I've just written ExpertFlyer to note the competition and ask their plans. I'd encourage other ExpertFlyer subscribers (and potential subscribers) to do the same.
How is this information propagated? KVSTool isn't financing industrial espionage, so in principle other pay services can sort out the same data, if it's being exposed as part of some paid or free data stream.
Being web-based, ExpertFlyer can be accessed from any portable device, such as an iPad or Android smart phone, and all operating systems such as Linux and OS X. KVSTool requires Windows emulation on platforms that can support this. There's nothing inherent in the problem that drove KVSTool this way, rather a limitation in programming skills and/or vision. It is possible to write cross-platform applications, and better in this case to go web-based as ExpertFlyer does.
Edit: Here's the response I got from ExpertFlyer:
Quote:
Thank you for your email. All KVS is doing is screen scraping from CO.com, so it's the same data that you can get from the website now, for free.
I do scrape CO.com's upgrade standby lists, texting my cell phone with changes. (I once again went with a 3 oz flip phone over a digital boat anchor.) I actually got in trouble with ExpertFlyer's terms of service for scraping their site years ago.
Does anyone else find it tedious extracting SWU availability directly from CO.com?
Last edited by Syzygies; May 17, 11 at 9:12 am..
Reason: Response from ExpertFlyer
At the risk of possibly encouraging others to support what I believe is a less than honest businessman, I would also point out that "CO SWU Inventory" is the same as CO miles-based upgrade inventory and likely CO CR1-based upgrade inventory. It is all the same.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Syzygies
How is this information propagated? KVSTool isn't financing industrial espionage, so in principle other pay services can sort out the same data, if it's being exposed as part of some paid or free data stream.
It is just sending queries to co.com, parsing the results, sending more queries and eventually getting the results and then displaying the information reformatted into his GUI. EF won't offer the data because CO won't license access to it to 3rd parties and EF actually honors that.
Does anyone else find it tedious extracting SWU availability directly from CO.com?
Yes, many KVS Tool members do.
As one member had recently noted:
Quote:
Originally Posted by sgopal2
Hi KVS: Unfortunately I'm looking for upgrade availability, not general reward availability. The only way to redeem a SWU is to upgrade an existing ticket.
There is a way to see reward availability on the CO.com website, but this is tedious and involves too many clicks. As you know, there are many here on the CO forum who have SWUs to use over the next year.
If there is anyway that the KVS tool could incorporate these results from CO.com in a future release, that would be much appreciated.
Hello as KVS points out above, using the CO.com website to find out upgradable fares is a real nuisance. You literally have to spend hours to find open dates.
Having some sort of tool like KVS Availbility to automate these clicks would be very nice.
I'm interested in beta-testing and will be replying back to your email shortly.
Programs: AC Elite, DL Silver, Hyatt Diamond, SPG Plat, Avis First
Posts: 3,227
KVS scrapes HTML but puts everything from dozens of web sites into one simple, fast and lightweight interface. It saves a lot of time and hassle.
I don't know why people think HTML scraping is such a bad thing. In today's world of web services, HTML scraping is pretty commonplace (anyone heard of Google news?).
KVS scrapes HTML but puts everything from dozens of web sites into one simple, fast and lightweight interface. It saves a lot of time and hassle.
I don't know why people think HTML scraping is such a bad thing. In today's world of web services, HTML scraping is pretty commonplace (anyone heard of Google news?).
It is not a problem in most cases IMO if the producer of the "new content" admits that's what they are doing and provides links back to the original content. In this case neither of those is actually happening.
Combine that with the questionable customer service I received and the offer to buy my silence when I complained in public and, yes, I now quite vocally object to the business practices exercised.
The KVS Tool does not actually "produce" such "new content".
Indeed, it is hard to describe retrieving multiple web pages, modifying some of the data displayed in them based on currency conversion resources (among other things) and otherwise stripping out large chunks of the data the original producers of the content intended to display as "producing" anything. Thank goodness the "browser" just shows the data as the folks paying for it (the travel agencies from which it is retrieved, not the subscribers who make "contributions") intended.
And, yes, it was 2009 that you tried to buy me off. Given that the business practices have not changed I'm not sure why the fact that it was almost 2 years ago should matter in this case. That you have followed up with other members who were similarly bought off and tried to hush them as well is similarly disgraceful IMHO.
Again, it's unfortunate that you continue to feel that way. However, you can rest assured that we had neither intended, nor made such a 'purchase'.
Indeed. I'm sure you phrased it as a "an 'op-up' to Diamond for the remainder of your Platinum-tier membership on a complimentary basis." And it was triggered by repeated complaints about the changes to the pricing structure. But certainly the two were unrelated, right?
The part where others have received similar and been hounded for not shutting up with their service complaints is also reality. Fits right in line with the service levels I was receiving back when I was a member and had the complaints that led to the "comp" in the first place.
Maybe pricing has changed, but does a bump in a level that costs an extra $15 per year constitute "buying one's silence"?
I'm guessing not given that I didn't go quiet. But the others who have received similar comps have received similar entreaties to stop complaining out loud. Whether successful or not that certainly quacks an awful lot like a duck in my book.
