Travel Tools - Star Alliance/Oneworld Award Planning with Award Nexus

I created a tool designed to speed up complex award planning. It's called Award Nexus and you can find it at awardnexus.com (https://awardnexus.com)

Here are some highlights:



Supports all 27+ Star Alliance airlines and all 12+ Oneworld airlines, plus 11 major SkyTeam airlines
Additional support for non-alliance airlines, such as AS and FJ
Awards found by the site can generally be redeemed using any partner mileage program
The search engine performs week-long searches across multiple routes, airline sites, and cabins
Results found are displayed in an easy-to-use list or calendar listing
All searches are cached/saved for you to review later, saving you time from repeatedly calling airline phone agents / hitting airline sites


Also, additional tools for award searches are available, including:

Automated Search: Set up an automated search on your target routes, and receive an email alert when an award seat open up (premium only feature).

Distance Pricer: Compare the mileage prices of your trip in the 20+ combinations of distance-based award charts + AMEX/SPG transfers.

Route Explorer: Explore the hundreds of ways that you can travel on your trips, and get ideas on which route to focus your award searches on.

Search Builder: Build a powerful search that could include multi-origins, multi-destinations, or specific connections, with just one-click.

Trip Calculator: Easily calculate the distance of your trip, along with any fractional or bonus mileage.

Feature Examples (old, but should give you some ideas):

Real-time award search (Star Alliance (https://awardnexus.com/demo/star-search.html) or Oneworld (http://awardnexus.com/demo/oneworld-search.html))
Award Result Calendar (Star Alliance (https://awardnexus.com/demo/star-cal.html) or Oneworld (https://awardnexus.com/demo/oneworld-cal.html))
Search Builder (setup (https://awardnexus.com/demo/builder.html) and result (https://awardnexus.com/demo/build.html))


Status: This service is currently in stable condition. The core search features are stable and there is a premium service level available.

Registered FTers are invited to sign up under the community membership program. This program is a mutual cooperation. Members get access to advanced tools that can significantly speed up award planning, and in return, help test out both the core engines and the new features.

How to sign up: Go to the sign up page (https://awardnexus.com/user/signup) and sign up using your FT username. You can receive 200 free points on sign up, which can be used to search for about 28 weeks of availability. Additional 100 free points can also be requested every 90 days.

Please use this thread to discuss feature improvements or share usage tips. For questions on membership accounts or payment, please email peter@awardnexus.com for direct assistance.

(reserved)

(hint: I have seen extra CX awards not available to other Oneworld programs).I suspect this is a problem with the data systems rather than actual availability being better for one point of sale over another. The Qantas site was showing quite of a bit of phantom CX availability that wasn't bookable for awhile (and that wasn't available to CX members). Meanwhile, I've found CX flights available that BA couldn't see, wait a few hours and their systems could book it.

FWIW.

I suspect this is a problem with the data systems rather than actual availability being better for one point of sale over another. The Qantas site was showing quite of a bit of phantom CX availability that wasn't bookable for awhile (and that wasn't available to CX members). Meanwhile, I've found CX flights available that BA couldn't see, wait a few hours and their systems could book it.

FWIW.

It's interesting. A few months ago I was looking at HKG-JFK Y, and there were many occasions where I see awards on CX, but neither BA.com, nor BA/AA phone agents could see it. The discrepancy sometimes lasted days before showing up in partner's system, but often never showed up at all before it is gone from CX.

It's possible that this is the data link issue you mentioned, but it may also be CX having expanded availability for its members. Hard to tell.

I've just started playing with this and it looks terrific. I don't think I will miss the experience of banging my head against the wall as I try to get the BA search engine to answer a simple query (dear BA: no, I do not wish to travel from SFO to HKG via London!)

Does anyone have any good ideas about how to check LX availability? EF shows some seats available that are not currently shown on ANA (and thus don't show up on Award Nexus). I understand that EF is showing availability to M&M members, but I sort of doubt that LX availability for partners is as minimal as ANA currently shows.

I've just started playing with this and it looks terrific. I don't think I will miss the experience of banging my head against the wall as I try to get the BA search engine to answer a simple query (dear BA: no, I do not wish to travel from SFO to HKG via London!)

Does anyone have any good ideas about how to check LX availability? EF shows some seats available that are not currently shown on ANA (and thus don't show up on Award Nexus). I understand that EF is showing availability to M&M members, but I sort of doubt that LX availability for partners is as minimal as ANA currently shows.

LX should be covered by both ANA/NH and AC. Are you looking at connecting flights?

For non-stop flights, everything should be visible by ANA. For connecting flights, sometimes ANA or AC will miss some connection possibilities. Try doing a segment-by-segment search to see if you can see it.

I know that EF seems to have some different ways of constructing routes (perhaps someone from EF can chime in), so that may explain why EF shows route that is not shown by ANX.

LX should be covered by both ANA/NH and AC. Are you looking at connecting flights?

For non-stop flights, everything should be visible by ANA. For connecting flights, sometimes ANA or AC will miss some connection possibilities. Try doing a segment-by-segment search to see if you can see it.

I know that EF seems to have some different ways of constructing routes (perhaps someone from EF can chime in), so that may explain why EF shows route that is not shown by ANX.

Try looking BOS-ZRH on August 7. LX53 shows 2 seats in F according to EF. ANA doesn't see this.

LX should be covered by both ANA/NH and AC. Are you looking at connecting flights?

For non-stop flights, everything should be visible by ANA. For connecting flights, sometimes ANA or AC will miss some connection possibilities. Try doing a segment-by-segment search to see if you can see it.

I know that EF seems to have some different ways of constructing routes (perhaps someone from EF can chime in), so that may explain why EF shows route that is not shown by ANX.

EF doesn't actually construct routes, we send the search criteria to the reservation system (sometimes a GDS, sometimes an airline directly) and show all the routings that are returned to us. In the case of LX, we talk directly to the LX host for the award results, which may be more inventory then what is offered to *A partner airlines. It should match M&M results vs ANA results.

One reason we don’t and won’t try to construct our own routes is because we’re finding more and more that married segment logic (also called Journey Control) is being applied by airlines for award and upgrade inventory in addition to regular fare inventory. So be careful when searching for award inventory on separate legs of an itinerary.

That aside, we’re glad to see a new free tool that allows easy access to these free data sources. Welcome to the club. :)

EF doesn't actually construct routes, we send the search criteria to the reservation system (sometimes a GDS, sometimes an airline directly) and show all the routings that are returned to us. In the case of LX, we talk directly to the LX host for the award results, which may be more inventory then what is offered to *A partner airlines. It should match M&M results vs ANA results.

One reason we don’t and won’t try to construct our own routes is because we’re finding more and more that married segment logic (also called Journey Control) is being applied by airlines for award and upgrade inventory in addition to regular fare inventory. So be careful when searching for award inventory on separate legs of an itinerary.

That aside, we’re glad to see a new free tool that allows easy access to these free data sources. Welcome to the club. :)

Thanks for the clarification, EFV. I also did searches on AC, NH, and called Continential phone agent, and none of them have access to the LX 53 flight that Rom Sac saw on EF, so it looks like EF has access to LX's expanded availability for its own members.

Thanks for the welcome. :) I have been a user of EF for a while and find the deep access that it has unparalleled.

Thanks for the clarification, EFV. I also did searches on AC, NH, and called Continental phone agent, and none of them have access to the LX 53 flight that Rom Sac saw on EF, so it looks like EF has access to LX's expanded availability for its own members.


This leads to an obvious EF question. Since so many of us book with miles from a different airline, is there a reasonable way to figure out the availability for alliance members?

This leads to an obvious EF question. Since so many of us book with miles from a different airline, is there a reasonable way to figure out the availability for alliance members?

If an airline returns partner airlines when we query them for awards then maybe, other then that no. That's why you need to confirm with your airlines website or a phone call to them. If there was a reasonable way to do it, we would have done it a long time ago. The problem is that StarNet (and the equivalent for other alliances) are basically seperate and private from the airlines award/upgrade/fare class inventory that is available via or thru a GDS.

This leads to an obvious EF question. Since so many of us book with miles from a different airline, is there a reasonable way to figure out the availability for alliance members?

As EFV pointed out, there is no reasonable way to show, definitively, what other partners can access. However, in general, it is reasonable to assume that awards for one airlines would be mostly available to all its partners (including non-alliance partners). There are, of course, lots of exceptions, but it is practical to plan awards with the assumption that all partners have the same availability.

For those edge cases, you will have to read through the trove of information on FT. Airlines are not going to publicize availability differentials, so mostly we will have to rely on user reports.

To help, I do have a tips page in ANX that tries to summarize some of my own observations about the quirks of each mileage programs.

Have signed to to take a look at it tonight, and it does look very promising.

Plain jane look aside (and looks don't matter too much anyway), it's very functional, simple and easy to understand control interfaces, and clean results screen. Also, huge props for clean, semantic and accessible coding techniques - I know the odd blind flyer who is seeking out awards would love you for this.

I also like how previous searches can be easily retrieved, and the table layout is quite reasonable. I would suggest you look at changing the style for your A tags in the table heading on the list page so you don't have blue links atop gray text. THEAD & TBODY tags here for accessibility would also be a plus.

Some initial suggestions for your consideration:


Switch the Javascript alert dialogue used for bringing up the routing/timing information for something a little less abrupt: Suggest using a lightbox or similar, as users would be more likely to understand they can copy/paste text from there and can degrade gracefully. The lightbox could also be designed to go back and forward to details on the next possible
option for that day.
Split feedback/help, move tips into the help page: This explains itself, your tips page is essentially help for using the service - yet when people access the help page, this information isn't there.


I've left this next one out of my main list, as it might be a bridge too far - but is it possible or already part of your development plan to be able to see how many points each possible routing would cost with the respective program?

This would require some additional knowledge, such as what programs the person is a member of or which one they intend to use. Doing so if anything would remove one additional user step, by allowing them to define in a profile preferred alliances/carriers on the search/build screen for them without having to select these each time.

Other than that, a brilliant effort - well done. Look forward to seeing how this evolves in the future.

great first effort, just running some cursory searches (simple ones) and i'm liking it already. I like how you've incorporated more complex routing mechanisms as well.

Have signed to to take a look at it tonight, and it does look very promising.

Plain jane look aside (and looks don't matter too much anyway), it's very functional, simple and easy to understand control interfaces, and clean results screen. Also, huge props for clean, semantic and accessible coding techniques - I know the odd blind flyer who is seeking out awards would love you for this.

I also like how previous searches can be easily retrieved, and the table layout is quite reasonable. I would suggest you look at changing the style for your A tags in the table heading on the list page so you don't have blue links atop gray text. THEAD & TBODY tags here for accessibility would also be a plus.

Some initial suggestions for your consideration:


Switch the Javascript alert dialogue used for bringing up the routing/timing information for something a little less abrupt: Suggest using a lightbox or similar, as users would be more likely to understand they can copy/paste text from there and can degrade gracefully. The lightbox could also be designed to go back and forward to details on the next possible
option for that day.
Split feedback/help, move tips into the help page: This explains itself, your tips page is essentially help for using the service - yet when people access the help page, this information isn't there.


I've left this next one out of my main list, as it might be a bridge too far - but is it possible or already part of your development plan to be able to see how many points each possible routing would cost with the respective program?

This would require some additional knowledge, such as what programs the person is a member of or which one they intend to use. Doing so if anything would remove one additional user step, by allowing them to define in a profile preferred alliances/carriers on the search/build screen for them without having to select these each time.

Other than that, a brilliant effort - well done. Look forward to seeing how this evolves in the future.
thewinchester, thanks for the notes on sign up - it is an honor to have you stop by.

Your observations are right to the point and ANX has been updated to address many of them. Some of them are just vestiges from a previous version, such as the inelegant flight info alert box, strange absence of tips on the help page, or the poor table header background color.

There are some major enhancements to the viewer coming up, so I am holding on the rest of your suggestions, but the eventual changes should address them.

There are too many components involved to make programming a pricing engine feasible. However, part of the future plans is to have more interactive reference, so perhaps I could include links to award charts that can be consulted quickly.

great first effort, just running some cursory searches (simple ones) and i'm liking it already. I like how you've incorporated more complex routing mechanisms as well.

Thanks for trying it out, btravel112. I hope you find it useful.

I just spent over a week, almost two, using ANX, and have been VERY impressed.

I was able to watch and follow some return flights from Europe on LH and OU well past the 331 days. THIS WAS AN INVALUABLE help in waiting for the 331 return flights to be available at United.

For the first time, I felt comfortable waiting to book all at one time, rather than choose both TATL flights at 332, and calling each and everyday to change the return. (That can backfire, when some agent cancels the wrong flight/trip :mad:)

I will confirm that LX has a different (better) availability at EF than ANX or KVS.

I will also confirm that different legs can retrieve different TATL availability for the "married segments", even if nearby airports are used.

Of course, that's what makes this so much fun............:p

Anyway, I got my EXACT flights, on the EXACT days that I wanted, in "C" Class from ORD-FRA-VCE, returning from DBV-FRA-ORD, for 2.

I also used EF, KVS, and ANX, since IMO, to snag two C seats on my choice of days is worth the tiny fee for their help.

I really like this, it's simple and effective, however I'm curious, if the tool is 'scraping' the relevant websites, do you think you might start to run into problems with the site operators?

ChgoBob, thanks for your help during the pre-release. ANX has improved because of your suggestions.

I really like this, it's simple and effective, however I'm curious, if the tool is 'scraping' the relevant websites, do you think you might start to run into problems with the site operators?

Sea-Wolf, glad to hear that you like it. ANX operates on similar ground as Yodlee, acting as agent of the user, when accessing the services of the various web sites.

Thanks for the tool.

I've found one anomaly searching for a seat GIG-BCN on Oct 10.

The QFF website returns:
Rio De Janeiro Madrid IB6024
Madrid Barcelona IB6766

available in Business Class

But Award Nexus searching with the QFF button doesn't bring up any availability

Thanks for the tool.

I've found one anomaly searching for a seat GIG-BCN on Oct 10.

The QFF website returns:
Rio De Janeiro Madrid IB6024
Madrid Barcelona IB6766

available in Business Class

But Award Nexus searching with the QFF button doesn't bring up any availability

Thanks for the report. This is rather interesting. How are you doing a search on QF for GIG-BCN?

GIG does not seem to be a supported origin or destination on the QF web site drop down list. I tried submitting the GIG code directly to QF, bypassing the web site interface, but the site merely refreshes to the same page.

If you can tell me, step-by-step, how you do the search, I can find a way to make it work.

Thanks for the report. This is rather interesting. How are you doing a search on QF for GIG-BCN?

GIG does not seem to be a supported origin or destination on the QF web site drop down list. I tried submitting the GIG code directly to QF, bypassing the web site interface, but the site merely refreshes to the same page.

If you can tell me, step-by-step, how you do the search, I can find a way to make it work.

GIG is supported but:

The QFF website doesn't allow searches with the first segment starting in South America (for some unfathomable reason). So I need to do a mulitisegment search putting a dummy segment in for the 1st flight eg

Segment 1 BNE-SYD
segment 2 GIG-BCN

Thanks for looking at this

Thanks--this is a great, fast, low-graphics engine.
I'm seeing a bug on IE7/PC though. The font gets bigger and bigger as I go down the page. If I use route builder it literally gets so that the submit button is bigger than my screen, so it seems to be some iteration in the layout (I'm not an expert on HTML/javascript/whatever is used).

Another bug: if I do get a lot of results, how can I actually see them all? For instance, a route like XXX-ORD-AMS may pull up a bunch of connections XXX-ORD even though it's only going to connect to the same ORD-AMS flight--but I can't expand the calendar to see what the latest connection available is since it sorts from the 6 AM flight and shows me that 6, 7, 8, 9 etc are all available.

Thanks--this is a great, fast, low-graphics engine.
I'm seeing a bug on IE7/PC though. The font gets bigger and bigger as I go down the page. If I use route builder it literally gets so that the submit button is bigger than my screen, so it seems to be some iteration in the layout (I'm not an expert on HTML/javascript/whatever is used).

Another bug: if I do get a lot of results, how can I actually see them all? For instance, a route like XXX-ORD-AMS may pull up a bunch of connections XXX-ORD even though it's only going to connect to the same ORD-AMS flight--but I can't expand the calendar to see what the latest connection available is since it sorts from the 6 AM flight and shows me that 6, 7, 8, 9 etc are all available.

Thanks for trying it out.

I see what you mean by the escalating font size in IE7. It is very weird. I will have to look into it.

As for the viewing option, are you referring to the results from a route builder search? My suggestion is that you use the checkboxes on the left to filter out the route that you want to see. So,

1) Select ORD-AMS to see what flights are available (since long hauls are usually the hardest to find).

2) Once you find the departure time for the desired ORD-AMS flights, deselect ORD-AMS and select XXX-ORD. Also, switch on flight time display under display settings, so you can see what time each flight arrives.

3) Don't forget that you can click on the calendar date for a more detailed display on the right.

Right now, the calendar view is tailored toward week-long search, but there is an upcoming table view option that should make it much easier to see all the flights in a listing.

In case I misunderstood your question, let me know if you were looking for something else.

GIG is supported but:

The QFF website doesn't allow searches with the first segment starting in South America (for some unfathomable reason). So I need to do a mulitisegment search putting a dummy segment in for the 1st flight eg

Segment 1 BNE-SYD
segment 2 GIG-BCN

Thanks for looking at this

I spent some time playing with the QF site and I can see that you workaround pulls up GIG options. That is such an odd restriction on QF's part.

I can modify the engine to switch from the current oneway search to multicity with workaround, but this is going to take more than a few days, especially since I haven't fully worked out all the implications of using the dummy first segment (e.g. access to additional cities and advance ticketing restriction). On the bright side, it looks like your dummy segment workaround also pulls up CX flights that is otherwise not visible, so that's a very useful discovery.

I have some upcoming enhancements that I need to roll out first. As soon as get them out, I am going to work on adapting the QF engine to search for GIG and related destinations.

I'm seeing a bug on IE7/PC though. The font gets bigger and bigger as I go down the page. If I use route builder it literally gets so that the submit button is bigger than my screen, so it seems to be some iteration in the layout (I'm not an expert on HTML/javascript/whatever is used).

I determined that the bug was due to some invalid HTML code, and it has been fixed.

Thanks for taking the time to let me know.

Small change: would it be possible to update the title when the search is done? I often switch to a different tab as it runs in the background, and it would be nice to know that the search has completed.

Larger change: what about supporting multiple origins/destinations in a single query? For example, suppose I'm trying to get from ORD to LHR/FRA/CDG in a certain class and time range. It would be great to be able to make this a single query. This is especially valuable during high-demand periods, or when searching for more than 1 seat.

1) Select ORD-AMS to see what flights are available (since long hauls are usually the hardest to find).

2) Once you find the departure time for the desired ORD-AMS flights, deselect ORD-AMS and select XXX-ORD. Also, switch on flight time display under display settings, so you can see what time each flight arrives.

3) Don't forget that you can click on the calendar date for a more detailed display on the right.


Step 3) was the one that wasn't working. It was highlighted as clickable but nothing happened when I tried. Of course, my security settings aren't under my control at work (@#$%@#) so it might be no fault of the site.

Yup, doing it in Firefox on a Mac, it works and solves the problem. I'll check again at work just to make sure I'm not a total idiot but it seems not to work there for whatever reason.

Couple of things, but pretty solid start.

Should be a mixed-cabin flag.

Ran a CX search for F and it returned LAX-HKG-SYD - but I know HKG-SYD on this flight has no F. That should get flagged.

There should also be a nonstop option.

Good stuff otherwise.

Couple of things, but pretty solid start.

Should be a mixed-cabin flag.

Ran a CX search for F and it returned LAX-HKG-SYD - but I know HKG-SYD on this flight has no F. That should get flagged.

There should also be a nonstop option.

Good stuff otherwise.

Good points, and you brought them up with an excellent timing, as I just rolled out physical cabin display an hour ago, along with the option to hide mixed cabins. :)

The non-stop filter is not too difficult to implement, but I want to finish a few other changes first.

Step 3) was the one that wasn't working. It was highlighted as clickable but nothing happened when I tried. Of course, my security settings aren't under my control at work (@#$%@#) so it might be no fault of the site.

Yup, doing it in Firefox on a Mac, it works and solves the problem. I'll check again at work just to make sure I'm not a total idiot but it seems not to work there for whatever reason.

It is very possible that if you don't have a recent version of IE, parts of the site won't work. IE 8 is what I use, but I imagine IE 7 would work too. IE6 I am fairly certain will have problems.

Let me know if you encounter any other browser issue. I use Firefox primarily and sometimes I roll out changes without having the time to check with all the browsers.

Small change: would it be possible to update the title when the search is done? I often switch to a different tab as it runs in the background, and it would be nice to know that the search has completed.

Larger change: what about supporting multiple origins/destinations in a single query? For example, suppose I'm trying to get from ORD to LHR/FRA/CDG in a certain class and time range. It would be great to be able to make this a single query. This is especially valuable during high-demand periods, or when searching for more than 1 seat.

Good point. The title is now changed for the waiting page.

Have you tried using the Route Builder? If you leave either TO or FROM empty, it will build a ORD-LHR,FRA,CDG search for you.

I'm having trouble with route builder. If I leave to or from empty I get an error. For example, if I enter from: ORD to: [blank] it says "At least one segment is needed to build routes." I'm sure I'm missing something, probably I'm just being dense.

It works if I fill in both the from: and to: fields, and then to put a list of transits points. If you enter from: ORD to: GVA transit: FRA,MUC it will create a query for ORD-FRA-GVA and ORD-MUC-GVA (i.e., generate a search for 4 single segments).

One feature that route builder exploits, and that perhaps should be better documented, is that you can search from one source to many destinations in the same query. So for instance I can do a single-segment query for ORD-FRA, ORD-MUC, etc (it even defaults nicely to providing the same number of seats and class of service). It wasn't immediately obvious to me that ANX can do this -- I'm used to engines that are designed to search for round trips, or connecting flights.

I'm having trouble with route builder. If I leave to or from empty I get an error. For example, if I enter from: ORD to: [blank] it says "At least one segment is needed to build routes." I'm sure I'm missing something, probably I'm just being dense.

Did you pick a date? The multi-destination or multi-origin works by building all the transit points TO or FROM. You need either (or both) TO or FROM, a date, and at least one transit point.

I did: From ORD to (blank), on 08/01/10, with transit points in FRA,MUC, which got built as ORD-FRA and ORD-MUC.

One feature that route builder exploits, and that perhaps should be better documented, is that you can search from one source to many destinations in the same query. So for instance I can do a single-segment query for ORD-FRA, ORD-MUC, etc

I am a little confused by what you are referring to. It seems from your second description that you did get the multi-origin/multi-destination to work?

I think I'm a good test subject because I have lots of AA, BA, and UA miles and want to fly from PDX to PEK around 8-12. I know UA has seats in biz on 8-11, but I'm my dream would be swing JL F. When I searched for PDX-PEK, I ended up with a 1-1-11 calender that focussed on flights between places other than PDX and OZ, even when I "unchecked" all of the OZ searches.

I'm guessing that I'm overlooking something obvious.

Did you pick a date? The multi-destination or multi-origin works by building all the transit points TO or FROM. You need either (or both) TO or FROM, a date, and at least one transit point.

Thanks, this is the piece of information I was missing. I think if you just put your sentence above in the description on the route builder page it would be helpful.


I am a little confused by what you are referring to. It seems from your second description that you did get the multi-origin/multi-destination to work?

I actually just built the query by hand. The query I'm trying to do is essentially "ORD to anywhere in Europe". I think that I now understand how to do this with route builder.

I think I'm a good test subject because I have lots of AA, BA, and UA miles and want to fly from PDX to PEK around 8-12. I know UA has seats in biz on 8-11, but I'm my dream would be swing JL F. When I searched for PDX-PEK, I ended up with a 1-1-11 calender that focussed on flights between places other than PDX and OZ, even when I "unchecked" all of the OZ searches.

I'm guessing that I'm overlooking something obvious.

moondog, I have benefited much from your posts in the China forum. it is an honor to have you.

However, I don't see your user name listed in the database. What's the user name you used to register for ANX?

Thanks, this is the piece of information I was missing. I think if you just put your sentence above in the description on the route builder page it would be helpful.

That's a good point. I added more details to the error message to clarify.

moondog, I have benefited much from your posts in the China forum. it is an honor to have you.

However, I don't see your user name listed in the database. What's the user name you used to register for ANX?

I guess I overlooked the registration requirement some how. I am interested in testing out your program. Thanks.

I guess I overlooked the registration requirement some how. I am interested in testing out your program. Thanks.

Oh, that explains it. I was wondering how you can have problem with ANX, when you are not even a registered user. :)

Please sign up for the preview here (http://p1.awardnexus.com/user/signup). As my compliment, please check the box for community involvement - if you don't have any listed qualification, just put a link to any post of yours in the China forum.

Oh, that explains it. I was wondering how you can have problem with ANX, when you are not even a registered user. :)

Please sign up for the preview here (http://p1.awardnexus.com/user/signup). As my compliment, please check the box for community involvement - if you don't have any listed qualification, just put a link to any post of yours in the China forum.

Thanks. I'm in

ETA: I really like it. Much easier than trying to stay on top of ana.co.jp, ba.com, aa.com, and united.com.

I'm seeing some bugs today for the first time. If you search on ANA for FRA-JFK on August 1, it shows an indirect route with no availability FRA-BOS but with room on US2113 and US2137 BOS-LGA in "F" (my scare quotes, not theirs...)

ANX is now returning this as a solution FRA-JFK. This didn't happen before.

Please fix my favorite toy :)

I'm seeing some bugs today for the first time. If you search on ANA for FRA-JFK on August 1, it shows an indirect route with no availability FRA-BOS but with room on US2113 and US2137 BOS-LGA in "F" (my scare quotes, not theirs...)

ANX is now returning this as a solution FRA-JFK. This didn't happen before.

Please fix my favorite toy :)

Thank you! An hour ago, I pushed out an enhancement for the ANA engine that intelligently mixes cabins for First/Business awards, but looks like a bug slipped through.

It has been fixed and no more scary domestic flight without an international arrival flight. :)

Thank you! An hour ago, I pushed out an enhancement for the ANA engine that intelligently mixes cabins for First/Business awards, but looks like a bug slipped through.

It has been fixed and no more scary domestic flight without an international arrival flight. :)

Glad to help.

Could you arrange it so that whenever there is a domestic connection in "F", LH, LX and SQ will also release premium seats? You would be the most popular FT member EVER ;)

Glad to help.

Could you arrange it so that whenever there is a domestic connection in "F", LH, LX and SQ will also release premium seats? You would be the most popular FT member EVER ;)

If I could, I would. :)

As a general service announcement: please do not submit concurrent search requests. My personal server can only handle one search at a time, and multiple searches will delay other people's searches.

GIG is supported but:

The QFF website doesn't allow searches with the first segment starting in South America (for some unfathomable reason). So I need to do a mulitisegment search putting a dummy segment in for the 1st flight eg

Segment 1 BNE-SYD
segment 2 GIG-BCN

Thanks for looking at this

Thanks again, 3544quebec, for your report.

It took me some time, but I implemented new QF engine that uses multi-city with a dummy first segment to search. As a result, GIG-BCN is now support.

The even better news is that, with the multi-city search, CX flights are starting to show up too, which I didn't see before with the oneway search. This is great, as QF is now almost as good as BA in terms of Oneworld coverage (missing only JL, RJ, and MX), while being much faster in search time.

Thanks ckpeter. I don't have an award coming up, so I am putting in my asia trip from this year as if I was to take it again next year. This is MUCH faster than using asia miles and BA and AA searches. Sadly, there is also much better availability in F next year than there was for my trip. Maybe I will have to make the trip again :)

I am a miles neophyte, so maybe I am getting more benefit from the basic interface, but it took about 10 minutes to put together my trip from last year which took about 2 days before I was ready to call the award desk.

Seeing all that CX F availability... so tempting.

Saw this thread today, just went to the site, I noticed on the registration page, the password is not masked and the page is not encrypted.

I have never built a web page myself, so don't know how hard it is to have the field masked as well as using the SSL on that page. I am sure it would make the site look much more professional.

First off, great job in putting this site together.

I agree with the comment re: password. I almost didn't sign up :p

Saw this thread today, just went to the site, I noticed on the registration page, the password is not masked and the page is not encrypted.

I have never built a web page myself, so don't know how hard it is to have the field masked as well as using the SSL on that page. I am sure it would make the site look much more professional.

Thanks ckpeter. I don't have an award coming up, so I am putting in my asia trip from this year as if I was to take it again next year. This is MUCH faster than using asia miles and BA and AA searches. Sadly, there is also much better availability in F next year than there was for my trip. Maybe I will have to make the trip again :)

I am a miles neophyte, so maybe I am getting more benefit from the basic interface, but it took about 10 minutes to put together my trip from last year which took about 2 days before I was ready to call the award desk.

Seeing all that CX F availability... so tempting.

Good to have you, qbrain! Thanks for leaving the link to your trip report. I remember reading it a few months back. I am sorry that Brooke fell ill in the middle of the trip.

Your words were a little unclear to me, but I think you mean that, the trip that took you two days to plan last year, took 10 minutes to search on ANX? I am sure this is an extreme case, but it is, in general, the kind of usage data that I am looking for, as one thing I want to find out is how much time ANX saves other people compare to manual searching.

Saw this thread today, just went to the site, I noticed on the registration page, the password is not masked and the page is not encrypted.

I have never built a web page myself, so don't know how hard it is to have the field masked as well as using the SSL on that page. I am sure it would make the site look much more professional.

I have been wanting to tell about my design decision. Allow me. :D

AXN does not collect sensitive data now and I assume that you are not signing up at a public computer with strangers right next to you (login page has masked password).

The original sign up page had masked password and a double password confirmation. I cut the confirmation and made the password field clear, to speed up the sign up process for everyone.

When more sensitive information is collected in the future, I will deploy SSL and other security measures, commensurate with the sensitivity of the information collected.

First off, great job in putting this site together.

I agree with the comment re: password. I almost didn't sign up :p

Thanks for the comment. I don't see you signed up as of now, so come on in. :)

Good to have you, qbrain! Thanks for leaving the link to your trip report. I remember reading it a few months back. I am sorry that Brooke fell ill in the middle of the trip.

Your words were a little unclear to me, but I think you mean that, the trip that took you two days to plan last year, took 10 minutes to search on ANX? I am sure this is an extreme case, but it is, in general, the kind of usage data that I am looking for, as one thing I want to find out is how much time ANX saves other people compare to manual searching.

Someone read my trip report :cool:

Yes, you translated what I wrote into what I meant rather well. Tracking down CX availability in asiamiles is/was a slow process. The AA side of things was easier, but still not as easy as AXN.

Minor suggestion, for the multi-route search's second and later date pop-up -> make it default to the date selected in the first data area. I'm sure that will be hard to do - but... Maybe set a cookie with the selected date each time the data picker is used and use that as the default date the next time the picker is loaded.

Minor suggestion, for the multi-route search's second and later date pop-up -> make it default to the date selected in the first data area. I'm sure that will be hard to do - but... Maybe set a cookie with the selected date each time the data picker is used and use that as the default date the next time the picker is loaded.

Can you clarify what you mean?

The date picker currently already defaults to whatever the previous date was. If you pick 12/1 in the first segment, the second segment is automatically filled as 12/1.

Are you asking for something else, or may there be a bug that causes the auto-fill to not work for you? (check your browser version, as older browsers often have issues).

Suggestion:

Perhaps you could tweak your filters to NOT show results for C/F searches, in which the longest sector is in a lower class of service.

For example, when searching for SFO-MNL using ANA box checked, many of the results are Y to ICN and C on the second leg.

I think very few people would entertain the idea of spending C mileage for such a routing. Of course, the reverse (shorter leg in lower class) is a different story.

Suggestion:

Perhaps you could tweak your filters to NOT show results for C/F searches, in which the longest sector is in a lower class of service.

For example, when searching for SFO-MNL using ANA box checked, many of the results are Y to ICN and C on the second leg.

I think very few people would entertain the idea of spending C mileage for such a routing. Of course, the reverse (shorter leg in lower class) is a different story.

Thanks for your suggestion, moondog.

Have you tried using the Hide mixed cabins checkbox? It hides those mixed cabins and allows you to focus on mono-cabin options.

It's a little tricky to hide the lower class by distance, because the scripts on the client browser does not have access to distance information (plus, it is variable to each individual as to how big of a ratio of the trip that they are willing to take a voluntary downgrade).

I did just added a new "Show as actual cabin" view option, so that you can at least, at a glance, see what kind of cabins are available.

Let me know if these options are not powerful enough for your needs.

P.S. While most people would not pay C to fly a long leg in Y and a short leg in C, it is possible that, as a strategy, they would take a voluntary downgrade, waiting for C to become available. I designed ANX to return as many options as possible, so that these situations can be supported (and rely on the filter controls to help you manage the heaps of flights found).

P.S. While most people would not pay C to fly a long leg in Y and a short leg in C, it is possible that, as a strategy, they would take a voluntary downgrade, waiting for C to become available. I designed ANX to return as many options as possible, so that these situations can be supported (and rely on the filter controls to help you manage the heaps of flights found).

For the programs in which most of us deal, *A tickets are pretty hard to change.

i.e. if you don't see C upon booking, the chances of scoring it are minimal.

-but, Y on the shorter leg is often okay
-displaying all mixed class itins in a different color would be a good short term solution

For the programs in which most of us deal, *A tickets are pretty hard to change.

i.e. if you don't see C upon booking, the chances of scoring it are minimal.

-but, Y on the shorter leg is often okay
-displaying all mixed class itins in a different color would be a good short term solution

Try using the new "Show as actual cabin" view option. It shows distinct mixed cabin, so you can tell at a glance which flights are mixed cabins.

Try using the new "Show as actual cabin" view option. It shows distinct mixed cabin, so you can tell at a glance which flights are mixed cabins.

Thanks. I will try that.

Since you've drawn me back to this thread, here's another question: is your BA search set to include partners? I ask because I ran a few US-Asia searches today (n/s CX/JL routes), first checking the BA box, and second using CX/JL where appropriate. The BA searches returned nothing (and took 500 seconds), while CX/JL were pretty good. As long as the latter results are roughly the same as the former, I see no reason to click BA at all, but if the discrepancies are great, it might be useful to adjust the BA search so it checks partners by default. BTW, it's entirely possible that you're already doing this and BA was in a bad mood today.

Thanks. I will try that.

Since you've drawn me back to this thread, here's another question: is your BA search set to include partners? I ask because I ran a few US-Asia searches today (n/s CX/JL routes), first checking the BA box, and second using CX/JL where appropriate. The BA searches returned nothing (and took 500 seconds), while CX/JL were pretty good. As long as the latter results are roughly the same as the former, I see no reason to click BA at all, but if the discrepancies are great, it might be useful to adjust the BA search so it checks partners by default. BTW, it's entirely possible that you're already doing this and BA was in a bad mood today.

Yes, the BA engine is set to include partners.

BA.com is known to occasionally not show partner inventory online, but which are available if you call BA. It is also much slower than other engines (partly because, in the backend, it searches 7 days at a time, so if you do a +2 days search, you are still going to have to wait for the search for 7 days).

Due to the slowness and occasional inconsistency, my current suggestion is to use QF for all Oneworld airlines and JL for JL flights (MX is about the only one that you need BA for).

Check the tips page on the site for more information.

As far as I know, BA is always in a bad mood. :(

As far as I know, BA is always in a bad mood. :(

Thanks for your tips; I will make good use of the advice.

I just checked for a specific flight I knew was available on BA.com and your site found it this time.

I used ba.com to plan my last trip to Asia and got used to its quirks, to the extent that it isn't on my hate list.

That having been said, I really like the fact that anx can search for 4 flights at the same time: e.g. SFO-NRT, LAX-NRT, SFO-HKG, YVR-HKG. If I do the above once for biz and once for F, I only need to perform one more search to get a feel for the connecting flight situation (mostly 2-class flights so F and C are the same).

Since this requires ~12 minutes, while my previous approach sucked up a solid 40 minutes, I like it.

Great to be able to try out this site, ckpeter. I suppose my perspective is different from many flyertalk users, in that I don't fly so frequently and I look to use accumulated air miles roughly every 12-18 months. I don't have gold status (not even silver nowadays - sniff!) and don't understand the ins and outs surrounding the rules and opportunities of award travel in the same detail that some other forum users might .

So what I offer is a general message of "huge props" and two suggestions amounting to little more than cosmetic tinkering!

1. First the props. A potentially really powerful tool (based in intermittent use over the last 24 hours). For me the biggest bonuses are:

a. it is much easier to build up route options involving 2+ connections on your site than on the ANA website. This is really useful for me, living in the Celtic fringes of Europe.

b. I tend to scope opportunities and options for flight routing over a period of several days or even weeks, as psrt of working out how to spend a holiday. So for me, having a site which saves previous searches is really useful. Even if availability of specific flights changes (as it inevitably does), it offers a good sense of where the award flight opportunities are strongest.

2. Cosmetic change no 1. On the search page, instinct tells me to tick the box to the right of the search engine I want to use, rather then the left. So I've found myself entering a search on the BA engine when I wanted ANA! (I warned you these comments were low value tinkering!).

3. Cosmetic change no 2. When the calendar shows for flight no.2 et seq, it would be really useful if the calendar would default to the date of the previous entry in the search. So, if today is 31 July and I want to fly out on 1 Oct, returning 15 Oct, it would be useful if the calendar already defaulted to Oct when I'm entering details for flight 2 (remembering the date from flight 1).

awesome tool. such a time-saver! thank you VERY much. I've so far kept quiet because it just worked beautifully. good job! But I've now discovered something that seems to lead to incorrect results. So, I hope you will find the following useful.

I was checking availability for a route from Europe to the South Pacific. FRA-AKL seems to work fine. FRA-RAR as well. All *A flights to NOU go through AKL. Award Nexus never showed any availability for FRA-NOU. Given that FRA-AKL showed me several flights per day and FRA-RAR had plenty of availability via AKL as well, I assumed AKL-NOU never has any availabiity. I've grown so accustomed of Award Nexus that I did not even bother to double check with ANA - until today. Et voila, there is availability.

The problem seems to be there are only two flights a week. Try this: Look for AKL-NOU on August 13th+1 (http://p1.awardnexus.com/collage/view/4c54231baa00fa129000000c). You will not find anything because ANA returns an error. Then try August 14th+1 (http://p1.awardnexus.com/collage/view/4c5422b5aa00fa167400000f) and suddenly, there is a flight for the 14th! I'm sure this bug has wide implications for infrequently served routes.

One minor issue I have is that going from "elite search" to a window 7 days or less makes it impossible to go back to searching for 7+ days out.

Disappointed that the search option for OW flights was reduced to only 2 award seats. As I travel with my wife and son, this change makes the software useless to me.

Thanks for your tips; I will make good use of the advice.

I just checked for a specific flight I knew was available on BA.com and your site found it this time.

I used ba.com to plan my last trip to Asia and got used to its quirks, to the extent that it isn't on my hate list.

That having been said, I really like the fact that anx can search for 4 flights at the same time: e.g. SFO-NRT, LAX-NRT, SFO-HKG, YVR-HKG. If I do the above once for biz and once for F, I only need to perform one more search to get a feel for the connecting flight situation (mostly 2-class flights so F and C are the same).

Since this requires ~12 minutes, while my previous approach sucked up a solid 40 minutes, I like it.

Are you aware that the elite version allows you to search up to 8 segments at a time, with combo F/J or J/Y search?

It sounds like you can cut your two searches down to one search that way.

Great to be able to try out this site, ckpeter. I suppose my perspective is different from many flyertalk users, in that I don't fly so frequently and I look to use accumulated air miles roughly every 12-18 months. I don't have gold status (not even silver nowadays - sniff!) and don't understand the ins and outs surrounding the rules and opportunities of award travel in the same detail that some other forum users might .

So what I offer is a general message of "huge props" and two suggestions amounting to little more than cosmetic tinkering!

1. First the props. A potentially really powerful tool (based in intermittent use over the last 24 hours). For me the biggest bonuses are:

a. it is much easier to build up route options involving 2+ connections on your site than on the ANA website. This is really useful for me, living in the Celtic fringes of Europe.

b. I tend to scope opportunities and options for flight routing over a period of several days or even weeks, as psrt of working out how to spend a holiday. So for me, having a site which saves previous searches is really useful. Even if availability of specific flights changes (as it inevitably does), it offers a good sense of where the award flight opportunities are strongest.

2. Cosmetic change no 1. On the search page, instinct tells me to tick the box to the right of the search engine I want to use, rather then the left. So I've found myself entering a search on the BA engine when I wanted ANA! (I warned you these comments were low value tinkering!).

3. Cosmetic change no 2. When the calendar shows for flight no.2 et seq, it would be really useful if the calendar would default to the date of the previous entry in the search. So, if today is 31 July and I want to fly out on 1 Oct, returning 15 Oct, it would be useful if the calendar already defaulted to Oct when I'm entering details for flight 2 (remembering the date from flight 1).

Thanks for taking the time to let me know that you find it useful.

I will keep your second point in mind. If I hear consistent feedback on this, I will tweak it to avoid confusion.

Regarding your third point, the search form is supposed to auto-fill the next segment's date for you. Basically, if you picked Oct 1 on the first segment, upon clicking the second segment's date field, it is automatically prefilled to Oct 1, and the calendar also pops up in October.

You are the second person, after iolairemcfadden, to ask about that. Is that not working for you?

awesome tool. such a time-saver! thank you VERY much. I've so far kept quiet because it just worked beautifully. good job! But I've now discovered something that seems to lead to incorrect results. So, I hope you will find the following useful.

I was checking availability for a route from Europe to the South Pacific. FRA-AKL seems to work fine. FRA-RAR as well. All *A flights to NOU go through AKL. Award Nexus never showed any availability for FRA-NOU. Given that FRA-AKL showed me several flights per day and FRA-RAR had plenty of availability via AKL as well, I assumed AKL-NOU never has any availabiity. I've grown so accustomed of Award Nexus that I did not even bother to double check with ANA - until today. Et voila, there is availability.

The problem seems to be there are only two flights a week. Try this: Look for AKL-NOU on August 13th+1 (http://p1.awardnexus.com/collage/view/4c54231baa00fa129000000c). You will not find anything because ANA returns an error. Then try August 14th+1 (http://p1.awardnexus.com/collage/view/4c5422b5aa00fa167400000f) and suddenly, there is a flight for the 14th! I'm sure this bug has wide implications for infrequently served routes.

One minor issue I have is that going from "elite search" to a window 7 days or less makes it impossible to go back to searching for 7+ days out.

You are right. The ANA engine currently stops abruptly, if there is a break in schedule for an infrequently-served route.

I am fixing it now.

Since you were not an elite member, you cannot go back to searching for more than 7 days. It is a feature for elite members.

But the point is moot, because you are an elite member now. :)

Disappointed that the search option for OW flights was reduced to only 2 award seats. As I travel with my wife and son, this change makes the software useless to me.

I am sorry to hear that the software is useless to you now. When I designed the elite program to recognize people who have been helpful to ANX development, searching for more than two seats became a feature available only to elite members.

Since you were part of the early group of user who signed up in June, there is a standing offer for you to upgrade to be an elite member by filling out a survey. Please follow the posted link on the site.

:-: Final call to everyone who signed up in June: Please make sure you log in and fill out the survey before August 5. After that, if your account still doesn't have an email attached, it will be deactivated.

Are you aware that the elite version allows you to search up to 8 segments at a time, with combo F/J or J/Y search?


I didn't know about the elite version, but that does seem enticing. I would be most appreciative of an invitation.

In return, I will try to keep the feedback coming.

Any plans to tackle DL in the future? You'd be a god if you could break that beast; yesterday, a Y search for PDX-AUS-LAS(stop)-PDX returned a 245,000 mile price tag.

I didn't know about the elite version, but that does seem enticing. I would be most appreciative of an invitation.

In return, I will try to keep the feedback coming.

Any plans to tackle DL in the future? You'd be a god if you could break that beast; yesterday, a Y search for PDX-AUS-LAS(stop)-PDX returned a 245,000 mile price tag.

Sure. You are already an elite member. Just click on the elite version of the search form to access the expanded options.

DL/Skyteam coverage is something that I am looking at. There are some real technical difficulties involved, so there is no specific plan to support them at this point.

I just signed up a few minutes ago and am most impressed with the potential. Here is some quick feedback:

1. On the sign up page, you ask for FT username and "password". It is not clear if you are asking for FT password or asking people to choose one for your site.

2. The sign up page asked to check a box if one has done one of the listed things. I had given away evips to physicians going to Haiti for earthquake relief, so I checked it. Then it won't let me register until I provided a URL supporting that. Rather than search for that info, I found it easier to start over and sign up as an ordinary member.

Great job, I look forward to using it.

Have you consider starting a site that would find MR's, so we can miles in the first place? :)

Thanks for taking the time to let me know that you find it useful.

Regarding your third point, the search form is supposed to auto-fill the next segment's date for you. Basically, if you picked Oct 1 on the first segment, upon clicking the second segment's date field, it is automatically prefilled to Oct 1, and the calendar also pops up in October.

You are the second person, after iolairemcfadden, to ask about that. Is that not working for you?

I've tried the site on both Firefox and IE. The auto-fills seem to work perfectly on Firefox. On IE, while most auto-fills work (airport codes; pax nos; class, etc), the calendar does not adjust to the date of the previous entry. I've tried IE both at home and on a shared public PC - same result each time.

...

I was checking availability for a route from Europe to the South Pacific. FRA-AKL seems to work fine. FRA-RAR as well. All *A flights to NOU go through AKL. Award Nexus never showed any availability for FRA-NOU. Given that FRA-AKL showed me several flights per day and FRA-RAR had plenty of availability via AKL as well, I assumed AKL-NOU never has any availabiity. I've grown so accustomed of Award Nexus that I did not even bother to double check with ANA - until today. Et voila, there is availability.

The problem seems to be there are only two flights a week. Try this: Look for AKL-NOU on August 13th+1 (http://p1.awardnexus.com/collage/view/4c54231baa00fa129000000c). You will not find anything because ANA returns an error. Then try August 14th+1 (http://p1.awardnexus.com/collage/view/4c5422b5aa00fa167400000f) and suddenly, there is a flight for the 14th! I'm sure this bug has wide implications for infrequently served routes.

...

Just to follow up on your issue. The bug that abruptly stops the search on ANA, upon encountering a no-service day, has been fixed.

There is, however, another issue in your case. Note that ANA only supports showing direct or 1-stop flights only. FRA-RAR works because you can do FRA-LAX-RAR on Star Alliance. However, regardless of the bug fix that I just did, FRA-NOU will not show up, since it takes at least two stops to reach NOU from FRA (e.g. FRA-HKG-AKL-NOU).

I can't even see the site, and the reason is simple: it already has tracking tools installed which are mandatory to access or you don't get to the site. I have blocked google-analytics on my system so the site spins forever waiting for it. Very few sites do this, but this one does.

Websites, including experimental ones, which unconditionally require us to provide data to those who would spy on us online, are a bad thing IMO.

I just signed up a few minutes ago and am most impressed with the potential. Here is some quick feedback:

1. On the sign up page, you ask for FT username and "password". It is not clear if you are asking for FT password or asking people to choose one for your site.

2. The sign up page asked to check a box if one has done one of the listed things. I had given away evips to physicians going to Haiti for earthquake relief, so I checked it. Then it won't let me register until I provided a URL supporting that. Rather than search for that info, I found it easier to start over and sign up as an ordinary member.

Great job, I look forward to using it.

Have you consider starting a site that would find MR's, so we can miles in the first place? :)

1) Good point about the password. I have clarified it. On a side note, it is fine to use the same password as FT, since it is hashed and no one, including me, can see it.

2) The sign up elite qualifications are specific. I want to recognize people with involvements in communities that I personal attend; it is not meant as a generic good deed recognition. I ask for a URL so that I can read and feel good about it. :p

I did a search on your CC posts and I don't see any give outs there. However, I do appreciate your contributions from some of the posts that I have read. Please accept the elite membership as my compliment.

P.S. There are plenty of great resources available that help with planning MR, from KVS, EF, Farecompare, to the FT MR forum, so I have no specific plans to support MR at the moment.

I've tried the site on both Firefox and IE. The auto-fills seem to work perfectly on Firefox. On IE, while most auto-fills work (airport codes; pax nos; class, etc), the calendar does not adjust to the date of the previous entry. I've tried IE both at home and on a shared public PC - same result each time.

Hmm...very interesting. Thanks for the report. Can you tell me what version of IE you are using? I am using IE 8 and the date auto-fill and calendar popup seems to work fine.

I can't even see the site, and the reason is simple: it already has tracking tools installed which are mandatory to access or you don't get to the site. I have blocked google-analytics on my system so the site spins forever waiting for it. Very few sites do this, but this one does.

Websites, including experimental ones, which unconditionally require us to provide data to those who would spy on us online, are a bad thing IMO.

I use Google Analytics to learn about my users, such as what countries they are from, their screen sizes, how often certain pages are used, etc. It is invaluable for me to understand how people use ANX and make improvements based on that.

This is a common practice on the web - I am not aware of any large interactive site that choose to blindly interacts with their visitors.

Due to the lack of details, I am unable to meaningfully address the rest of your post. If you can provide specifics on what "spy" data you are referring to, I can clarify further.

Hmm...very interesting. Thanks for the report. Can you tell me what version of IE you are using? I am using IE 8 and the date auto-fill and calendar popup seems to work fine.

My PC actually has IE 8 too.:confused:

I use Google Analytics to learn about my users, such as what countries they are from, their screen sizes, how often certain pages are used, etc. It is invaluable for me to understand how people use ANX and make improvements based on that.

This is a common practice on the web - I am not aware of any large interactive site that choose to blindly interacts with their visitors.

Due to the lack of details, I am unable to meaningfully address the rest of your post. If you can provide specifics on what "spy" data you are referring to, I can clarify further.

Google Analytics is spy software. Why do you think Google provides it to you for free? Do you honestly think they throw away the information they gather after you use it?

Very many sites do nonetheless have Google Analytics on them. But very, very few -- yours is only the second I have encountered in over a year since I diverted Google Analytic requests to the trash heap -- insist on the request being successful before allowing you to reach the main site.

Just discovered your thread over here, i really like your site. Keep up the good work on it!!!

Just did a test search, found good availabilty, but did not find different routing options, only the only offered by ANA (i only checked ANA), will go and look what it says by querying all of them.

Maybe i just didnt see that, but is the only display option available that of calendar thing? I actually like the table view that ANA offers.

My PC actually has IE 8 too.:confused:

I figured it out. This was rather subtle. It seems that auto fill worked in IE 8, but the calendar pops up before it is auto-filled, so it defaulted to today's date.

Thanks for report. It has been fixed and the calendar now defaults to the appropriate month in IE 8.

Just discovered your thread over here, i really like your site. Keep up the good work on it!!!

Just did a test search, found good availabilty, but did not find different routing options, only the only offered by ANA (i only checked ANA), will go and look what it says by querying all of them.

Maybe i just didnt see that, but is the only display option available that of calendar thing? I actually like the table view that ANA offers.

Glad to hear that you like it.

Try out the Route Builder. It helps you build manual routes quickly.

Right now, calendar is the only view. I am working on some major enhancements on view options though.

I did a search on your CC posts and I don't see any give outs there. However, I do appreciate your contributions from some of the posts that I have read. Please accept the elite membership as my compliment.

IIRC I had posted for trade, but when someone wrote that they were going to Haiti for earthquake relief, I gave the evips away. In any event, thank you for complementing the membership.

There are plenty of great resources available that help with planning MR, from KVS, EF, Farecompare, to the FT MR forum, so I have no specific plans to support MR at the moment.

I understand and my suggestion was in jest. I wouldn't want you to be distracted from your present focus.

...
I understand and my suggestion was in jest. I wouldn't want you to be distracted from your present focus.

I thought so. There are some really cool things in the lab right now, if only I could muster the focus to finish some of them... :)

Just to follow up on your issue. The bug that abruptly stops the search on ANA, upon encountering a no-service day, has been fixed.

Thank you very much for your work. ^^^ I can basically confirm your findings.

NOU is an interesting case, though. The flights leave at 08:00 in the morning, but ANA will not consider overnight layovers as are necessary in this case. Therefore, SYD-NOU still gives 0 hits because the latest flight into AKL arrives at 23:35 the day prior to the AKL-NOU flight. I'm not sure this is anything that Award Nexus can or should attempt to fix, but it's a good reminder to break down itineraries and not to blindly trust negative results.

Google Analytics is spy software. Why do you think Google provides it to you for free? Do you honestly think they throw away the information they gather after you use it?

Very many sites do nonetheless have Google Analytics on them. But very, very few -- yours is only the second I have encountered in over a year since I diverted Google Analytic requests to the trash heap -- insist on the request being successful before allowing you to reach the main site.

They obviouisly double spy on you too. There are other independent software providers like tracking202 that willl probably provide similar resutls with less work for google.

CKPeter

I have been using this tool off and on since you first posted it and it seems like this will be super handy once I decide where I want to go :) ... Great job on the tool so far ... and thanks for sharing with us :)

I did think of one possible suggestion today though ... I was trying to plan a trip next march to go to bangkok ... since i'm pretty flexible I tried putting in a lot of different midpoints and search for a long period over the month (14 days). This blew past my allocated point system, which i'm guessing is in place to control server load ... This makes sense ...

So my idea that I came up with is it would be cool if there was some way to queue up requests ... I could submit a request for a larger job ... and the system could run it on the backend when there isn't alot of other things going on and just email me a link to the results when they are ready.

Drek

One more comment/suggestion:

It would be nice to be able to search for nonstop flights only.

Take PDX-MNL on *A, for example. The only legal way to get down there (that doesn't involve flying to SIN or BKK) is via ICN.

This means that the most logical way for me to approach it is to:
1) look at SFO/SEA/YVR/LAX-ICN in isolation
2) query ICN-MNL
3) tack on a segment between PDX and SFO/SEA/YVR/LAX

For #1 in particular, but also for 2 and 3, I'm only interested in nonstop flights. If there is a way to limit searches in this manner, I'm not aware of it.

CKPeter

I have been using this tool off and on since you first posted it and it seems like this will be super handy once I decide where I want to go :) ... Great job on the tool so far ... and thanks for sharing with us :)

I did think of one possible suggestion today though ... I was trying to plan a trip next march to go to bangkok ... since i'm pretty flexible I tried putting in a lot of different midpoints and search for a long period over the month (14 days). This blew past my allocated point system, which i'm guessing is in place to control server load ... This makes sense ...

So my idea that I came up with is it would be cool if there was some way to queue up requests ... I could submit a request for a larger job ... and the system could run it on the backend when there isn't alot of other things going on and just email me a link to the results when they are ready.

Drek

Good to know that you like it, Drek.

The issue of points and usage turns out to be quite complicated. Procedures that would work with a dozen users, would not work when the user base goes beyond a few dozens, for both technical and non-technical reasons.

In the coming months, there will be some changes to the point system, but I am still working out the details.

Regardless, I will make sure that your trip to Bangkok is taken care of.

One more comment/suggestion:

It would be nice to be able to search for nonstop flights only.

Take PDX-MNL on *A, for example. The only legal way to get down there (that doesn't involve flying to SIN or BKK) is via ICN.

This means that the most logical way for me to approach it is to:
1) look at SFO/SEA/YVR/LAX-ICN in isolation
2) query ICN-MNL
3) tack on a segment between PDX and SFO/SEA/YVR/LAX

For #1 in particular, but also for 2 and 3, I'm only interested in nonstop flights. If there is a way to limit searches in this manner, I'm not aware of it.

I see why you may need that.

I added a connection filter that allows you to show direct flights only or to limit the number of connections shown. Give it a try.

Thank you ckpeter ^ This tool is excellent and I found some great availability on *A that would have taken me hours to find on ANA. This is an excellent tool!

Just need to work out where I actually want to go next :D

So I like the filters that show direct flights, cabin classes, aircraft type, etc. However, the problem is that you can only see one at a time. For me, the most important aspects are the airline and flight class.

If I see a flight in first, but it ends up being united, well I may not be as happy as if it were OZ or NH or SQ, especially if it is in a old 777.

Of course I can click on the date and look at details, but i think through color coding, using airline codes, cabin class codes, aircraft codes, there could be a way for us to get more useful information faster, without it stretching the size of the calendar boxes.

Also, for those who are doing multi-city searches on one screen, including the airport codes would be great too so we know what we are looking at without using the route check boxes. Yes it will be a little cluttered, but for those of us who want to unleash the power by just looking at the screen with minimal clicking, it would be great. Then when we see something we like, we can click the day to get the deets.

So the result for ANA searches could look something like this: (SFO/NRT)UA837(F)774 - (NRT/PVG)CA930(Y)772

You can call it the kitchen sink setting. While it is on par with the length of the airports setting, those with large screens shouldn't have an issue.



Also, if there would be some way in a account prefs pane to set the default view we want to be presented with each time we run a search would be great.

http://bodybuilderspro.info/pictures/35/1274732818/random.gifSo I like the filters that show direct flights, cabin classes, aircraft type, etc. However, the problem is that you can only see one at a time. For me, the most important aspects are the airline and flight class.

If I see a flight in first, but it ends up being united, well I may not be as happy as if it were OZ or NH or SQ, especially if it is in a old 777.

Of course I can click on the date and look at details, but i think through color coding, using airline codes, cabin class codes, aircraft codes, there could be a way for us to get more useful information faster, without it stretching the size of the calendar boxes.

Also, for those who are doing multi-city searches on one screen, including the airport codes would be great too so we know what we are looking at without using the route check boxes. Yes it will be a little cluttered, but for those of us who want to unleash the power by just looking at the screen with minimal clicking, it would be great. Then when we see something we like, we can click the day to get the deets.

So the result for ANA searches could look something like this: (SFO/NRT)UA837(F)774 - (NRT/PVG)CA930(Y)772

You can call it the kitchen sink setting. While it is on par with the length of the airports setting, those with large screens shouldn't have an issue.



Also, if there would be some way in a account prefs pane to set the default view we want to be presented with each time we run a search would be great.

Airline+flight class is a standard filter though, and should be set to default anyways. And I do agree about the route check option.

Airline+flight class is a standard filter though, and should be set to default anyways. And I do agree about the route check option.

The default is just flight numbers. You have to click on the day and move the mouse over the line on the right to get the flight class.

Also, another kitchen sink addition could be to do away with clicking on the day. Instead, when you move the mouse over a day, a popup menu comes up where you can then keep moving the mouse over one of the results in the list that are now in the popup and as you go over it, you get the same result as you would when you move the mouse to the right of the screen after clicking on a day. Gets' rid of the right list and keeps our attention on the calendar. There could be a bar at the top of the day square that one could click to put the info on the right if one wants to keep it up and there are more results than the square can display without hovering over it.

two bugs:


the option to show direct flights only does not seem to do anything for me
the date chooser always falls back to starting with the current date instead of what's currently in the date box

two bugs:


the option to show direct flights only does not seem to do anything for me
the date chooser always falls back to starting with the current date instead of what's currently in the date box


How is the connection limit not working for you? Picking "Direct flights only" should result in only non-stop/direct flights showing on the calendar, and it seems to be working for me.

The date picker had a logic bug for the first segment, which I just fixed. If you were referring to another bug, please do specify.

The default is just flight numbers. You have to click on the day and move the mouse over the line on the right to get the flight class.

Also, another kitchen sink addition could be to do away with clicking on the day. Instead, when you move the mouse over a day, a popup menu comes up where you can then keep moving the mouse over one of the results in the list that are now in the popup and as you go over it, you get the same result as you would when you move the mouse to the right of the screen after clicking on a day. Gets' rid of the right list and keeps our attention on the calendar. There could be a bar at the top of the day square that one could click to put the info on the right if one wants to keep it up and there are more results than the square can display without hovering over it.

Thanks for all the comments on the calendar view.

There used to be a filter option to include/exclude by airlines, but I took it away when the filter area became cluttered. You can see how it works if you click on the demo links in the first post (the demo page is old).

There are lots of way of showing the information, but I also have to temper the complexity, so that all the controls do not become overwhelming - its a tricky trade-off.

I am working on a new view option that should give much higher information density for the viewer. I will incorporate your suggestions as I design it.

Date picker logic is indeed fixed. Thank you very much.

Even if I chose "direct flights only" all flights are still showing. I'm using Chromium browser.

Just started testing it - fantastic tool!

I'm not sure if this is intentional, but when I click an option on the left to filter certain flights, it only updates the calendar and not the 'choose and option' pane on the right. Screen shot below.

I'm using Google Chrome 5.0.375.125 on Windows XP Professional

http://i35.tinypic.com/oiyv6t.jpg

Even if I chose "direct flights only" all flights are still showing. I'm using Chromium browser.

Thanks for the report. Chrome was the odd browser out. I fixed it.

I'm not sure if this is intentional, but when I click an option on the left to filter certain flights, it only updates the calendar and not the 'choose and option' pane on the right...

EDIT: Seems like I was mistaken - investigating...

Great tool. Granted I have not tried some of the more complex stuff, but it is really useful in running long range searches Vs ANA.
One comment, you might want to update the tips page to indicate that AC and CO show availability that is not open to general *A programs. For example I can find 3x C seats from NYC to SCL/EZE in both AC and CO. But this appears to be extra inventory that is not open to other *A programs.
Must say the past searches feature is very useful as is the route building (bearing in mind it is not exhaustive, and the experienced FT'er may be able to find other options).

One comment, you might want to update the tips page to indicate that AC and CO show availability that is not open to general *A programs. For example I can find 3x C seats from NYC to SCL/EZE in both AC and CO. But this appears to be extra inventory that is not open to other *A programs.

Very interesting! I have not been aware of this by AC or CO. Do you have some route examples with specific dates?

I noticed this a few days ago. I was originally searching for 3xC seats on BOS-SCL for Dec 8 and found options on both AC and CO but not ANA. I then called BD and they only see 2 seats. In all cases the key flight for me was AC 92 from YYZ-SCL, as I wanted C for the long leg and do not care so much about the connections.

Tried again and now I only see options on CO. Can send you a screen shot of my previous search result if that helps.

Are you aware that ANA only supports maximum of 1 connection? Since the only 1-stop itinerary between BOS and SCL is BOS-YYZ-SCL, ANA is only able to show that; all the other 2+ stops options that CO shows are not available on ANA because of this restriction (you can find them if you do segment-by-segment on ANA).

BOS-YYZ-SCL is served wholly and purely by AC. It is possible that AC does have expanded availability for its own members.

Please do send me the screenshot (or just the links would work). Also, have you already ticketed your award, and if so, when? (If you did, that would take 3 C seats out). I will take a look.

Peter,

Very nice tool. My one suggestion for the moment would be the results set on the right column. Maybe there are circumstances I'm not considering - but that said my initial reaction would be to have common flights across platforms listed once with perhaps a grid and check marks for which tools showed the flight
for example, something like:
___________________NH CO AC BA QF CX JL
UA25 Business Class X X X

Also, as someone earlier posted the limit to search two seats is a bit unfortunate (for me)....but I certainly respect the your software; your server, your rules logic.

Best of luck as you continue your development. I'll drop a note again as I play around some more.

Have now spent most of the weekend playing around with this most intriguing tool and must congratulate ckpeter on a terrific contribution to the award searching arena. :-:

I am a very satisfied user of KVS but really appreciate how ANX removes the tedium of doing multiple single-day, single-source searches. So instead of sitting for hours one can enter multiple searches and let it get on with it. ^ (I'm amazed at how accurate the time estimate is most of the time and really love the progress indicators - it's always reassuring to know the system hasn't frozen in mid search.)

Thanks, ckpeter!

Are you aware that ANA only supports maximum of 1 connection? Since the only 1-stop itinerary between BOS and SCL is BOS-YYZ-SCL, ANA is only able to show that; all the other 2+ stops options that CO shows are not available on ANA because of this restriction (you can find them if you do segment-by-segment on ANA).

BOS-YYZ-SCL is served wholly and purely by AC. It is possible that AC does have expanded availability for its own members.

Please do send me the screenshot (or just the links would work). Also, have you already ticketed your award, and if so, when? (If you did, that would take 3 C seats out). I will take a look.

Yep, I knew that ANA is limited in terms of finding 2+stop flights. I guess the point that I was trying to get across was that AC were showing 3 seats in C on the YYZ leg. I went to the ANA website to cross check and there were only 2 seats on the YYZ-SCL leg.
I did not ticket as I was only searching. I have sent you a PM with a link to my search - was unable to insert a screenshot.

I have tried again to recreate this and no longer can get seats on AC, so maybe it was a glitch that they have fixed.

However it still seems as if CO availability > ANA.
My ANX search for Jan 16 IAD-EZE, gives 3xC seats using CO but ANA has only 2

... to have common flights across platforms listed once with perhaps a grid and check marks for which tools showed the flight.


Your are foretelling one of the things I would like to implement, which is award availability differentials. However, that is low on the list now, given a host of other things I need to work on first.

Also, as someone earlier posted the limit to search two seats is a bit unfortunate (for me)....but I certainly respect the your software; your server, your rules logic.

Thanks for taking the time to make suggestion. Please accept an upgrade in membership from me. You should now be able to access the elite version of the search engine that allows you to search up to 4 seats at a time.

...
However it still seems as if CO availability > ANA.
My ANX search for Jan 16 IAD-EZE, gives 3xC seats using CO but ANA has only 2

I tried doing a search, but all 3xC seats options available on CO require double connection, which ANA does not support (only 1-stop supported).

Also interesting to note that for IAD-EZE 1-stop, ANA defaults to search only for one route of IAD-GRU-EZE. No other airports, even IAH-EZE, are considered.

Update: I also look at the PM you sent me for IAD-SCL, but in that case, some of the 1-stop are using CM (Copa Airlines), which from my research seems not to be in Star Alliance, and will thus explain why ANA does not see them.

Summary: In case this gets confusing (it was to me), my current assessment of this is that this is a routing limitation, not visibility limitation. In other words, the same inventory should be available in ANA as in AC or CO, but you just need to do the right search (with the right connection airport) to pull them up from ANA. Contrast this with visibility limitation, where no amount of tweaks will show you the availability.

(except Copa Air/CM, which is not in Star Alliance and thus naturally not visible to ANA)

Including a direct flight option at the first screen would be helpful.

Including a direct flight option at the first screen would be helpful.

Do you mean having the option to search on the search form?

It will be semantically awkward, since not all airlines support specifying connection preference when you search. However, you can easily filter connecting flights by using the result filter on the calendar page.

If you mean something else, please do clarify.

Do you mean having the option to search on the search form?

It will be semantically awkward, since not all airlines support specifying connection preference when you search. However, you can easily filter connecting flights by using the result filter on the calendar page.

If you mean something else, please do clarify.

That's exactly what I meant.

No worries on my side though, it's not a deal breaker at all.

ckpeter, this is a fantastic tool! I'm currently spec'ing out an award itinerary in January, and this is infinitely easier than searching day by day on the ANA site. Great job!

The one thing that I noticed was that in trying to build an around the world itinerary, ANA does not allow this to be booked online, so it returns an error on the last segment. Since we're not using your tool to book, perhaps there's a way to allow RTW itineraries to be searched for without hitting the ANA limitation? This is, of course, minor, but it would make looking for relatively simple RTW trips with a single search rather than multiple.

Thanks!
B

... perhaps there's a way to allow RTW itineraries to be searched for without hitting the ANA limitation?

Welcome!

ANX searches each segment as an one-way separately, so you should not have any problem with ANA's multi-segment limitation.

Welcome!

ANX searches each segment as an one-way separately, so you should not have any problem with ANA's multi-segment limitation.

Thanks!

And, of course, I can't seem to duplicate what I had done before to recreate the error message, but it does seem to be in my saved search if you'd like to take a look. I'll PM you the link.

Thanks again,
B

And, of course, I can't seem to duplicate what I had done before to recreate the error message, but it does seem to be in my saved search if you'd like to take a look. I'll PM you the link.

Thanks for the followup. I didn't realized you were actually referring to an error while using ANX. :)

I took a look. I think the problem is that you specified NYC in your search. ANA does not seem to support city code. Try entering JFK or EWR instead.

I have an idea for a new feature: email alerts

How about being able to ask ANX to send me an email when an award on alliance X in class Y on date (range) Z becomes available? Would be nice to be able to restrict things like direct flights only, carrier, etc. ANX is getting that information from the searches of its users.

Thanks for the followup. I didn't realized you were actually referring to an error while using ANX. :)

I took a look. I think the problem is that you specified NYC in your search. ANA does not seem to support city code. Try entering JFK or EWR instead.

Aha! Ok, that seemed to be it. User error on my part - no surprises there!

Thanks!

I saw another unexpected result today. Searching for YYZ-MUC availability on two specific days using NH/CO/AC and +1 day. For day 1, I get results for MUC-YYZ, but for day 2, I get results for YYZ-MUC.

Actually, the problem seems to lie with the AC engine. The results in the wrong direction are showing up through AC, whereas the results in the right direction are showing up through NH and CO.

http://bodybuilderspro.info/pictures/35/1274732818/random.gifI have an idea for a new feature: email alerts

How about being able to ask ANX to send me an email when an award on alliance X in class Y on date (range) Z becomes available? Would be nice to be able to restrict things like direct flights only, carrier, etc. ANX is getting that information from the searches of its users.

That's a pretty good idea. May be even a little toolbar too.

I have an idea for a new feature: email alerts

How about being able to ask ANX to send me an email when an award on alliance X in class Y on date (range) Z becomes available? Would be nice to be able to restrict things like direct flights only, carrier, etc. ANX is getting that information from the searches of its users.

Some kind of scheduled search or alert is what I am looking at now, but there are some tricky non-technical factors I need to figure out first.

I saw another unexpected result today. Searching for YYZ-MUC availability on two specific days using NH/CO/AC and +1 day. For day 1, I get results for MUC-YYZ, but for day 2, I get results for YYZ-MUC.

Actually, the problem seems to lie with the AC engine. The results in the wrong direction are showing up through AC, whereas the results in the right direction are showing up through NH and CO.

Thanks for the bug report. I saw the same kind of result mixing on another search the day before. Seems like the AC engine is using the old value from another search.

This will require some time to research.

Can you add the ability to perform a search again direcly from the recent searches screen?

System seems to have fallen over today for me. Searches just never end - or even start judging by the fact that points are not consumed.

Is there a way to terminate searches? When I look at recent searches everything I have tried today is "queued".

I tried logging out and logging back in but they are stille "queued". The first time I tried to log in I got a message in red saying I tried to do something I should not be doing. :confused: Worked fine the second time but searches still not working. I have tried some very simple ones and various methods with the same result every time.

System seems to have fallen over today for me. Searches just never end - or even start judging by the fact that points are not consumed.

Is there a way to terminate searches? When I look at recent searches everything I have tried today is "queued".

I tried logging out and logging back in but they are stille "queued". The first time I tried to log in I got a message in red saying I tried to do something I should not be doing. :confused: Worked fine the second time but searches still not working. I have tried some very simple ones and various methods with the same result every time.


Same boat here - have a search queued for 7400 seconds so far.

Last weekend, should have reported this, but I was extensively searching IAD-NRT and ORD-NRT, 2 pax in F, using the Star Alliance/NH engine.

Award Nexus was only returning UA results, so at first I assumed nothing was available on NH.

But tons of NH availability existed, which I found manually and booked. Not sure what the hiccup here was.

I thought I had reported this last night, but don't see my post anywhere, so could have forgotten to press the "submit" button in the 3AM fog.

Anyway, I tried to search for NRT-DEL (JL) and DEL-NRT (CX) but the search was going on forever and never returned any results.

Suggestions: (1) A "stop search" button when something is obviously wrong. (2) You can also automate this. For example if a search has taken 5X the estimated time, it can be terminated and automatically be reported to you as something to look into.

Agree with gsforfree that a record of recent searches and ability to repeat them with one click would be great.

Finally, why not put a link to Award Nexus in your signature? :)

Very sorry for the hiccup today.

I was doing some database maintenance, and afterward the backend didn't connect to the right database, thus the searches are not being performed.

I have just rectified the problem and the queued searches should be done in the next few minutes. Please login to your account and look under Recent Searches. You should see them finishing up (hint: if the view column is blank, then this is a search that you haven't reviewed yet).

Can you add the ability to perform a search again direcly from the recent searches screen?


Agree with gsforfree that a record of recent searches and ability to repeat them with one click would be great.

I assume you know about the "edit" link and how you can initiate a search again with two clicks? Regardless, it is a good suggestion and I will see what I can do.


Suggestions: (1) A "stop search" button when something is obviously wrong. (2) You can also automate this. For example if a search has taken 5X the estimated time, it can be terminated and automatically be reported to you as something to look into.

So far, downtime is infrequent enough that I rather not complicate with the system with further self-check. I also check up on ANX often enough that, by the time an automated alert is sent, I would have already noticed it myself.

Of course, if this starts to happen regularly, I will have to do something about it.


Finally, why not put a link to Award Nexus in your signature? :)

I am still a little timid due to the server capacity limit. But I should be putting something up soon. :)

Last weekend, should have reported this, but I was extensively searching IAD-NRT and ORD-NRT, 2 pax in F, using the Star Alliance/NH engine.

Award Nexus was only returning UA results, so at first I assumed nothing was available on NH.

But tons of NH availability existed, which I found manually and booked. Not sure what the hiccup here was.

This sounds like something that I should look into.

I do not see any use of NH in any of your recent IAD-NRT searches. Can you send me the links to the searches that you are referring to?

All up & running again as reported. ^

But I did get a repeat of the (rather stern in red) message "The change you wanted was rejected." the first attempt to log in again.

But I did get a repeat of the (rather stern in red) message "The change you wanted was rejected." the first attempt to log in again.

The error message is harmless. It is a security mechanism designed to thwart cross-site forgery, but for some reason it was triggered when you log in.

Did you clear you browser cookie, or opened up the login page, and waited a long time, before logging in again?

If you keep getting this message, please note and send me the exact sequence of events that you followed to login.

This sounds like something that I should look into.

I do not see any use of NH in any of your recent IAD-NRT searches. Can you send me the links to the searches that you are referring to?

Well, shoot, I didn't even realize that CO searches were an option, in my mind it was just AC and NH and so I checked the box that wasn't AC :o

So... the reason that NH awards weren't coming up is because CO doesn't support NH flights. Hah!

That'll teach me :)

The error message is harmless. It is a security mechanism designed to thwart cross-site forgery, but for some reason it was triggered when you log in.

Did you clear you browser cookie, or opened up the login page, and waited a long time, before logging in again?

If you keep getting this message, please note and send me the exact sequence of events that you followed to login.On the first occasion it was a quick logout/login. The second time was a long interval (several hours) and cookies may have been cleared when I logged into a work vpn in the interim. Anyway, I'll monitor this and keep you posted if it happens again.

Have been fiddling with Award Nexus for a week or two now, but just discovered this thread.

First of all, congratulations on constructing this excellent tool! It has already come in very handy in finding 2 RT CX F seats SFO-HKG and connecting J flights to and from CMB. Great stuff!

I have a few minor suggestions re explanatory info you might post on your site. They might be so minor that they're not working including there, but FWIW...

1. For *A awards, you might include mention of the fact that UA Starnet blocking results in the following: non-UA *A awards that appear available via, e.g., an NH search in reality are sometimes not available for redemption using UA miles.
2. It might be useful to suggest to folks that if they find a flight that appears available, if they call an airline they provide a CSR with the specific flight # and/or time rather than having him/her simply do a search for availability on a given date. I say this because of a specific experience I had with a generally competent, helpful AA CSR while booking the CX flights mentioned above. When I first asked her about availability on a given date that ANX was showing as available, she could not find it. But it turned out that she was simply working within unnecessarily limited time parameters, perhaps because she thought CX only had one SFO-HKG flight daily.
3. As indicated by other comments I've seen in skimming through parts of this thread, you might explain/clarify Route Builder a bit more. Until reading the thread, I didn't realize that: a) I could plug in more than one airport into the transit box or b) that the transit box also serves as a multiple origin/destination search box if you leave those one of those other two boxes empty. You might accordingly add this info to your Route Builder bullet points:

You may search for more than one transit point by entering multiple airport codes in the transit box
You may search for multiple origins or destinations by leaving their respective boxes empty and entering multiple airport codes in the transit box. The transit box thus becomes the de facto origin or destination box.


Or something to that effect...

Anyway, again, thanks for pulling this tool together!

...
I have a few minor suggestions re explanatory info you might post on your site. They might be so minor that they're not working including there, but FWIW...

I have received multiple questions about the Route Builder. It seems like people are confused about what it is. I have revised the explanation text multiple times, but the question still seem to be coming.

I have a overhaul of the site in the planning. I am going to rework the entire interface to make Route Builder more self-explanatory. Part of that work will also include some kind of knowledge base that will include what you suggested (UA starnet blocking, feeding flights to agent, etc.)

Thanks for the feedback.

Just noticed an annoy behavior, when the first search is done, I clicked on the "Modify Search" link to search on a different dates, which send me back to the segment page, however, the two segments I had there were reversed on that page. Seems like the page was loading the saved data backwards.

I have received multiple questions about the Route Builder. It seems like people are confused about what it is. I have revised the explanation text multiple times, but the question still seem to be coming.

I have a overhaul of the site in the planning. I am going to rework the entire interface to make Route Builder more self-explanatory.

As one of the first people to be confused by the route builder, here is a UI suggestion. It's only to cover a subset of what the route builder does, but I think it's a useful subset. What about allowing either the source or destination to cover multiple airlines using the same basic interface? So one could say FROM: JFK/BOS/IAD TO:FRA, and this would build the queries JFK-FRA, BOS-FRA, IAD-FRA. Or similarly FROM:IAD TO:FRA/CDG/LHR.

This has the advantage that it is very intuitive (all you need to do is describe an example).

So how's my Kitchen Sink results view coming!! :D

Seems like the page was loading the saved data backwards.

The order is supposed to be chronological, but you caught me using a lazy shortcut in the sort code. :o I fixed it. Please check it again.

What about allowing either the source or destination to cover multiple airlines using the same basic interface?

An immediate issue is that the layout of the page is already very tight for space, and does not lend itself to a big FROM or TO field. There are also some semantics issue with having the search page both build and execute a search.

I am contemplating a number of ways of making people aware of the power of the Route Builder.

So how's my Kitchen Sink results view coming!! :D

It's coming. My current focus is on boring but necessarily backend work. Once that's done, interface improvement, including the "Kitchen Sink" view, will be my next focus. :D

This would be useful functionality..."Build Itinerary..."

After you search and find flights, you click a date and your flight options come up. You select one and that is frozen as "flight 1" and you can move on to the next segment of your itinerary. This is especially helpful for some of the complicated multi-segment routings that we all love to put together. Information I believe would be helpful in the saved/frozen flight are flight number (inc airline), flight times, booking class, and plane type (maybe seats too if multiple seats).

After you search and find flights, you click a date and your flight options come up. You select one and that is frozen as "flight 1" and you can move on to the next segment of your itinerary. This is especially helpful for some of the complicated multi-segment routings that we all love to put together.

Interesting. Are you suggesting something like a shopping cart interface, where a flight can be added to the cart and the related segment hidden as it is shopped?

P.S. Thanks for your comments on sign up.

Interesting. Are you suggesting something like a shopping cart interface, where a flight can be added to the cart and the related segment hidden as it is shopped?

P.S. Thanks for your comments on sign up.

I think you've got the gist of it. I'll throw together some mock-ups of what I envision it as. Basically, I think it'd be great if I were searching for a trip from say JFK-BKK and wanted to stop in Europe. I do a search from JFK-ZRH(stop)-BKK(dest) and find an F ticket for the JFK-ZRH leg, but nada for the ZRH-BKK leg. I "freeze" the JFK-ZRH leg I found and search for ZRH-FRA(J)-BKK(F) and can build the itinerary like that. Once I freeze those trips, I can work on the return.

Theoretically, you could use this feature and build multiple itineraries. A few things to consider though:
1. Would need to be able to "refresh" frozen segments as availability changes
2. Would need to be able to add/delete segments wherever necessary (i.e. I find JFK-ZRH and FRA-BKK, but can't find ZRH-FRA at the moment)

I think you've got the gist of it. I'll throw together some mock-ups of what I envision it as. Basically, I think it'd be great if I were searching for a trip from say JFK-BKK and wanted to stop in Europe. I do a search from JFK-ZRH(stop)-BKK(dest) and find an F ticket for the JFK-ZRH leg, but nada for the ZRH-BKK leg. I "freeze" the JFK-ZRH leg I found and search for ZRH-FRA(J)-BKK(F) and can build the itinerary like that. Once I freeze those trips, I can work on the return.

Theoretically, you could use this feature and build multiple itineraries. A few things to consider though:
1. Would need to be able to "refresh" frozen segments as availability changes
2. Would need to be able to add/delete segments wherever necessary (i.e. I find JFK-ZRH and FRA-BKK, but can't find ZRH-FRA at the moment)

I misunderstood. I thought you were talking about additional controls in the calendar that allows you to pick flights into a shopping cart.

What you are talking about seems to be a trip organizer, outside of the calendar view, with the ability to set up segments and shop on them as needed.

Incidentally, a trip organizer is something that I have been looking at for a while. It is still some time away, but my current vision of it is very similar to what you described, where you can set up individual segments, update status (monitored, held, ticketed, etc), explore connection points, plus other functions.

I would love to look at any mock up that you come up with. In addition (perhaps more so), instead of a description of how ANX should work, tell me how you usually work on finding awards, and I will try to incorporate your needs that into the design.

My most common usage pattern is to look for certain legs individually about 3-6 months out. I monitor availability for a window of about 2-4 weeks on the most critical leg. Therefore, it would be wonderful if ANX had the ability to mail me an alert when somebody else found a match for what I'm looking for (push vs. pull model).

Therefore, it would be wonderful if ANX had the ability to mail me an alert when somebody else found a match for what I'm looking for (push vs. pull model).

I doubt that an alert can be sent based on someone else's search results. The problem is that you cannot rely on someone to be searching on the same route for similar dates.

I do see the need for some kind of scheduled search that will save you from having to persistently monitor availability yourself. There are some technical and non-technical obstacles, but as I mentioned earlier, it is a feature that I am looking to add soon, even if not in the immediate future.

The order is supposed to be chronological, but you caught me using a lazy shortcut in the sort code. :o I fixed it. Please check it again.

It's still happening if both segments are for the same day.

eg.

1. TPE -> SFO on 10/6
2. SFO -> DFW on 10/6

After click on "Modify Search", the two segments are reversed.

It's still happening if both segments are for the same day.

eg.

1. TPE -> SFO on 10/6
2. SFO -> DFW on 10/6

After click on "Modify Search", the two segments are reversed.

Unfortunately, for the same date, the segment store order is arbitrary at this point, so there is no easy way to restore the order as you originally submitted. Sorry.

Unfortunately, for the same date, the segment store order is arbitrary at this point, so there is no easy way to restore the order as you originally submitted. Sorry.

I tried running new searches today and the calendar would not load - I just see a blank screen.

I then tried to run queries from the recently run queries section, but those did not appear as well.

Has the site been down today?

I tried running new searches today and the calendar would not load - I just see a blank screen.

I then tried to run queries from the recently run queries section, but those did not appear as well.

Has the site been down today?

There were some internal updates to the calendar, but I am not aware of any issues. Can you reload the page to make sure that you have the latest version of all the page components?

If it still doesn't work, let me know what browser you are using and I will take a look.

I just signed up and so far so good. I only tried two searches but it matches what i see when using the BA tool to search QF availabilty. It would be nice if we could specify to include other classes such as J TPAC and Y domestically

I just signed up and so far so good. I only tried two searches but it matches what i see when using the BA tool to search QF availabilty. It would be nice if we could specify to include other classes such as J TPAC and Y domestically

Thanks for signing up.

Some engines will automatically mix the cabins for you (e.g. CO/BA will offer Y domestic in response to a J query), but not all do (e.g. QF does not). This is why there is not a shortcut on the user interface to do that.

In order to search J on the long haul and Y on the short haul, you will have to enter the search in two segments, one for J and one for Y. Also try using the Route Builder, as it helps you build up a search with complex routing quickly.

I just tried to search PVG-NYC using *A (NH) and was warned before hand that I should search for individual airports instead. However, I plugged ahead and received an error message (I guess I should have written down the message in order to tell you; sorry).

I just tried to search PVG-NYC using *A (NH) and was warned before hand that I should search for individual airports instead. However, I plugged ahead and received an error message (I guess I should have written down the message in order to tell you; sorry).

Is this the second message that you encountered?


Search will proceed.

Note that you may receive odd or vague error messages, if city code is not supported.


This was not an error message. It is a reminder from ANX that some engines gives confusing error in response to city code (i.e. they do not necessarily tell you that they do not support city code; CX will gives an internal error instead of an explicit error).

If you received another message, let me know at what point you encountered it, and I will look into it.

Is this the second message that you encountered?



This was not an error message. It is a reminder from ANX that some engines gives confusing error in response to city code (i.e. they do not necessarily tell you that they do not support city code; CX will gives an internal error instead of an explicit error).

If you received another message, let me know at what point you encountered it, and I will look into it.

After I forced PVG-NYC to go through (in spite of your warning), my search returned errors (one for biz class and a second for economy).

Now, I'm looking at PVG-EWR and PVG-JFK separately, and ANX seems to be much happier.

After I forced PVG-NYC to go through (in spite of your warning), my search returned errors (one for biz class and a second for economy).

Now, I'm looking at PVG-EWR and PVG-JFK separately, and ANX seems to be much happier.

Oh, in that case, those errors are expected. It is just the error messages, passed through from ANA, telling you that you cannot book NYC online.

This is just a small thing, but dates are always expressed in the format MM/DD/YY. It would be nice to able to set this to DD/MM/YY instead.

This is just a small thing, but dates are always expressed in the format MM/DD/YY. It would be nice to able to set this to DD/MM/YY instead.

Americans tend to like mmddyy.

This is just a small thing, but dates are always expressed in the format MM/DD/YY. It would be nice to able to set this to DD/MM/YY instead.

+1. It's obviously not an urgent issue, but most people educated outside the USA do find the MM/DD/YY format rather strange.

+1. It's obviously not an urgent issue, but most people educated outside the USA do find the MM/DD/YY format rather strange.

Agreed that in international settings it can be mutually confusing. I live in the USA, and have family in other countries, so this is an issue we live with daily. :)

The best solution I have seen to use alphabet for the month: "12 Nov 2010". Changing order does not cause any confusion. "2010 Nov 12" "Nov 12, 2010" are all equally clear and unambiguous.

There were some internal updates to the calendar, but I am not aware of any issues. Can you reload the page to make sure that you have the latest version of all the page components?

If it still doesn't work, let me know what browser you are using and I will take a look.

Strange, it works at home, but not at work. I suspect it is the corporate IT settings.

Thanks for a GREAT tool!

A few notes:

-Worked fine in Japan, Australia and New Zealand (as one might have expected)
-I can initiate a query with a blackberry browser - but it won't display the 'refreshed % complete page' or the results page (didn't expect it to...but it was worth a shot)
-When doing a multiple day search across months (e.g. 14 days from August 25+) the results set does not show the two month calendars for you to see the actual flights that are available. Instead it suggests the number of results are available...but doesn't appear to give you a way to see them.

I haven't kept up with the posts on this over the past couple of weeks - but I will say I am impressed with the tool - but also concerned about the ability of it to stay available - given that I assume the server is pounding against a small number of accounts with Ana, CX, BA, etc. I wonder if the KVS approach of users providing their own account numbers/passwords in the profile wouldn't spread 'the load' and make this tool less likely to be blocked by one or more carriers.

This is just a small thing, but dates are always expressed in the format MM/DD/YY. It would be nice to able to set this to DD/MM/YY instead.

Agreed that in international settings it can be mutually confusing. I live in the USA, and have family in other countries, so this is an issue we live with daily. :)

The best solution I have seen to use alphabet for the month: "12 Nov 2010". Changing order does not cause any confusion. "2010 Nov 12" "Nov 12, 2010" are all equally clear and unambiguous.

+1. It's obviously not an urgent issue, but most people educated outside the USA do find the MM/DD/YY format rather strange.

I will keep that in mind. However, many parts of ANX does have assumption on the date format, so it will be a while before I can attend to this.

A few notes:

-Worked fine in Japan, Australia and New Zealand (as one might have expected)
-I can initiate a query with a blackberry browser - but it won't display the 'refreshed % complete page' or the results page (didn't expect it to...but it was worth a shot)
-When doing a multiple day search across months (e.g. 14 days from August 25+) the results set does not show the two month calendars for you to see the actual flights that are available. Instead it suggests the number of results are available...but doesn't appear to give you a way to see them.

I haven't kept up with the posts on this over the past couple of weeks - but I will say I am impressed with the tool - but also concerned about the ability of it to stay available - given that I assume the server is pounding against a small number of accounts with Ana, CX, BA, etc. I wonder if the KVS approach of users providing their own account numbers/passwords in the profile wouldn't spread 'the load' and make this tool less likely to be blocked by one or more carriers.

Thanks for the feedback.

Can you elaborate on what you mean by the calendar not displaying the flights?

Mobile browsers are not supported now, due to the amount of computing needed for displaying the calendar.

ANX is currently an experimental tool. As it matures, one of the upcoming features is to allow user to provide their own login information. I am working on the security backend that will allow for safe storage and handling of account information.

1. I keep getting an Command Execution failure error when I tick Oneworld (BA) and search on BA routes (such as LHR-BKK), even when I repeat the search.
2. On the other hand, is there value in ticking Oneworld (BA) or Oneworld (CX) as well as Oneworld (QF) if it is QF points that would be redeemed for the award?

1. I keep getting an Command Execution failure error when I tick Oneworld (BA) and search on BA routes (such as LHR-BKK), even when I repeat the search.
2. On the other hand, is there value in ticking Oneworld (BA) or Oneworld (CX) as well as Oneworld (QF) if it is QF points that would be redeemed for the award?

The BA engine is currently experiencing some stability issue. I just came back from a trip and plan to look at this for the coming week. For now, if you get the command execution error, just try again later (whenever I restart the backend, the problem usually goes away for a few hours).

You will want Oneworld (BA) if you specifically need coverage for airlines not covered by the QF site, such as JL or RJ, KA, or MX. Although not always reliable, BA is the only Oneworld site that gives you search coverage for all Oneworld airlines. In addition, BA's search results will include mixed cabins, while QF results will always be same cabins (which is more rigid and may not show you flights that you otherwise would want to redeem).

Note that there is no such thing as "Oneworld (CX)", because the CX engine searches only CX and KA flights. Since it is specific only for CX, you would want it only if you are redeeming for CX awards.

The JL option returns errors ex-australia, assume it's a limitation of the site being searched?

The JL option returns errors ex-australia, assume it's a limitation of the site being searched?

Sorry. The JL engine do not have all the cities mapped internally. I have added all the Oceania area cities and it should work now for ex-Australia searches.

CA coverage appears to be weak on all fronts... PEK-JFK, for example is wide open when I call BMI/UA, but yields no results.

Just now checking this out. Not sure what took me so long! It's very useful -- much better than dealing with BA.com directly.

Any chance you are going to add Delta to the mix? I *hate* dealing with their interface.

CA coverage appears to be weak on all fronts... PEK-JFK, for example is wide open when I call BMI/UA, but yields no results.

Interesting. CA should be well-covered by AC, NH, and CO. Do you have a sample date range that I can check?

Just now checking this out. Not sure what took me so long! It's very useful -- much better than dealing with BA.com directly.

Any chance you are going to add Delta to the mix? I *hate* dealing with their interface.

Good to hear that you like it. Delta coverage is something that I am looking at, but my priority right now is to polished the existing Star Alliance and Oneworld coverage first.

Peter:

Try PEK-JFK on 9/10 + 7 days. Availability is decent in both Y and C (didn't check F), according to BD and UA.

Still playing with the tool. No success so far. Will need to cross check with ANA tool.

One comment : Let's say I search for Jan 2011, it would be nice to display the calendar to Jan 2011 for list of flights rather than the current month default.

Peter:

Try PEK-JFK on 9/10 + 7 days. Availability is decent in both Y and C (didn't check F), according to BD and UA.

I did a search and it seems that there are some C availability (search results here (https://awardnexus.com/collage/view/4c830413aa00fa14d0000873) / account login required). I am coming down with a cold, so I don't have the voice to call the airlines.

Thanks for the report. It is this kind of little availability abnormality that I want to catalog. If I see enough of it, I will update the tips page with the observation.

Still playing with the tool. No success so far. Will need to cross check with ANA tool.

One comment : Let's say I search for Jan 2011, it would be nice to display the calendar to Jan 2011 for list of flights rather than the current month default.

Please do read the tips page if you are not having any success. If the flights that you are looking for are sought-after, you may not find any seats. Make sure you try different routings and start from one seat first.

Of course, it is possible that ANX is not properly relaying some information. If you found some discrepancy with your cross-check, please let me know.

P.S. The calendar will default to the month with availability. However, if you search for January but found no result, it will just stay on the current month.

Please do read the tips page if you are not having any success. If the flights that you are looking for are sought-after, you may not find any seats. Make sure you try different routings and start from one seat first.

Of course, it is possible that ANX is not properly relaying some information. If you found some discrepancy with your cross-check, please let me know.

P.S. The calendar will default to the month with availability. However, if you search for January but found no result, it will just stay on the current month.

Yeah, did read the tips page.:o I'll report after further cross check. Indeed, I noticed about the calendar after I reported it here. :eek:

Did some more checks for UK - Europe flights. OK and no issues. I might be overly ambitious with 2 seats in other parts of the world.

CA coverage appears to be weak on all fronts... PEK-JFK, for example is wide open when I call BMI/UA, but yields no results.I can confirm. I have been monitoring availability on PEK/HKG for a specific date for some time now and nothing showed. However, when I called bmi I there were seats.

I spent ~2 hours on the phone with BD last night trying to get a simple SHA-PEK segment to connect with PEK-EWR. As it turns out, several flights were semi-available, but:

1) awardnexus couldn't see them
2) BMI was unable to get HK status

BMI is going to attempt a manual sell and gave us a 24 hour extension.

I can confirm. I have been monitoring availability on PEK/HKG for a specific date for some time now and nothing showed. However, when I called bmi I there were seats.

Interesting. Do you have a sample date range/cabin, where you see no Air China availability using ANA/AC/CO with ANX, but could find seats by calling BMI?

I spent ~2 hours on the phone with BD last night trying to get a simple SHA-PEK segment to connect with PEK-EWR. As it turns out, several flights were semi-available, but:

1) awardnexus couldn't see them
2) BMI was unable to get HK status

BMI is going to attempt a manual sell and gave us a 24 hour extension.

I have only heard of one individual airline (UA) blocking awards in Starnet, but I have not heard of Starnet having awards that are invisible to all airlines web site, but is otherwise available to airline phone reservation agents.

If you find out more, can you report back? I would like to understand the mechanism behind this availability discrepancy.

I've been running this same search for a few days now... without much luck. Today, I got a bunch of results, but for JFK-LAX. I saved a screen shot that I can email you if you PM your address. And, I also still have the relevant window open.

I've been running this same search for a few days now... without much luck. Today, I got a bunch of results, but for JFK-LAX. I saved a screen shot that I can email you if you PM your address. And, I also still have the relevant window open.

You can email me at peter@awardnexus.com. Don't forget that you can just copy the link address and I can look up the search result that way (screenshot is only needed if you suspend a UI problem on your particular web browser).

Also, please include some details in your note, so I have some context when I look up the results.

Just signed up to play around with it... I'm intrigued - seems like a really neat tool! (I'm on Firefox 3.6.8.)

To start, I played around with a few flights/dates that I've been checking on AsiaMiles/Cathay. Queries on AwardNexus ran pretty quickly (one day, one class comes back in about 3 sec!) and matched what I'm seeing on CX site exactly. ^

In the previous case, I was searching on a very specific route (JFK-HKG, HKG-JFK). Next, I ran a more complicated query for BWI-TPE (ticking off Oneworld-BA, CX, and JL) - this is generally the search that I have the AA EXP desk do for me. The AAgents generally first look for the long-haul options and then for the short-haul flights separately as BWI-XXX and XXX-TPE are sometimes serviced by planes that do not have a First class. (E.g. BWI-JFK is AE, and HKG-TPE is sometimes on a two-class KA flight.)

Based on what I read in the "Tips" page, I think it generally makes sense why my query returned no availability:

- By checking the CX box, it's only looking for CX/KA flights, so since they don't service BWI, nothing returns.
- Same for JL.
- But what about for OneWorld (BA)? I can see availability for JFK-HKG when I run a CX/First query. But are no results coming back because there may not be F availability/options for the AE and CX/KA short-haul segments?

(Sorry if something like this has already been asked upstream. I tried to read through as many pages as I could, but until I started playing around with the tool, the some of the posts didn't make sense yet. :p)

---------------------------------------------------
Edit to add:

Okay, I'm slowly learning to crawl... I did a route builder for OneWorld-BA with a connection through JFK. Now I'm seeing the for the BWI-JFK segment, it is pulling in all the AE options for BWI/DCA/IAD and clearly shows that it's in Y. Also seeing that it's pulling up HKG-TPE on flights that only have J. ^ This is what I'm used to seeing when I query on BA's site.

Based on what I read in the "Tips" page, I think it generally makes sense why my query returned no availability:

- By checking the CX box, it's only looking for CX/KA flights, so since they don't service BWI, nothing returns.
- Same for JL.
- But what about for OneWorld (BA)? I can see availability for JFK-HKG when I run a CX/First query. But are no results coming back because there may not be F availability/options for the AE and CX/KA short-haul segments

Welcome!

You got it for CX/JL. They are not generic alliance engine - they only search their own flights and own airports.

BA has coverage for BWI-TPE, but you may need to break down the search. I know that BA will sometimes offer cabin mixing (e.g. give you Y on AA eagle instead not returning any result at all). However, to be safe, you should not rely on the mileage site to mix the cabin for you. If you see no results (or no results that you like), mix the cabins yourself by searching for BWI-JFK for Y (on one-class eagle flights), JFK-HKG for F, and then HKG-TPE for either F or

In general, awards between TPE and HKG are plentiful, and so are eagle flights. You should concentrate on the long-haul JFK-HKG, as that is the most important flight to get.

Don't forget that you have plenty other award routing options on Oneworld, such as connecting in NRT, LAX, SFO, etc. I know that you are probably aiming specific for JFK-HKG, but other routing options are good as backups.

.....
---------------------------------------------------
Edit to add:

Okay, I'm slowly learning to crawl... I did a route builder for OneWorld-BA with a connection through JFK. Now I'm seeing the for the BWI-JFK segment, it is pulling in all the AE options for BWI/DCA/IAD and clearly shows that it's in Y. Also seeing that it's pulling up HKG-TPE on flights that only have J. ^ This is what I'm used to seeing when I query on BA's site.

Missed your edit there as I was composing my reply.

It sounds like you got it. I also forgot to mention in my last post that Route Builder can be very helpful to quickly generate route/cabin mixing, for best search visibility.

I used Awardnexus to book an award itinerary with QANTAS.

One feature I liked was that Awardnexus showed some flights existing that the QF award flight search engine returned as not available. (Before I called to book the award itinerary, I checked each flight in the tentative itinerary I wanted on the QF web site for availability.)

When I called QF to book the award itinerary, the flights were indeed available.
A score for Awardnexus: in addition to facilitating multiple searches, it also returns more available flights.

The specific flights where this occurred were CX: HKG-SGN-HKG

Just reporting: Tried searching NRT-BKK on JL and the engine got stuck spinning its wheels.

Update: False alarm. Looking at my "recent searches", the search completed successfully. It was taking longer than expected and I gave up too soon.

ckpeter,

I just found this thread and your site. It is truly a fine piece of work! ^^^

I have been in software development for over 30 years, so take this as high praise. Having done interface coding where you have to connect several disparate sources (each with their own idiosyncrasies), I know this has been a monumental effort.

But I did find a small anomaly. I was doing a search fro JFK-ICN for various dates next summer. Your site always returns results for CA flights connecting via PEK. It never returns anything from the OZ nonstop or the UA one stop flight.

Here is a link to your results set for my last search:

http://p1.awardnexus.com/collage/view/4c87dd6aaa00fa14d0000d94

Please look at July 4. It shows only 1 option connecting in PEK on CA. On the ANA tool, there is availability on OZ221 in C/J and on UA891 in Y.

Please let me know if I posted the wrong link for you to view and I will happily provide whatever details you require.

Again, thanks for this wonderful tool!!

Chuck

ckpeter,

I just found this thread and your site. It is truly a fine piece of work! ^^^

I have been in software development for over 30 years, so take this as high praise. Having done interface coding where you have to connect several disparate sources (each with their own idiosyncrasies), I know this has been a monumental effort.

But I did find a small anomaly. I was doing a search fro JFK-ICN for various dates next summer. Your site always returns results for CA flights connecting via PEK. It never returns anything from the OZ nonstop or the UA one stop flight.

Here is a link to your results set for my last search:

http://p1.awardnexus.com/collage/view/4c87dd6aaa00fa14d0000d94

Please look at July 4. It shows only 1 option connecting in PEK on CA. On the ANA tool, there is availability on OZ221 in C/J and on UA891 in Y.

Please let me know if I posted the wrong link for you to view and I will happily provide whatever details you require.

Again, thanks for this wonderful tool!!

Chuck

I just tried it using the route builder and I get results that match the ANA tool.

Don't forget that you have plenty other award routing options on Oneworld, such as connecting in NRT, LAX, SFO, etc. I know that you are probably aiming specific for JFK-HKG, but other routing options are good as backups.

I've booked a fair number of partner awards to TPE, so I've bothered the AA EXP desk enough to now know most of the connecting options. :p So armed with that knowledge and Route Builder, I can see myself saving quite a bit of time! ^

But what about routes I'm less familiar with (or an alliance I normally don't use)? Is there a good way to figure out where the connection points would be for use in Route Builder? For instance, if I was looking for Middle East, Africa, S. America, etc - I'd probably only be able to ramble off a short list of connection cities. Normally I'd just resort to calling multiple EXP AAgents and having them each think through creative options for me.

(BTW, I don't expect this tool to be a panacea. It's already very slick, and I certainly don't mind doing legwork on my own.)

I used Awardnexus to book an award itinerary with QANTAS.

One feature I liked was that Awardnexus showed some flights existing that the QF award flight search engine returned as not available. (Before I called to book the award itinerary, I checked each flight in the tentative itinerary I wanted on the QF web site for availability.)
...

Congrats on getting your award booked.

QF's site actually has some hidden features, which I learned from a member posting in this thread earlier, where if you search using Multi-city with a dummy QF segment, the engine will return a lot more results (e.g. CX only shows up if I search it this way).

ANX incorporates this trick in order to access more award results.


But what about routes I'm less familiar with (or an alliance I normally don't use)? Is there a good way to figure out where the connection points would be for use in Route Builder? For instance, if I was looking for Middle East, Africa, S. America, etc - I'd probably only be able to ramble off a short list of connection cities. Normally I'd just resort to calling multiple EXP AAgents and having them each think through creative options for me.

I have an internal "Route Explorer" tool, but it is still in the lab. My suggestion is that you go to the respective Oneworld / Star Alliance flight search pages, which will offer you connection possibilities (links are on the Route Builder page).

In addition, you can download a program called Airline Route Mapper, which can be very helpful to visually explore airline routes.

ckpeter,

I just found this thread and your site. It is truly a fine piece of work! ^^^

I have been in software development for over 30 years, so take this as high praise. Having done interface coding where you have to connect several disparate sources (each with their own idiosyncrasies), I know this has been a monumental effort.
...


Thanks, Chuck. Airline data are difficult to work with. It took me months to stabilize the design of the backend and the common access interface.

It sounds like you got your availability puzzle figured out. If you encounter any more problem, do not hesitate to let me know.

Thanks, Chuck. Airline data are difficult to work with. It took me months to stabilize the design of the backend and the common access interface.

I've done the same in a different industry. And I know the pain you have gone through.

It sounds like you got your availability puzzle figured out. If you encounter any more problem, do not hesitate to let me know.

I am not sure, but it may be timing related. I tried your real-time search and I got results that were inconsistent with the ANA tool. After researching it and making sure it was inconsistent, I posted the first message.

Since it was my initial exposure to your site, I continued to play and "discovered" the Route Builder. I entered the same inquiry that failed before and it yielded results consistent with the ANA tool. So I sent the second message.

And then I reentered the original inquiry in the real-time search and it gave different results (consistent with ANA). Try as I could, I could not get it to fail again.

So, it could have been "an error somewhere above the keyboard" :D

Or, it could be one of those intermittent failures that can be so hard to nail down.

I'm pretty good at finding bugs, so I'll keep at it, if you don't mind.

I am not sure, but it may be timing related. I tried your real-time search and I got results that were inconsistent with the ANA tool. After researching it and making sure it was inconsistent, I posted the first message.

Since it was my initial exposure to your site, I continued to play and "discovered" the Route Builder. I entered the same inquiry that failed before and it yielded results consistent with the ANA tool. So I sent the second message.

And then I reentered the original inquiry in the real-time search and it gave different results (consistent with ANA). Try as I could, I could not get it to fail again.

So, it could have been "an error somewhere above the keyboard" :D

Or, it could be one of those intermittent failures that can be so hard to nail down.

I'm pretty good at finding bugs, so I'll keep at it, if you don't mind.

One thing I should mention about ANX on ANA, is that it will mix the cabin for you. For example, if you want F but the J cabin is the highest class of service offer, you will get a J result. However, if the plane has F, then you won't see the J result.

In other words, it will downgrade to J or Y you if that is what is physically required, but not, if the F (or J) cabin is there, but no award seat is available.

The only exception is for domestic first, where ANX assumes that J award can be upgraded to redeem for two class domestic first (such as on UA).

Please poke around more and do let me know if you encounter anything that seems out of the ordinary.

Thanks for a terrific interface! I dont have subscriptions to KVS or EF and find the ANA tool interface a little clunky but awardnexus made it look really easy! Was playing around with a few searches to look for alternatives to a trip I already have reserved (on LH F) and was able to find availability on a better date for the return. Called and had it modified instantly with no problems.

Thanks again for all the hard work, and for opening it up to us! ^

Thanks for a terrific interface! I dont have subscriptions to KVS or EF and find the ANA tool interface a little clunky but awardnexus made it look really easy! Was playing around with a few searches to look for alternatives to a trip I already have reserved (on LH F) and was able to find availability on a better date for the return. Called and had it modified instantly with no problems.

Thanks again for all the hard work, and for opening it up to us! ^

Thanks for trying ANX out. I am happy to hear that you found a better flight with it.

2. It might be useful to suggest to folks that if they find a flight that appears available, if they call an airline they provide a CSR with the specific flight # and/or time rather than having him/her simply do a search for availability on a given date. I say this because of a specific experience I had with a generally competent, helpful AA CSR while booking the CX flights mentioned above. When I first asked her about availability on a given date that ANX was showing as available, she could not find it. But it turned out that she was simply working within unnecessarily limited time parameters, perhaps because she thought CX only had one SFO-HKG flight daily.

...

Anyway, again, thanks for pulling this tool together!

I must add my thanks as well - looks fantastic, and after only a few tries, have to say it's a great way to bring information together in one spot.

I have a question specific to Aeroplan, in relation to Thunderroad's suggestion above:

A particular search, SIN-FRA on 4/24 in F gives a variety of results including non-stop LH779 when using NH, but nothing interesting when using AC. Where is this limitation coming from? (This flight does not show up on Aeroplan.com either, of course, which suggests flying SIN-HKG-YYZ-FRA :td:.)

Would I will be able to book this flight if I call Aeroplan and tell them it "should be" available?

A particular search, SIN-FRA on 4/24 in F gives a variety of results including non-stop LH779 when using NH, but nothing interesting when using AC. Where is this limitation coming from? (This flight does not show up on Aeroplan.com either, of course, which suggests flying SIN-HKG-YYZ-FRA :td:.)

Would I will be able to book this flight if I call Aeroplan and tell them it "should be" available?

You should be able to. My experience is that AC web site sometimes hide available flights (which NH found for you in this case), but if you call, you can book it. Please give it a try (and do report back if you experience otherwise).

Wow, really nice work!
I wonder how come I only found this website now... :rolleyes:

I can't wait to use it for my next trip!

^^

I've been using the tool for the past couple of days for research on a *A trip in October (LAX-somewhere in Europe). It's been a delight to use compared to the ANA tool, which is clunky in comparison. I haven't found my flights yet, but searching has sure been easier! Good work!

One thing I have noticed it that you do a great job of multi-threading.

If I kick off a search and notice I am running low on points, I can request points and than rejoin the search in progress.

Way cool! @:-)@:-)

Would it be difficult to include a way to cancel a search? I realized this would be a good thing when I accidentally repeated a very expensive and time consuming search.

...
Would it be difficult to include a way to cancel a search? I realized this would be a good thing when I accidentally repeated a very expensive and time consuming search.

I thought about it, but the two systems are separate and there is currently no easy way to cancel a search that is underway. I did add some double-submission detection code, so that should at least reduce double-submission tying down the system.

Hi,

I like your site, but found an availability on Oct 10, IST-NRT in F, with ANA, whereas Nexus didnt find it.

I looked specifically for this leg.

---------------------------------

I also looked at your chart, but there a lots of quirks as you call them, which I didnt see pointed out.

In my opinion (don't get fooled by my few posts), there are 2 families withing the *A award search.

Family 1: ANA and Aeroplan

Family 2: BMI and Continental, and US Airways

There might be more families, or family members, but thats the ones I use often.

Family 2 might have problems finding a hkg-fra-bru (where fra-bru) wouldnt be available unless they do a point to point search.

Family 1 might have another issue, where says, hkg-ist will show as unavailable, but hkg-ist-muc will be available.

Obviously in both examples we talk about the exact same flights.

Using qantas, CX will show much less than its real availability on long hauls.

--------------------------------

Tried using from my BB, both the with the regular and opera, but I dont succeed. a shame.

Hi,

I like your site, but found an availability on Oct 10, IST-NRT in F, with ANA, whereas Nexus didnt find it.

Thanks for trying Award Nexus.

Can you give me the exact flight number that you found with F available? I did a manual search on ANA and I saw J/Y availability for TK50 on Oct 10, 2010, but F does not appears to be available.


I also looked at your chart, but there a lots of quirks as you call them, which I didnt see pointed out.

In my opinion (don't get fooled by my few posts), there are 2 families withing the *A award search.

Family 1: ANA and Aeroplan

Family 2: BMI and Continental, and US Airways

There might be more families, or family members, but thats the ones I use often.

Family 2 might have problems finding a hkg-fra-bru (where fra-bru) wouldnt be available unless they do a point to point search.

Family 1 might have another issue, where says, hkg-ist will show as unavailable, but hkg-ist-muc will be available.


That is an interesting model, although I do not fully understand it. It seems like part of what you are describing may be married segment constraints on award (where one award flight is available, if and only if you are connecting to or from another flight).

In contrast to paid tickets, where I see that all the time, I only have heard of award married segment logic, but I have not seen it in action. If you have a specific example, please do share.


Using qantas, CX will show much less than its real availability on long hauls.

As usual, with award differential, it pays to be very precise about where the discrepancy is at. From CX's side, I have often seen extra awards that are only available to its own members.

As far as on QF's side, do you have a specific example, where you found that other Oneworld airlines (e.g. AA, BA) can book a flight, but QF.com is not showing it? I do not have any report of this before and this will be a very valuable report that I would like to add to the tips section.


Tried using from my BB, both the with the regular and opera, but I dont succeed. a shame.

Unfortunately, at the moment, ANX does not work on most mobile devices, including Black Berries - the javascript it uses for data display is just too heavy.

Thanks for trying Award Nexus.

Can you give me the exact flight number that you found with F available? I did a manual search on ANA and I saw J/Y availability for TK50 on Oct 10, 2010, but F does not appears to be available.



That is an interesting model, although I do not fully understand it. It seems like part of what you are describing may be married segment constraints on award (where one award flight is available, if and only if you are connecting to or from another flight).

In contrast to paid tickets, where I see that all the time, I only have heard of award married segment logic, but I have not seen it in action. If you have a specific example, please do share.



As usual, with award differential, it pays to be very precise about where the discrepancy is at. From CX's side, I have often seen extra awards that are only available to its own members.

As far as on QF's side, do you have a specific example, where you found that other Oneworld airlines (e.g. AA, BA) can book a flight, but QF.com is not showing it? I do not have any report of this before and this will be a very valuable report that I would like to add to the tips section.



Unfortunately, at the moment, ANX does not work on most mobile devices, including Black Berries - the javascript it uses for data display is just too heavy.

thanks for your reply.

The F on turkish stoped being available a short while later, I guess nexus has a prophecy algorithm of some sort...;)

I will with pleasure note the discrepancies that I encounter, but you would need to act fast to catch them while alive.

I was told that CX does not attribute more award seats to its own members (reliable source), but I know that one should check (even over the phone with an agent to) every leg separately.



You wanted an example, here I have one:

10/10/2010 HKG-BRU (1 pax) and I want upper class)

if searching on kvs (via ana) it will give me via FRA with LH 739 only Y

if searching on kvs (via ana) just HKG-FRA, it will find F and Y

if searching HKG-BRU with nexus, with all *A options it wont bring up anything (filtering on biz/first, as fra-bru is only biz).

if searching with nexus just HKG-FRA, its AC that finds this LH 739 F, whereas ANA doesnt find anything.


I made this search in your honor, and the first one seemed bullseye.

I know where the sensitive parts are ;)

I was told that CX does not attribute more award seats to its own members (reliable source), but I know that one should check (even over the phone with an agent to) every leg separately.


Interesting. I have had personal experience with multiple HKG-JFK CX flights that are showing as available on CX's site, but not accessible to other Oneworld partner airlines (phone or web site). Looks like this situation may be route dependent.


You wanted an example, here I have one:

10/10/2010 HKG-BRU (1 pax) and I want upper class)

if searching on kvs (via ana) it will give me via FRA with LH 739 only Y

if searching on kvs (via ana) just HKG-FRA, it will find F and Y

if searching HKG-BRU with nexus, with all *A options it wont bring up anything (filtering on biz/first, as fra-bru is only biz).

if searching with nexus just HKG-FRA, its AC that finds this LH 739 F, whereas ANA doesnt find anything.

Thanks for the detailed example. I followed up on all of your searches, including making a call to CO to check availability, and this is what I found:

As you said, LH 739 in F is not available as part of HKG-FRA-BRU, but interestingly is available as standalone HKG-FRA (this seems like some kind of reverse-married segment constraint). I verified this behavior with CO's phone agent as well (she also could only find LH 739 in F if searching for HKG-FRA only).

I was, however, able to obtain the same result with Award Nexus as ANA or KVS. Take a look at the search here (https://awardnexus.com/collage/view/4c8e36ecaa00fa14d0001827) (account login required). Make sure you set the filter control to limit to NH searches, as there are a lot of engines/segments in that search.

It looks to me like Award Nexus is reporting the same info as all other sources. If you don't see the same result with your search on Award Nexus, please let me know.

So much quicker than a day-by-day trawl of the ANA tool. Found two pairs of F on OZ and LX in a fraction of the time it would have taken. Congratulations.

The interface is clear and uncluttered - no need to make it look glam.
A filter to display only particular airlines, or exclude the ones you wish to avoid, would make scanning the results easier. The search could include them giving you the option to quickly display all if your favourites didn't have availability.

So much quicker than a day-by-day trawl of the ANA tool. Found two pairs of F on OZ and LX in a fraction of the time it would have taken. Congratulations.

The interface is clear and uncluttered - no need to make it look glam.
A filter to display only particular airlines, or exclude the ones you wish to avoid, would make scanning the results easier. The search could include them giving you the option to quickly display all if your favourites didn't have availability.

Congratulations to you too, for scoring 2 x F on OZ and LX.

I used to have airline filters in there (see the demo pages), but I took it out in a subsequent revision, because the left panel was getting cluttered. At some future interface revision, I would like to find a way to integrate that back into the view settings.

Award nexus is showing 2 seats available JFK-LHR on AA in F on 12/20 via QF.

In actuality when searching directly on AA and QF only 1 seat is available.

Award nexus is showing 2 seats available JFK-LHR on AA in F on 12/20 via QF.

In actuality when searching directly on AA and QF only 1 seat is available.

Thanks for the catch. Looks like there was a bug with ANX not setting the number of passengers on QF, thus doing all searches with the default 1 passenger.

It has been fixed.

It would be nice if the flight info (of the flights found), wouldn't just be a popup on click, but something that could stay open for comparison (with the other flights found by nexus) and for ctrl+c/v purposes.

Interesting. Do you have a sample date range/cabin, where you see no Air China availability using ANA/AC/CO with ANX, but could find seats by calling BMI?I'm afraid it was a sample of one and now that I have taken 2 award seats on that flight it is probably fruitless to pursue it further.

In the other direction (i.e. seats showing on ANA but not visible to other airlines) I have been monitoring *A availability for SHA/PEK and often get F flights on FM's first and last flights of the day. But BD can usually only see economy and if they try to book them suddenly they get a "waitlisted" message.

Likewise BA only ever shows the first 2 flights of the day on KA for PEK/HKG. That's all that shows on their web site and all their agents can see when I call. Yet CX will usually have availability throughout the day.

BTW I am still getting that message about attempting to do things I shouldn't have. It happens whenever I have logged into and out of my work VPN - even when I was logged out of Award Nexus at the time. The first attempt to log in gives the message, the 2nd works fine.

It would be nice if the flight info (of the flights found), wouldn't just be a popup on click, but something that could stay open for comparison (with the other flights found by nexus) and for ctrl+c/v purposes.

Stay tuned. I am finishing up a new view option that will include most of the flight information, at a glance.


Likewise BA only ever shows the first 2 flights of the day on KA for PEK/HKG. That's all that shows on their web site and all their agents can see when I call. Yet CX will usually have availability throughout the day.

I have noticed something similar myself, where BA.com often doesn't show some CX flights that are available on HKG-TPE.


BTW I am still getting that message about attempting to do things I shouldn't have. It happens whenever I have logged into and out of my work VPN - even when I was logged out of Award Nexus at the time. The first attempt to log in gives the message, the 2nd works fine.

Unfortunately, that is part of the security framework of the site, which restricts unusual requests. I did tweaked the error page to make it less scary and added a link for you to quickly go back and re-try.

In the other direction (i.e. seats showing on ANA but not visible to other airlines) I have been monitoring *A availability for SHA/PEK and often get F flights on FM's first and last flights of the day. But BD can usually only see economy and if they try to book them suddenly they get a "waitlisted" message.


I had a similar experience when trying to get BD to include a SHA-PEK segment on an international award last week.

The only way you have a prayer in that situation is to get a BD supervisor to make the waitlisted segment show up on your itin. Once you do this, bugging CA/FM can yield positive results.

There are reports in this forum of married segments appearing especialy for LH, http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/bmi-diamond-club/1122494-lh-award-availability-joins-others-married-segment-restrictions.html
I would assume that this is the source of the problems on the HKG-FRA-BRU query

Seeing one peculiar response while searching for Seoul-Tokyo awards on JL. Now, GMP, ICN are 2 airports for Seoul; HND, NRT for Tokyo:

When I search for GMP-HND, I get an error message saying GMP is not supported.

When I search for ICN-NRT, I get results for both ICN-NRT and GMP-HND.

Seeing one peculiar response while searching for Seoul-Tokyo awards on JL. Now, GMP, ICN are 2 airports for Seoul; HND, NRT for Tokyo:

When I search for GMP-HND, I get an error message saying GMP is not supported.

When I search for ICN-NRT, I get results for both ICN-NRT and GMP-HND.

Sorry, I hadn't created the mapping for GMP, that's why you got the unsupported message.

GMP is now mapped internally in ANX.

This is way cool! I particularly like the way after you make your first line of choices (search engines and fare class), all the lines below are immediately filled in. Then when you do the outbound, so is the return. Neat.

I wish I had discovered this a couple of months ago. I gave up on ANA and was calling UAL every day or two. In the end, and getting within 6 weeks of departure, I have found my business class seats. This tool would have saved me lots of time. It also showed just now that there were no seats on my outbound day (3 weeks from today) but there were on my return (7 weeks).

Thank you.

I'm seeing a weird error.

I search for award space starting July 8, 2011 and it returns 0 availability for September 2010.

According to ANA there is availability for the dates, class and number of tickets.

I'm seeing a weird error.

I search for award space starting July 8, 2011 and it returns 0 availability for September 2010.

According to ANA there is availability for the dates, class and number of tickets.

Sorry, a few minutes ago, there was an error in the backend and I had to restart it, thus some searches produced no results (i.e. no segment listed on the left).

Please try again.

:-:Sorry, a few minutes ago, there was an error in the backend and I had to restart it, thus some searches produced no results (i.e. no segment listed on the left).

Please try again.

It is all good :-:

Thanks

Hi ckpeter,

First of all I wanted to thank you for all your hard work, I just signed up today and am excited about all the potential I see for saving time and covering all my angles.
I noticed the following issue when trying some sample searches for CX availability;
When searching on BA.com for JFK-HKG in Business for this next week I found availability on 9/21 for 2 flights on CX and on 9/22 for 1 flight on CX.
When using ANX with only the "Oneworld BA" checked off I searched for 9/18 +7 days it only returned 9/18 for a BA flight connecting through LHR and nothing for any of the next 7 days. the link to my search results;
http://p1.awardnexus.com/collage/view/4c912371aa00fa14d00020bc

Thanks for your input.


Edit-it gets even more confusing, When I did the same search on ANX with a date of 9/19 +7 it showed me two BA options on 9/19 (that6 didnt show when I was searching 9/18 +7), and on 9/21 it gave me the 2 CX flights and on 9/22 it gave me all 3 CX flights.
When I go back to BA.com I cant find any CX anymore on 9/22.

I noticed the following issue when trying some sample searches for CX availability;
When searching on BA.com for JFK-HKG in Business for this next week I found availability on 9/21 for 2 flights on CX and on 9/22 for 1 flight on CX.
When using ANX with only the "Oneworld BA" checked off I searched for 9/18 +7 days it only returned 9/18 for a BA flight connecting through LHR and nothing for any of the next 7 days...

Can you double check your results on BA.com? I did the same search, on BA.com, for JFK-HKG starting 9/18 for 1 business seat, and got no CX flights at all from Sep 18 - Oct 2 (only the one BA option, above, shows).

It is possible that between the time you searched with BA.com and ANX, CX availability may have changed. If you did a search and still see discrepancy, please let me know.

Thanks for your report, and welcome!

Can you double check your results on BA.com? I did the same search, on BA.com, for JFK-HKG starting 9/18 for 1 business seat, and got no CX flights at all from Sep 18 - Oct 2 (only the one BA option, above, shows).

It is possible that between the time you searched with BA.com and ANX, CX availability may have changed. If you did a search and still see discrepancy, please let me know.

Thanks for your report, and welcome!

I just did another search on BA.com for 1 seat in Business (one way) and found availability on 2 CX flights on 9/21. Also there was one flight available on 9/28 on CX.

Edit-it gets even more confusing, When I did the same search on ANX with a date of 9/19 +7 it showed me two BA options on 9/19 (that6 didnt show when I was searching 9/18 +7), and on 9/21 it gave me the 2 CX flights and on 9/22 it gave me all 3 CX flights.
When I go back to BA.com I cant find any CX anymore on 9/22.

OK, something very odd is happening with BA.com for JFK-HKG in J.

If I start the search from 9/18, I am never offered the partner option, thus CX flights do not show up and I only get one BA flight option on 9/18.

If, as you reported, I start the search from 9/19, then I am offered the partner option. I get a new pair of BA flights on 9/19 (which didn't show up for the 9/18 + 7 search). I also get the CX flights on 9/21 and 9/28.

This appears to be an oddity with the BA site...

OK, something very odd is happening with BA.com for JFK-HKG in J.

If I start the search from 9/18, I am never offered the partner option, thus CX flights do not show up and I only get one BA flight option on 9/18.

If, as you reported, I start the search from 9/19, then I am offered the partner option. I get a new pair of BA flights on 9/19 (which didn't show up for the 9/18 + 7 search). I also get the CX flights on 9/21 and 9/28.

This appears to be an oddity with the BA site...

The 9/19 search on ANX returns a pair of BA flights in Economy so that is probably why when we search on BA.com with a 9/19 date that doesnt come up and instead we are offered to search for partner availability.

I wonder if we can deduce that when BA has availability on its own metal for the date you put into the search it doesnt give you the "partner search" option, only if they dont have availability on that exact date and class.
This could be another good tip on ANX that if you search for a date range and it turns up availabilty on the first date you entered on BA metal only and no partner availabilty for the rest of the range, this may be the issue. In this case it would be worth going to BA.com directly to check if it is searching partner availability as well.

...
I wonder if we can deduce that when BA has availability on its own metal for the date you put into the search it doesnt give you the "partner search" option, only if they dont have availability on that exact date and class.
This could be another good tip on ANX that if you search for a date range and it turns up availabilty on the first date you entered on BA metal only and no partner availabilty for the rest of the range, this may be the issue.

Interesting observation. I did a few searches and you seem to be right. If a BA flight is available on the start date, no partner option is ever offered.

I don't remember this behavior before. However, upon searching the BA site, I see this information (updated 10/11/2009):


Can I make an award or redemption booking for a partner airline on ba.com?
Yes, Executive Club customers are offered the option to search for partner airlines on ba.com where BA is not available or does not operate?

Which airline partners can be booked on ba.com?
All the oneworld carriers are available to book on ba.com. They are American Airlines, Qantas, Cathay Pacific, Iberia, Malev,Mexicana, Finnair, JAL including JAL affiliates, Royal Jordanian and LAN including LAN affiliates.
For bookings on Alaskan Airlines please contact your local Executive Club Service Centre.

Can I choose to book a partner flight rather than BA?
No, the option to search for partner availability will only be offered where BA is not available on the requested date or where BA does not service the route


I don't seem to remember this being the case a few months back, but I don't use BA intense enough to say that I was offered partner options before, if BA has flights on the start date.

In this case it would be worth going to BA.com directly to check if it is searching partner availability as well.

That won't be necessary. I just added a notice in the output, so that if no partner coverage is provided, you will know from the ANX result, and won't need go to ba.com to confirm the lack of partner airline coverage.

I don't remember this behavior before.It's always been like that to my knowledge. The BA award engine is pretty rubbish for partner awards, frankly. Apart from what you have already noted, it gets worse: if BA can find award seats on its own metal on any routing - however impractical - it does not show awards on partner flights. For example, if you wish to fly PEK/HKG in F and BA can find awards seats on your selected date for PEK/LHR/HKG on BA it will proudly produce that result and stop. :rolleyes: Similarly it will try to route you SFO/LHR/HKG rather than SFO/HKG and so on.

It's always been like that to my knowledge. The BA award engine is pretty rubbish for partner awards, frankly. Apart from what you have already noted, it gets worse: if BA can find award seats on its own metal on any routing - however impractical - it does not show awards on partner flights. For example, if you wish to fly PEK/HKG in F and BA can find awards seats on your selected date for PEK/LHR/HKG on BA it will proudly produce that result and stop. :rolleyes: Similarly it will try to route you SFO/LHR/HKG rather than SFO/HKG and so on.

TMK, CX only flies PEK-HKG with 2-class planes (no F). Meanwhile, KA flights seem to be in the same boat as AA and AS (i.e. often invisible). But, if you search any route on which a visible partner flies directly (i.e. JFK-NRT rather than JFK-PEK), BA almost always spits out the partner flights ime (I did many searches after I received my Chase cards).

TMK, CX only flies PEK-HKG with 2-class planes (no F). Meanwhile, KA flights seem to be in the same boat as AA and AS (i.e. often invisible). But, if you search any route on which a visible partner flies directly (i.e. JFK-NRT rather than JFK-PEK), BA almost always spits out the partner flights ime (I did many searches after I received my Chase cards).No, BA regularly shows KA flights on the PEK/HKG routes - but only the first 2 flights of the day. The class of travel is immaterial in my example - you will get the same result for any class.

I just tried AKL-SEA on Nov. 5, checking all the *A searches for two business seats. The grid only showed AKL-SFO-SEA. The info showed multiple possibilities. What was odd was the first pair, NZ6 to LAX and AS459 to SEA, showed 7 business seats on NZ6.

There were three more listing starting with NZ6, but they all showed only 4 seats available.

I just tried AKL-SEA on Nov. 5, checking all the *A searches for two business seats. The grid only showed AKL-SFO-SEA. The info showed multiple possibilities. What was odd was the first pair, NZ6 to LAX and AS459 to SEA, showed 7 business seats on NZ6.

There were three more listing starting with NZ6, but they all showed only 4 seats available.

Are you talking about the info link to flightstats.com? Keep in mind that that is a link to the general / non-award inventory, meaning those are seats for paid tickets, not award seats.

The info link does not reflect award inventory and is there only for your reference.

Are you talking about the info link to flightstats.com? Keep in mind that that is a link to the general / non-award inventory, meaning those are seats for paid tickets, not award seats.

The info link does not reflect award inventory and is there only for your reference.
Ok, I had not understood the difference. I was talking about the flightstats.com info link. I see now that I missed the significance of the asterisk pointing to "* is a non-award route timetable."

Too bad, actually. awardnexus only shows availability on the SFO connection, which I already have. With UA reducing its flights, what started as a 2.3 hour layover in SFO is now a 6 hour layover. I had some hope when I saw availability on the LAX connection on flightstats I could switch and have a 3 hour shorter layover on that route.

It's still odd that there are two numbers of availability on flightstats for the same flight, NZ6, but not relevant to the awardnexus finding that there are still at least two (the number I entered) mileage seats available on NZ8.

Thanks for the clarification and, as I said above, great work!

It's still odd that there are two numbers of availability on flightstats for the same flight, NZ6, but not relevant to the awardnexus finding that there are still at least two (the number I entered) mileage seats available on NZ8.

I am not too sure, but it may have something to do with the fact that the 4 seats available corresponds to the AS connecting flight having only 4 seats available in F, whereas the other listing has 7 seats available for the AS connecting flights, thus also 7 seats for the same NZ flight.

This could be a kind of married segment logic.

Alright, here another weird one:

15 NOV FRA-CCU (upper classes)

M&M (kvs) finds me LH 750 direct nonstop flight (with availability in First.

Award nexus (and kvs using ana) using all *A variations searches, not only doesn't find availability, it doesn't find a flight, and this on a direct route (!).

Alright, here another weird one:

15 NOV FRA-CCU (upper classes)

M&M (kvs) finds me LH 750 direct nonstop flight (with availability in First.

Award nexus (and kvs using ana) using all *A variations searches, not only doesn't find availability, it doesn't find a flight, and this on a direct route (!).

LH/M&M is known to provide extra availability to its own members, compared to to other partner programs. This is probably why you don't see this flight available with the ANA backend using either KVS or ANX.

If you are using any Star Alliance miles other than M&M miles, this flight is most likely not available for you to book.

LH/M&M is known to provide extra availability to its own members, compared to to other partner programs. This is probably why you don't see this flight available with the ANA backend using either KVS or ANX.

If you are using any Star Alliance miles other than M&M miles, this flight is most likely not available for you to book.

I don't expect them to find seats, but at least tell me that such a flight exist.

I don't expect them to find seats, but at least tell me that such a flight exist.

I am looking into displaying flights that are operating, but which do not have award seats. However, no decision has been made, as this is a deep change to the system that affects many parts.

For now, to find out what flights may be operating, I suggest using the info link on the segment. It will show you a non-award timetable with almost all direct flights and many connecting flight possibilities too.

I am looking into displaying flights that are operating, but which do not have award seats. However, no decision has been made, as this is a deep change to the system that affects many parts.

For now, to find out what flights may be operating, I suggest using the info link on the segment. It will show you a non-award timetable with almost all direct flights and many connecting flight possibilities too.

maybe using a different color?

ps: I've said it already, but a copy paste function of the results would be very important, and appreciated.

maybe using a different color?

ps: I've said it already, but a copy paste function of the results would be very important, and appreciated.

^ I agree. It would be a nice benefit.

I've appreciated this free award service and being able to search 2 weeks at a time. It's been a great help many times and thanks for doing this!

...
ps: I've said it already, but a copy paste function of the results would be very important, and appreciated.

A text output is in the work. Expect to see it in the next few weeks, as one of the new view options.

I'm finding more south pacific seats for one month from now than I did looking a few weeks ago. Does Air New Zealand open more seats up 30 days before departure?

I'm finding more south pacific seats for one month from now than I did looking a few weeks ago. Does Air New Zealand open more seats up 30 days before departure?

It's possible. Award availability does change all the time, and often times airlines release more award seats as the departure date approaches, even without a formal 30-day release window.

It's possible. Award availability does change all the time, and often times airlines release more award seats as the departure date approaches, even without a formal 30-day release window.
Last Nov 2009 I booked ANZ using UA mileage for Oct 2010. I couldn't get business class on the long legs US to/from AKL. People on FlyerTalk told me that my best chance would be two months or less from departure date.

They also said it was only partly because of ANZ holding back on releasing mileage seats. It was sometimes because UA was holding back on paying ANZ enough to get the seats.

There definitely was no 30 day release date. A single on my outbound opened up 4 months in advance. I got the two seats I needed for Oct 6 (AKL-SFO) on Aug 16. I got the return seats for Nov 5 on Sept. 7. Last I checked your tool, there were still business seats on that return date.

I am sure of this timing within a couple of days. That's because your tool didn't exist (or I didn't know about it) so I was calling UA every other day or so.

I am looking into displaying flights that are operating, but which do not have award seats. However, no decision has been made, as this is a deep change to the system that affects many parts.

For now, to find out what flights may be operating, I suggest using the info link on the segment. It will show you a non-award timetable with almost all direct flights and many connecting flight possibilities too.
I hope you decide not to do this. There are plenty of sites that display all flights, including those that get data from multiple sources, e.g., Kayak.com. It is information overload. The beauty of AwardNexus is it gives exactly the information needed when looking for award seats, and in an amazingly clear and efficient way.

Off this topic, but a comment on accuracy. I was just checking for two ANZ business class seats on a particular date. I thought I had found exactly what I wanted on AwardNexus. I called ANZ to check on what specific seats were available, as some are better than others on particular planes. They said there was only one award seat left, not two. I went back to AwardNexus and discovered it was MY error. I had accidentally left the number of seats at the default of one. Talk about pinpoint accuracy!

I just had a chance to test out this tool. I am not sure if this has been mentioned before, but I am wondering if there was some way to save all the search data generated through the tool for, say, the past 10 days or so, and have that displayed and accessible on the tool. It would be even more genius to have that data displayed on a map. For me, this would be very useful. Rather than plug away at different routes and strategies, it could be good to have a general idea of what may be available and where.

I hope you decide not to do this. There are plenty of sites that display all flights, including those that get data from multiple sources, e.g., Kayak.com. It is information overload. The beauty of AwardNexus is it gives exactly the information needed when looking for award seats, and in an amazingly clear and efficient way.

That's an interesting view point, and I agree with the spirit of what you said. I want to keep ANX clean and simple, and not have it be overloaded with data.

The non-award flights can be useful for figuring which connection airports are covered (airline sites do not consider all possible connection points), so I do see value in exposing that information. It just needs to be useful without being overwhelming.

I just had a chance to test out this tool. I am not sure if this has been mentioned before, but I am wondering if there was some way to save all the search data generated through the tool for, say, the past 10 days or so, and have that displayed and accessible on the tool. It would be even more genius to have that data displayed on a map. For me, this would be very useful. Rather than plug away at different routes and strategies, it could be good to have a general idea of what may be available and where.

Have you looked under the Recent Searches page? It lists all your recent searches. In addition, there is a newly-added filter text box on top, where you can filter by route (e.g. you can type in NRT-ORD to see only searches that included NRT-ORD).

The map view is an interesting concept. I will keep that in mind.

Hi Ck,


I have been trying since morning to find some availability on my routes, it is coming up blank and shows black box for today's date. I checked with ANA, it shows availability. I tried test case IST-FRA for 15 jan 2011.

Is something going on upgrades or anything?

Thanks,


Dracs

Hi Ck,

I have been trying since morning to find some availability on my routes, it is coming up blank and shows black box for today's date. I checked with ANA, it shows availability. I tried test case IST-FRA for 15 jan 2011.

Is something going on upgrades or anything?

Thanks,

Dracs

Sorry about that. Earlier, ANA's site was under maintenance, but it looks like later on the ANX backend also developed some issues. I restarted it and everything should now be working.

Sorry about that. Earlier, ANA's site was under maintenance, but it looks like later on the ANX backend also developed some issues. I restarted it and everything should now be working.

Ck,

Thanks for your reply. By apologizing, you are embarrassing me. Please don't do that.You are already doing great work through your website. Keep it up!!

Dracs

I also agree with keeping ANX simple, both in the backend and the layout of the results. Thank you very much for your work.

The non-award flights can be useful for figuring which connection airports are covered (airline sites do not consider all possible connection points)

At least for Star Alliance, that information should be available on the staralliance.com website. Don't know about other alliances, but I suspect it would be similar for OW and ST.