KVS Availability Tool - BA

[KVS]

This thread is a branch-off from the Master KVS Availability Tool thread, and is intended for discussion and support on BA and Executive Club-specific issues.

Please continue to use the main thread for all other matters, and http://www.KVSTool.com for membership-related issues.

Availability:

BA Booking Classes Displayed by the Tool (Award/Upgrade classes are in green):

• [Sabre: FS]
  • J C D R I Y B H K M L V Q S G N O (Short-Haul)
  • F A J C D R I Y B H K M L V S Q G W E T N O (Long-Haul)
  
  
• [Galileo: ETR]
  • J C D R I Y B H K M L V Q S G N O (Short-Haul)
  • F A J C D R I Y B H K M L V S Q G N O + W E T (Long-Haul)
  
  
• [Amadeus: Awards/OneWorld]
  • FS=Z WS=P CS=U YS=X
  
  
• [Amadeus: Awards/BA-OneWorld]
  • FS=Z WS=P CS=U YS=X

Executive Club: OneWorld & Partner Award Availability:

• All BA award & upgrade booking classes are supported.
• All OneWorld partners are also supported (incl. BA/QF/AA/CX/KA/JL/IB/AY/MA/S7/RJ/LA/LP)
• Also supported are the following Exective Club partner airlines: EC/BD/EI/AS/IT
• Please see http://Help.KVSTool.com/#Classes for more details.

Fares, Fare/Routing Rules:

• BA published fares/rules are supported by all KVS Tool Fares Methods.
• Also supported are BA-published OneWorld RTW/special circle fares, including xONEx/xGLOBx/xCIRx

Seat Maps:

BA seat maps are available for all 4 cabins via the [Amadeus-Text] & [Amadeus Enhanced] options.

Timetables:

BA flights are supported.

Operational Info/Flight Tracking:

• Detailed operational info is available for BA flights via the [Amadeus] option.
• Detailed operational info is also available for most other OneWorld partner flights via the [Amadeus] option.
• BA flights are supported in all Tracking options.

[KVS]

Version 1.4.3 of the KVS Availability Tool is now available for download

[Frequentflyer99]

My mistake sorry - deleted !

[Gaza]

Originally Posted by Frequentflyer99

I thought that BA used Galileo. If Amadeus is the native BA tool, why does it not show W and T availability, as Galileo does ?

BA definatley use Amadeus.

[Globaliser]

Originally Posted by Frequentflyer99

I thought that BA used Galileo. If Amadeus is the native BA tool, why does it not show W and T availability, as Galileo does ?

No, BA's res system is now hosted on Amadeus. But that doesn't necessarily mean that a particular retail Amadeus application (which is what the tool interrogates) will show W and T: I would have thought that that will always depend on how the application's customer has configured the display.

[jamespvg]

Originally Posted by Frequentflyer99

...why does it not show W and T availability, as Galileo does ?

They both show W and T...

[KVS]

Originally Posted by Frequentflyer99

why does it not show W and T availability, as Galileo does ?

Actually, it does:

[KVS Availability Tool - Amadeus: AUA/*A]

NYC  New York Metro NY US = JFK LGA EWR
LON  London Metro UK = LHR LGW STN LTN LCY
FRI  01 Jul 2005

Carrier   Flight From Depart    To   Arrive    A/C  St Availability
--------- ------ ---- --------- ---- --------- ---- -- ----------------------------------------------------------- 
BA        186    EWR  08:15     LHR  20:05     777  0  F5 A3 J9 C9 D9 I9 W5 T0 Y8 B7 H3 K0 M0 R0 V0 N0 L0 S0 Q0 O0
BA        178    JFK  09:15     LHR  21:00     744  0  F5 A0 J9 C9 D9 I2 W5 T1 Y7 B5 H5 K2 M0 R0 V0 N0 L0 S0 Q0 O0
BA        184    EWR  18:20     LHR  06:20 +1  772  0  F5 A4 J9 C6 D5 I0 W1 T0 Y2 B0 H0 K0 M0 R0 V0 N0 L0 S0 Q0 O0
BA        112    JFK  18:30     LHR  06:25 +1  744  0  F6 A0 J9 C3 D0 I0 W1 T0 Y4 B4 H1 K0 M0 R0 V0 N0 L0 S0 Q0 O0

[KVS]

Just a quick reminder to all existing users of the [KVS Availability Tool] who may still be using outdated versions (i.e. earlier than V1.4.3) to upgrade.

[KVS]

It came to my attention that UA has recently redesigned its website to provide inaccurate/fake availability data to the Tool's Apollo/ITN/UA Access Method while providing genuine availability data only when a user clicks the [Flight Details] button for each flight on the United.com website.

Until this recent development took place, the availability data shown by United.com in "the expert mode" and availability shown using the Apollo/ITN/UA method would always match.

Therefore, it is recommended that you do not use the Apollo/ITN/UA Access Method until further notice as the data shown there will not be reliable.

This does not in any way affect other access methods, such as Amadeus/AUA/*A and Sabre/ITN/AX. These access methods continue to report accurate and reliable availability data for UA and other airlines.

[Frequentflyer99]

Originally Posted by KVS

It came to my attention that UA has recently redesigned its website to provide inaccurate/fake availability data to the Tool's Apollo/ITN/UA Access Method while providing genuine availability data only when a user clicks the [Flight Details] button for each flight on the United.com website.

Until this recent development took place, the availability data shown by United.com in "the expert mode" and availability shown using the Apollo/ITN/UA method would always match.

Therefore, it is recommended that you do not use the Apollo/ITN/UA Access Method until further notice as the data shown there will not be reliable.

This does not in any way affect other access methods, such as Amadeus/AUA/*A and Sabre/ITN/AX. These access methods continue to report accurate and reliable availability data for UA and other airlines.

Thanks for the alert. Does this disinformation apply only to UA flights or to all flights ?

[KVS]

Originally Posted by Frequentflyer99

Thanks for the alert. Does this disinformation apply only to UA flights or to all flights ?

It looks like it only applies to UA flights.

However, the Apollo/ITN/UA method was never really a very good choice when searching for availability on airlines other than UA (as it often tends to favour UA's own flights even when they are not requested).

As mentioned at the beginning of this thread, the best method when searching for flights on BA remains Amadeus/AUA/*A.

[KVS]

Just a quick reminder to all existing users of the Tool who may still be using outdated versions (i.e. earlier than V1.4.4) to upgrade:

[SLF]

Originally Posted by KVS

As mentioned at the beginning of this thread, the best method when searching for flights on BA remains Amadeus/AUA/*A.

Would it be possible to have a display filter on this option, which is restricted to OW airlines only? I.e. this would greatly help with OWE planning by discarding all the non-OW flights? And/or for BA flights only?

[KVS]

Originally Posted by ropmot141

Would it be possible to have a display filter on this option, which is restricted to OW airlines only? I.e. this would greatly help with OWE planning by discarding all the non-OW flights? And/or for BA flights only?

The Amadeus: AUA/*A method of the Tool has only 2 airline filter settings: ALL & *A -- this is a limitation of the associated data source and there is not much I can do to change that. However, the other 5 methods (e.g. Apollo: ITN/CWT) do allow you to fliter by a specific airline, including BA.

[SLF]

Originally Posted by KVS

The Amadeus: AUA/*A method of the Tool has only 2 airline filter settings: ALL & *A -- this is a limitation of the associated data source and there is not much I can do to change that. However, the other 5 methods (e.g. Apollo: ITN/CWT) do allow you to fliter by a specific airline, including BA.

I understand what you're saying; however what I am suggesting is a second filter which effectively trims the ALL output to display only OW airlines. I.e. a filter within the tool itself, rather than a parameter for the query. AIUI, you recommend the Amadeus:AUA/*A method as the best one for BA, the downside of this is that a lot of extraneous information is shown when you are only interested in BA or OW.