that you only have to deal with one company when something goes wrong, but with a two-carrier ticket, that goes out the window anyway. As for seats, you can usually choose on Orbitz, or do as Gardyloo suggests. I can't recall, however, if SAS has any restrictions on pre-assigning seats. A lot of European carriers don't allow pre-assignments, especially on short-haul flights.

thanks guys. Honestly, I'm not worried about the intra-European flights since they are relatively short compared to the flight over the Atlantic.

good info about the booking locator (I never knew the name of that other than confirmation number!).

thanks.

When you find a fare on itasoftware, click on the price, then click scroll down and click view fare itinerary and details. This will give you all the fare codes needed for the flights. Scroll to the bottom under the price where it says fare construction.

I always try to book with the airline. Did you try SAS?

ky, I did try SAS - ironically, they don't show PHL as an outbound option - I would be taking the USAir flight to MAN and then connecting from there on SAS.

I think I've figured out Orbitz.

Now I'm in the dilemma of where do we fly to ? How much is it worth it to fly from PHL vs. going to JFK ? argh.