Last edit by: blahter
The info in the OP is out of date.
Install the Chrome Extension
Guide can be found here
Report issues here
Also, use fake FF accounts. Not just for this tool but any of them that use your account info. I promise that I'm not stealing your credentials but if the extension gets stuck on a login loop, at least your real account won't be locked out.
Install the Chrome Extension
Guide can be found here
Report issues here
Also, use fake FF accounts. Not just for this tool but any of them that use your account info. I promise that I'm not stealing your credentials but if the extension gets stuck on a login loop, at least your real account won't be locked out.
AwardFinder Chrome Extension
#46
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 620
#47
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 620
Update: multi-origin/destination search
Some Updates
- Gateway search has now been replaced with multi-origin/destination on the regular search page
- More restrictive filters
#48
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 4,784
Some Updates
- Gateway search has now been replaced with multi-origin/destination on the regular search page
- More restrictive filters
Unchecking AC = no AC at all
Did you look into [swapping Origin & Destination]? should be an easy button/feature to do, yes? would be much appreciated
I ask because that's the fastest way to do a Round-trip search since we don't have R/T search
Thanks again, keep up the good work
#49
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 54
First, thank you for this tool. I was excited for this when you first announced it, then didn't have much award searching to do, but now coming back I'm really impressed by how well it works.
The multi-origin/destination function that was just rolled out is also incredibly useful. Thanks for this.
A few bug reports/feature suggestions:
Bug: At the moment (for me) AC is not working. It logs in fine, takes forever to the go the search page, and then the search page throws errors. It looks like there was no flight information submitted before the Search button was pressed. Take this with a grain of salt, as AC is not working very well for me in Chrome either, and is atrociously slow in general. But NH works fine for *A.
Feature requests:
- Make submitting login details optional if possible. Maybe a user could login in a separate Chrome windows and then the app can use the same session? I created fake logins for a few services to add to the app, but you will get much better adoption if you could allow users to log in with their actual information without needing to add it to the app.
- As the searching happens, eg with NH, it would be great to always have the date being searched for in the progress bar. So with NH, when it says "Navigating to advanced search" you could add "(July 13, 2015)" so that we always know how far along in the process we are.
- It would be great to have a tiny bit of help come along with the interface. Right now the only information about how to use the tool is in the Help section; even a tool tip when mousing over the airports ("Enter multiple origins or destinations separated by comma") would be good and easy.
- For airlines that don't report the number of seats available, indicating "1+" would be friendly for people who are copy/pasting this info into spreadsheets
- Finally, linking out to some free tools based on the information the user is searching for could be really helpful. For example, when I'm searching for SIN-NRT flights, if I could click a link and be sent here http://www.milez.biz/en/list_rates.php?f=SIN&t=NRT it would be really quick and helpful. If you'd like some more examples of tools like this that would be useful to include I'd be happy to provide.
These are a lot of suggestions, but all small things - what you put together already is very solid and extremely useful. Thanks again for sharing it with us.
The multi-origin/destination function that was just rolled out is also incredibly useful. Thanks for this.
A few bug reports/feature suggestions:
Bug: At the moment (for me) AC is not working. It logs in fine, takes forever to the go the search page, and then the search page throws errors. It looks like there was no flight information submitted before the Search button was pressed. Take this with a grain of salt, as AC is not working very well for me in Chrome either, and is atrociously slow in general. But NH works fine for *A.
Feature requests:
- Make submitting login details optional if possible. Maybe a user could login in a separate Chrome windows and then the app can use the same session? I created fake logins for a few services to add to the app, but you will get much better adoption if you could allow users to log in with their actual information without needing to add it to the app.
- As the searching happens, eg with NH, it would be great to always have the date being searched for in the progress bar. So with NH, when it says "Navigating to advanced search" you could add "(July 13, 2015)" so that we always know how far along in the process we are.
- It would be great to have a tiny bit of help come along with the interface. Right now the only information about how to use the tool is in the Help section; even a tool tip when mousing over the airports ("Enter multiple origins or destinations separated by comma") would be good and easy.
- For airlines that don't report the number of seats available, indicating "1+" would be friendly for people who are copy/pasting this info into spreadsheets
- Finally, linking out to some free tools based on the information the user is searching for could be really helpful. For example, when I'm searching for SIN-NRT flights, if I could click a link and be sent here http://www.milez.biz/en/list_rates.php?f=SIN&t=NRT it would be really quick and helpful. If you'd like some more examples of tools like this that would be useful to include I'd be happy to provide.
These are a lot of suggestions, but all small things - what you put together already is very solid and extremely useful. Thanks again for sharing it with us.
#50
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 620
Bug: At the moment (for me) AC is not working. It logs in fine, takes forever to the go the search page, and then the search page throws errors. It looks like there was no flight information submitted before the Search button was pressed. Take this with a grain of salt, as AC is not working very well for me in Chrome either, and is atrociously slow in general. But NH works fine for *A.
- Make submitting login details optional if possible. Maybe a user could login in a separate Chrome windows and then the app can use the same session? I created fake logins for a few services to add to the app, but you will get much better adoption if you could allow users to log in with their actual information without needing to add it to the app.
- As the searching happens, eg with NH, it would be great to always have the date being searched for in the progress bar. So with NH, when it says "Navigating to advanced search" you could add "(July 13, 2015)" so that we always know how far along in the process we are.
Now that I reread your question, I think you're saying to include the date in every progress message?
- It would be great to have a tiny bit of help come along with the interface. Right now the only information about how to use the tool is in the Help section; even a tool tip when mousing over the airports ("Enter multiple origins or destinations separated by comma") would be good and easy.
- Finally, linking out to some free tools based on the information the user is searching for could be really helpful. For example, when I'm searching for SIN-NRT flights, if I could click a link and be sent here http://www.milez.biz/en/list_rates.php?f=SIN&t=NRT it would be really quick and helpful. If you'd like some more examples of tools like this that would be useful to include I'd be happy to provide.
Thanks!
Last edited by blahter; Jul 14, 2015 at 6:12 pm Reason: Fix image
#51
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 4,784
on a separate note, how does one force a Chrome app update?
I tried it on 2 computers, opened Chrome & Award.Flights app, multiple times, no auto-update
On computer #1, I had to remove & re-install to get the new version (0.60), but all login info & Saved Search are lost
so I haven't done so on computer #2
I tried it on 2 computers, opened Chrome & Award.Flights app, multiple times, no auto-update
On computer #1, I had to remove & re-install to get the new version (0.60), but all login info & Saved Search are lost
so I haven't done so on computer #2
#52
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Canada
Programs: *void
Posts: 2,408
AwardFinder: Yet another award flight search tool
The app's AC interface works. The back-end AC website/engine is another story. It often is down or undergoing regularly daily maintenance after midnite, Eastern time. Open Aeroplan.com in your briwser and then you'll see the reason why the app is stalling.
Jerry, forcing all apps/extensions to manually update:
chrome://extensions/
> click ON "Developer Mode"
> "Update Extensions now"
Jerry, forcing all apps/extensions to manually update:
chrome://extensions/
> click ON "Developer Mode"
> "Update Extensions now"
#53
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 54
Could you send me (either here or PM) what you were searching for? With AC, the app is actually filling out the form behind the scenes through hidden inputs so you won't see the form being filled out. It seems to be working for me but AC is a little finicky and they like to change around quite a bit.
This can kind of work but it won't be a normal Chrome window since apps have no access to regular browser windows. The way it could work would be moving each of the iframes you see when in debug mode and creating a separate window for each of them but that might get unwieldy really quick. I can understand not wanting to add credentials to the app but I'm not sure if this trade-off is worth it, especially if it spawns 2-3 windows each time.
Really, it's fine as it is.
I should note that sometimes searches take a long, long time for me. Like 10 mins to search 10 dates. So for many users this may be less of a concern.
Thanks! Of course if the user was searching 2 passengers I guess you would indicate 2+.
Thanks for the quick response! It's great to use tools that have responsive developers.
Last edited by ninegoodthings; Jul 14, 2015 at 11:40 am
#55
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 54
Turns out my issue with searching on AC was that I was using a city code, which AC doesn't accept.
That would be a great tool tip - "We recommend using multiple airport codes, rather than a single city code, because not all engines recognize city codes."
That would be a great tool tip - "We recommend using multiple airport codes, rather than a single city code, because not all engines recognize city codes."
#56
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 620
The ones I've handled:
JL
- JFK/EWR/LGA -> NYC
- ORD/MDW -> CHI
- LHR/LGW -> LON
- CDG/ORY -> PAR
NH
- NYC->JFK/EWR
#58
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 4,784
Some new thoughts
- can we default to Economy cabin pre-checked?
- I prefer "Restrictive" option pre-checked
- I prefer the Filters section to always show instead of hidden and click-to-expand
* maybe above 3 can be made an option in Settings so we can check the DEFAULT options we like. For me it's Economy+Restrictive+show Filter. Some may want Business+Restrictive+hide Filter
Another few
- Is it possible/easy to break down results by Date?
It gets hard to separate if I'm looking at 10 days at once. Even worse if each day has 2-3 options, and I look at both AC + BA
- Possible to add [+] button to expand/collapse each search engine?
e.g. If I search AC+BA now, they show all results at once without anyway to hide either one
thanks
- can we default to Economy cabin pre-checked?
- I prefer "Restrictive" option pre-checked
- I prefer the Filters section to always show instead of hidden and click-to-expand
* maybe above 3 can be made an option in Settings so we can check the DEFAULT options we like. For me it's Economy+Restrictive+show Filter. Some may want Business+Restrictive+hide Filter
Another few
- Is it possible/easy to break down results by Date?
It gets hard to separate if I'm looking at 10 days at once. Even worse if each day has 2-3 options, and I look at both AC + BA
- Possible to add [+] button to expand/collapse each search engine?
e.g. If I search AC+BA now, they show all results at once without anyway to hide either one
thanks