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ExpertFlyer.com Help Desk Thread

Old Feb 14, 2015, 12:53 pm
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Searches currently not working:
  • Upgrades - AY, BA, EK, EY, IB, QR, VS
  • Awards - AY, BA, IB, EY, QR, VS

To search AA upgrades:
  • Use the Award & Upgrade tool
  • Only search for individual segments (set the "Connection Preference" drop-down to "Direct/Non-Stop only"). Flight results that are part of a connection won't show the upgrade version of C or A inventory because AA only files upgrade inventory as individual, not married, segments. (Married segments show revenue inventory instead of upgrade inventory.)
  • To avoid confusion, check the "Exclude Codeshares" box, as AA awards and upgrades are not valid on codeshares.




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ExpertFlyer.com Help Desk Thread

Old Mar 5, 2015, 9:18 am
  #886  
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: PHX
Posts: 323
I am a new user to EF. I put an award flight alert for LAX - LHR, Z class, 10/07/15, AA, departing at 7:55pm a few days ago. I received an email today that 1 ticket is open. I looked at EF to confirm it. I go to AA.com and try to book the ticket but it does not appear for the Z class. I go to BA.com and look at a codeshare for that flight and it is available. Why would the inquiry on EF.com show it available on AA but it not be available on AA.com but it is bookable on BA.com? Just trying to get an understanding of how EF works. Thanks
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Old Mar 5, 2015, 10:03 am
  #887  
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Originally Posted by CNMAZ
I am a new user to EF. I put an award flight alert for LAX - LHR, Z class, 10/07/15, AA, departing at 7:55pm a few days ago. I received an email today that 1 ticket is open. I looked at EF to confirm it. I go to AA.com and try to book the ticket but it does not appear for the Z class. I go to BA.com and look at a codeshare for that flight and it is available. Why would the inquiry on EF.com show it available on AA but it not be available on AA.com but it is bookable on BA.com? Just trying to get an understanding of how EF works. Thanks
EF and BA are correct, there is 1 Z class available on that flight. Call AA to book the award ticket and let them know that the website is incorrectly not showing the availability.

FYI, what you see on BA.com isn't a codeshare of the flight, they are listing the award inventory for the actual AA flight itself.
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Old Mar 5, 2015, 10:08 am
  #888  
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: PHX
Posts: 323
Originally Posted by ExpertFlyer Voice
EF and BA are correct, there is 1 Z class available on that flight. Call AA to book the award ticket and let them know that the website is incorrectly not showing the availability.

FYI, what you see on BA.com isn't a codeshare of the flight, they are listing the award inventory for the actual AA flight itself.

Thank you, at least I am looking at it correct. But I did call AA directly before making my original post & they said it was not available. I tried to explain that it was available on BA.com but that did not help resolve it.
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Old Mar 5, 2015, 11:56 am
  #889  
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: PHX
Posts: 323
Originally Posted by CNMAZ
Thank you, at least I am looking at it correct. But I did call AA directly before making my original post & they said it was not available. I tried to explain that it was available on BA.com but that did not help resolve it.

I called again, tried another agent, and they were able to see the available ticket & I booked it...thank you.
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Old Mar 5, 2015, 4:25 pm
  #890  
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Posts: 2,741
Originally Posted by CNMAZ
I called again, tried another agent, and they were able to see the available ticket & I booked it...thank you.
Glad to hear, enjoy your trip!
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Old Mar 6, 2015, 9:25 am
  #891  
 
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 3
Look up Fare Basis Code on Purchased US flight

I'm trying to get the fare basis codes for flights I've already purchased on US Airways. The flights are several weeks/months out.

I'm new to EF so now I want to see what I bought when I wasn't as wise. I know what fare class I got, but want the fare basis code. Nothing showing on my confirmation or receipt.

Is there a way to find it online, absent calling them and asking for it.

Thank you!
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Old Mar 6, 2015, 9:42 am
  #892  
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: WAS
Posts: 3,006
Originally Posted by Tog Esu
I'm trying to get the fare basis codes for flights I've already purchased on US Airways. The flights are several weeks/months out.

I'm new to EF so now I want to see what I bought when I wasn't as wise. I know what fare class I got, but want the fare basis code. Nothing showing on my confirmation or receipt.

Is there a way to find it online, absent calling them and asking for it.

Thank you!
If I were in that situation, I'd do a fare search with the appropriate travel and ticketing dates and the appropriate fare class. That should narrow it down to 3 or 4 fares, after which you can compare the cost listed with the fare against what you actually paid. Do note that there might be a slight mismatch; it has something to do with how taxes are displayed on the receipt versus the filed fare (I'm sure there's someone else here who can explain that much better than I).
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Old Mar 6, 2015, 10:00 am
  #893  
 
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 3
Originally Posted by cmn.jcs
If I were in that situation, I'd do a fare search with the appropriate travel and ticketing dates and the appropriate fare class. That should narrow it down to 3 or 4 fares, after which you can compare the cost listed with the fare against what you actually paid. Do note that there might be a slight mismatch; it has something to do with how taxes are displayed on the receipt versus the filed fare (I'm sure there's someone else here who can explain that much better than I).

Thanks, I did go through that process before posting and thought I'd shoot for finding the basis code instead since the numbers didn't match up exactly. Appreciate your reply re the way the taxes are displayed. That clears it up a bit, still would like to dial it in if anyone has any further info. I noticed if you go on their site and select flights they use nice round numbers like those displayed on EF fare page. They then display the tax and fee below it. Still had trouble matching up. I did see on an old receipt where ticket price was x dollars plus change, no whole numbers like on the site.

Went through an exercise where I went on site to book new reservation, gave me a price say 498 even plus tax/fee total~564. I noted fare class for each segment. Went on EF and couldn't find fare matches based on those fare classes for either the 498 and 564 totals. Was close, but say ~$20-$30 off.

Just trying to educate myself for future travel.

Thanks!!!

PS Edit- I think I just figured out how to back out the taxes/fees to get the listed fare. Verifying my numbers now.

Last edited by Tog Esu; Mar 6, 2015 at 10:29 am
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Old Mar 6, 2015, 10:46 am
  #894  
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: WAS
Posts: 3,006
Originally Posted by Tog Esu
Thanks, I did go through that process before posting and thought I'd shoot for finding the basis code instead since the numbers didn't match up exactly. Appreciate your reply re the way the taxes are displayed. That clears it up a bit, still would like to dial it in if anyone has any further info. I noticed if you go on their site and select flights they use nice round numbers like those displayed on EF fare page. They then display the tax and fee below it. Still had trouble matching up. I did see on an old receipt where ticket price was x dollars plus change, no whole numbers like on the site.

Went through an exercise where I went on site to book new reservation, gave me a price say 498 even plus tax/fee total~564. I noted fare class for each segment. Went on EF and couldn't find fare matches based on those fare classes for either the 498 and 564 totals. Was close, but say ~$20-$30 off.

Just trying to educate myself for future travel.

Thanks!!!

PS Edit- I think I just figured out how to back out the taxes/fees to get the listed fare. Verifying my numbers now.
Re: taxes--it looks like you might have figured it out, but my understanding is that the federal excise tax is included in the price listed with the fare on the GDS, but it gets broken out when you go to book a flight. So, the fare on the itinerary should be less (IIRC, the tax is 7.5%, so the fare should be ~92.5% of the listed fare price) than seen on the GDS.

Disclaimer: the specific tax and/or values may be incorrect.
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Old Mar 6, 2015, 11:19 am
  #895  
 
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 3
Originally Posted by cmn.jcs
Re: taxes--it looks like you might have figured it out, but my understanding is that the federal excise tax is included in the price listed with the fare on the GDS, but it gets broken out when you go to book a flight. So, the fare on the itinerary should be less (IIRC, the tax is 7.5%, so the fare should be ~92.5% of the listed fare price) than seen on the GDS.

Disclaimer: the specific tax and/or values may be incorrect.
Yup, a look at a recent receipt showed fare of 437.21 plus 60.99 in tax/fee. Add back the 7.5% U.S. transportation tax to the fare you get 470. I had V class and G class segments on a RT. EF shows half the V and G RT fares add up to 470.

Price they show while making a new reservation includes all taxes/fees. So just back out the below items times 2 on RT to get the published fare.

"Our advertised fares are per person and include U.S. government taxes and fees. A segment is defined as one takeoff and landing.

$4 per flight segment, per passenger (U.S. domestic segment tax)
$5.60 per one-way trip, per passenger (September 11th security fee)
$4.50 per passenger (Local airports assess Passenger Facility Charges -- PFCs -- this amount varies by airport)
$8.90 per flight segment, per passenger on certain segments beginning or ending in Alaska or Hawaii."

It may have been meaningless in the long run to go through and figure this out, but I'm happy I did.

Thanks!
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Old Mar 19, 2015, 10:53 am
  #896  
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Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: New York, NY
Programs: AA Plat
Posts: 90
I am new to expert flyer a few questions.

1) Is it possible to set up an alert for a flight that is more than 331 days in the future? I would like to book my award on the first possible day and I would like to be alerted when that happens? Or do I need to track this separately on my on calendar and remember to go into EF on that day.

2) Is it possible to set a alerts for a particular route rather than a specific flight? It seems that if there are 5 possible flights I might take - I need to set up 5 different alerts? Is this correct?
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Old Mar 19, 2015, 12:53 pm
  #897  
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Originally Posted by chelsea2
I am new to expert flyer a few questions.

1) Is it possible to set up an alert for a flight that is more than 331 days in the future? I would like to book my award on the first possible day and I would like to be alerted when that happens? Or do I need to track this separately on my on calendar and remember to go into EF on that day.

2) Is it possible to set a alerts for a particular route rather than a specific flight? It seems that if there are 5 possible flights I might take - I need to set up 5 different alerts? Is this correct?
To answer your questions:

1) You can set up an alert for any flight that has been scheduled. For some airlines that is more then 331 days out, but the flight has to be visible in the schedule before an alert can be created.

2) No, each alert is flight/day specific, you would need to setup separate alerts. This is why we include 30 active Flight Alerts at a time in your Premium subscription.
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Old Apr 3, 2015, 3:26 pm
  #898  
 
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: LHR
Programs: AA
Posts: 773
I've been paying for ExpertFlyer for a few months now and I really love the tools for searching on demand but I am starting to wonder if there's something I'm not understanding about the email alerts.

I have not ever gotten a single EF alert (except for the test alerts) about seats/upgrades/anything, and yet very frequently when I just check back in and run the search myself, or go through the airline's website, I find that what I set an alert for has been available.

This happened to me just now--I changed my Alaska flight to an earlier one, and all that was available was a single middle seat, so I set up an alert for windows/aisles. That was several hours ago. Just now, I logged into Alaska and found a small number of better seats had been released so I grabbed one; never got an EF alert. If I had waited for the EF alert (if it ever came at all) I suspect those few seats would have been gone by then.

I assume that it is not feasible for EF to perform constant checks on every user's alerts, as it would be very taxing on their servers. But over a few months of use I have not a single time gotten a useful alert notification even when my own periodic re-searching has found what I'm looking for. It makes it feel kind of pointless to pay for the service, even though I appreciate its impressive functionality.

Am I possibly misusing the service, or misunderstanding its function?
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Old Apr 3, 2015, 3:58 pm
  #899  
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Join Date: Aug 2002
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Have you ever seen something that should have triggered an alert, and left it for 24 hours? There are many alerts for which EF only appears to search once a day.
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Old Apr 3, 2015, 6:28 pm
  #900  
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Originally Posted by chrisremo
I've been paying for ExpertFlyer for a few months now and I really love the tools for searching on demand but I am starting to wonder if there's something I'm not understanding about the email alerts.

I have not ever gotten a single EF alert (except for the test alerts) about seats/upgrades/anything, and yet very frequently when I just check back in and run the search myself, or go through the airline's website, I find that what I set an alert for has been available.

This happened to me just now--I changed my Alaska flight to an earlier one, and all that was available was a single middle seat, so I set up an alert for windows/aisles. That was several hours ago. Just now, I logged into Alaska and found a small number of better seats had been released so I grabbed one; never got an EF alert. If I had waited for the EF alert (if it ever came at all) I suspect those few seats would have been gone by then.

I assume that it is not feasible for EF to perform constant checks on every user's alerts, as it would be very taxing on their servers. But over a few months of use I have not a single time gotten a useful alert notification even when my own periodic re-searching has found what I'm looking for. It makes it feel kind of pointless to pay for the service, even though I appreciate its impressive functionality.

Am I possibly misusing the service, or misunderstanding its function?
Without any information about who you are so we can look up your alerts we can't help you. Please email the details to [email protected]

However a common misconception is that alert notification should be immediate or just because you searched for something that should trigger an alert, neither are the case. Each alert runs on its own schedule checking at least several times a day. If you want to confirm that an alert will see available inventory/seats on its next scheduled check, just run a Quick Check from the View Saved Alerts page. Did you do that?

Also with Seat Alerts, if the seats that became available are marked as Premium or Paid but you did not choose the specific options to include Paid or Premium seats in the alert then you wouldn't be notified.
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