Jul 17, 2014, 1:23 pm
Last edit by: hillrider
This thread is for ExpertFlyer Information and Updates only (as per its title) and many subscribe to it for this purpose. For other issues, please see the ExpertFlyer.com Help Desk thread.
If you have any questions about using ExpertFlyer or wish to report any issues, please email them at [email protected].
If you have any questions about using ExpertFlyer or wish to report any issues, please email them at [email protected].
ExpertFlyer.com - Master Information and Updates Thread
Oct 12, 2016, 10:59 pm
#1036
Left Expert Flyer 4/23
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 2,741
100% SkyTeam Award Coverage
We are happy to announce that ExpertFlyer now has 100% SkyTeam Award search coverage. This also means that Flight Alerts can be used to alert for Award inventory on all SkyTeam airlines.
The following SkyTeam airlines have been added or improved for award searching via the Award & Upgrade search tool:
As always, the full list of supported airlines and classes for Award & Upgrade searching can be found here: http://www.expertflyer.com/sessionlessClassList.do
If you have any issues please email us directly at [email protected]
The following SkyTeam airlines have been added or improved for award searching via the Award & Upgrade search tool:
- AeroMexico
- Korean Air (Now supports all routes)
- China Airlines
- Mandarin Airlines
- Vietnam Airlines
- Saudia
- MEA Middle East Airlines
- Aerolineas Argentinas
- Garuda Indonesia
- TAROM - Romanian Air
As always, the full list of supported airlines and classes for Award & Upgrade searching can be found here: http://www.expertflyer.com/sessionlessClassList.do
If you have any issues please email us directly at [email protected]
Oct 16, 2016, 7:40 am
#1037
Join Date: Oct 2016
Programs: Virgin Flying Club, BA Exec Club
Posts: 6
ExpertFlyer - Is it worth it
Hi,
I have skimmed over the various threads on here, and there is one thing I can't work out.
For a regular traveller, using one airline, only flying a couple of destinations (but a lot), is the pro membership on ExpertFlyer worth the money?
Any thoughts appreciated.
Cheers
I have skimmed over the various threads on here, and there is one thing I can't work out.
For a regular traveller, using one airline, only flying a couple of destinations (but a lot), is the pro membership on ExpertFlyer worth the money?
Any thoughts appreciated.
Cheers
Oct 16, 2016, 7:43 am
#1038
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2012
Programs: BA Gold, QF WP
Posts: 12,551
What features of ExpertFlyer do you plan to use?
Oct 16, 2016, 7:52 am
#1039
Join Date: Oct 2016
Programs: Virgin Flying Club, BA Exec Club
Posts: 6
Cabin availability, least occupied flights per cabin, stuff like that.
Oct 16, 2016, 8:07 am
#1040
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2012
Programs: BA Gold, QF WP
Posts: 12,551
Oct 16, 2016, 8:14 am
#1041
Moderator: Travel Safety/Security, Travel Tools, California, Los Angeles; FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: LAX
Programs: oneword Emerald
Posts: 20,639
Hi,
I have skimmed over the various threads on here, and there is one thing I can't work out.
For a regular traveller, using one airline, only flying a couple of destinations (but a lot), is the pro membership on ExpertFlyer worth the money?
Any thoughts appreciated.
Cheers
I have skimmed over the various threads on here, and there is one thing I can't work out.
For a regular traveller, using one airline, only flying a couple of destinations (but a lot), is the pro membership on ExpertFlyer worth the money?
Any thoughts appreciated.
Cheers
Let me put in here a big plug for ExpertFlyer. Even though I'm very much a travel geek, I resisted paying the bucks to get this service until a few months ago. Man, is this useful. I'm quickly finding the award and upgrade information that used to be such a laborious process.
If you look at your miles as your ticket into the premium cabins, EF is well worth the fee.
If you look at your miles as your ticket into the premium cabins, EF is well worth the fee.
I've seen people question here and elsewhere the value of ExpertFlyer subscription fee. I thought I would document two cases where EF has clearly paid for itself...
A few weeks ago I was shopping for a New York to Europe flight in June. I had a specific flight in mind and found fares around the $950 mark. But I didn't act. Two weeks ago I decided to buy and went back to book it... fare had jumped to ~$1400. Ugh. United had zeroed out the lower fare classes. Rather than pay the $1400 I suspected that if I was patient they might release seats at the lower fare -- so I set up an EF alert. A few days ago the alert triggered and I went in and purchased the flight at $950.
Last year I had purchased a business class flight New York to SE Asia, it was pretty pricey, fully refundable. I set up an EF alert for the "discounted" business class fare buckets just in case it became available. Remarkably at about 24 hours before flight time the alert fired... I was able to purchase a new business class ticket on exactly the same flights and then cancel my existing ticket... savings in the order of $2000.
Then there are award seat, upgrade and empty seat alerts to which you cannot attach a specific monetary value. E.g. I know that if a higher tier frequent flyer gets upgraded then their nice aisle or window seat at the front of economy will free up... so I put alerts on those so that I can move myself from further back in economy cabin should anything open.
I don't travel nearly as much as i used to, but I have kept my EF subscription active because it really doesn't take much for the $99 to be worth it.
Keep up the good work guys.
Thank you
DAK
A few weeks ago I was shopping for a New York to Europe flight in June. I had a specific flight in mind and found fares around the $950 mark. But I didn't act. Two weeks ago I decided to buy and went back to book it... fare had jumped to ~$1400. Ugh. United had zeroed out the lower fare classes. Rather than pay the $1400 I suspected that if I was patient they might release seats at the lower fare -- so I set up an EF alert. A few days ago the alert triggered and I went in and purchased the flight at $950.
Last year I had purchased a business class flight New York to SE Asia, it was pretty pricey, fully refundable. I set up an EF alert for the "discounted" business class fare buckets just in case it became available. Remarkably at about 24 hours before flight time the alert fired... I was able to purchase a new business class ticket on exactly the same flights and then cancel my existing ticket... savings in the order of $2000.
Then there are award seat, upgrade and empty seat alerts to which you cannot attach a specific monetary value. E.g. I know that if a higher tier frequent flyer gets upgraded then their nice aisle or window seat at the front of economy will free up... so I put alerts on those so that I can move myself from further back in economy cabin should anything open.
I don't travel nearly as much as i used to, but I have kept my EF subscription active because it really doesn't take much for the $99 to be worth it.
Keep up the good work guys.
Thank you
DAK
Nov 13, 2016, 3:18 pm
#1042
Left Expert Flyer 4/23
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 2,741
AA Fare Class Changes and ExpertFlyer
As of today, for flights from Jan 11 onward, AA has made changes to how they code their US Domestic First Class cabin on 2-cabin flights. While still marketed as "First", internally the cabin is being treated as a Business class cabin. As such the fare, upgrade and award classes for 2-cabin US domestic flights have changed for flights starting Jan 11:
Paid Class Changes
F -> J
A -> I
P -> D
Upgrade Class Changes
X -> R (as before, not viewable on ExpertFlyer)
A -> C
Award Class Changes
Z -> U
What this means for ExpertFlyer
If you have a Flight Alert for a class code for the First cabin on 2-cabin US Domestic flight then your Flight Alert needs to be updated. To do so:
- Login to your ExpertFlyer account
- Go to the View Saved Alerts page
- In the Flight Alerts section, delete the existing Flight Alert
- Create a new Flight Alert from either the Flight Availability or Award & Upgrade results pages or the Create New Flight Alert page.
If you have any questions about these changes or your alerts, please email us at [email protected] or post in the ExpertFlyer Help Desk Thread
Paid Class Changes
F -> J
A -> I
P -> D
Upgrade Class Changes
X -> R (as before, not viewable on ExpertFlyer)
A -> C
Award Class Changes
Z -> U
What this means for ExpertFlyer
If you have a Flight Alert for a class code for the First cabin on 2-cabin US Domestic flight then your Flight Alert needs to be updated. To do so:
- Login to your ExpertFlyer account
- Go to the View Saved Alerts page
- In the Flight Alerts section, delete the existing Flight Alert
- Create a new Flight Alert from either the Flight Availability or Award & Upgrade results pages or the Create New Flight Alert page.
If you have any questions about these changes or your alerts, please email us at [email protected] or post in the ExpertFlyer Help Desk Thread
Nov 16, 2016, 7:10 pm
#1043
Left Expert Flyer 4/23
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 2,741
New Award Airlines - VS, VA, EY
We are happy to announce that ExpertFlyer now has added the following airlines for Award & Upgrade searching:
As always, the full list of supported airlines and classes for Award & Upgrade searching can be found here: http://www.expertflyer.com/sessionlessClassList.do
If you have any issues please email us directly at [email protected]
- Virgin Atlantic
- Virgin Australia
- Etihad Airways
As always, the full list of supported airlines and classes for Award & Upgrade searching can be found here: http://www.expertflyer.com/sessionlessClassList.do
If you have any issues please email us directly at [email protected]
Jan 13, 2017, 11:38 am
#1044
Left Expert Flyer 4/23
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 2,741
New Award Airlines - KU & VX
We are happy to announce that ExpertFlyer now has added the following airlines for Award & Upgrade searching:
As always, the full list of supported airlines and classes for Award & Upgrade searching can be found here: http://www.expertflyer.com/sessionlessClassList.do
If you have any issues please email us directly at [email protected]
- Kuwait Airways
- Virgin America
As always, the full list of supported airlines and classes for Award & Upgrade searching can be found here: http://www.expertflyer.com/sessionlessClassList.do
If you have any issues please email us directly at [email protected]
Jan 17, 2017, 11:57 pm
#1045
Left Expert Flyer 4/23
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 2,741
New Points of Sale
We are happy to announce that we have added 4 new Points of Sale for Flight Availability class code data:
That is in addition to the UK and USA points of sale that we previously supported.
Also as before you can set a default POS from the Preferences tab on the My Account page (on the full website).
As part of this update we now have the ability to add additional points of sale to ExpertFlyer in the future. We have created a survey to collect feedback as to which countries we should add next: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MGQP9VL
If you encounter any issues, please email us directly at [email protected]
- Germany
- Singapore
- Australia
- Hong Kong
That is in addition to the UK and USA points of sale that we previously supported.
Also as before you can set a default POS from the Preferences tab on the My Account page (on the full website).
As part of this update we now have the ability to add additional points of sale to ExpertFlyer in the future. We have created a survey to collect feedback as to which countries we should add next: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MGQP9VL
If you encounter any issues, please email us directly at [email protected]
Jan 18, 2017, 4:48 pm
#1046
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: London
Programs: Mucci. Nothing else matters.
Posts: 38,644
We are happy to announce that we have added 4 new Points of Sale for Flight Availability class code data:
That is in addition to the UK and USA points of sale that we previously supported.
Also as before you can set a default POS from the Preferences tab on the My Account page (on the full website).
- Germany
- Singapore
- Australia
- Hong Kong
That is in addition to the UK and USA points of sale that we previously supported.
Also as before you can set a default POS from the Preferences tab on the My Account page (on the full website).
I did notice that my POS default setting has been reset to US (from UK) as part of this upgrade. It's no hassle to change it back via the Preferences tab, but I thought I might mention it in case anyone else wonders what's gone wrong (especially if they get unexpected search results without noticing a change in the POS default).
Jan 18, 2017, 9:43 pm
#1047
Left Expert Flyer 4/23
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 2,741
Thank you for this news. That will be useful - indeed, for me the new POS searches are already proving their worth.
I did notice that my POS default setting has been reset to US (from UK) as part of this upgrade. It's no hassle to change it back via the Preferences tab, but I thought I might mention it in case anyone else wonders what's gone wrong (especially if they get unexpected search results without noticing a change in the POS default).
I did notice that my POS default setting has been reset to US (from UK) as part of this upgrade. It's no hassle to change it back via the Preferences tab, but I thought I might mention it in case anyone else wonders what's gone wrong (especially if they get unexpected search results without noticing a change in the POS default).
Fixed, all previously set UK POS preferences will work now, thanks for letting us know.
Feb 1, 2017, 1:30 pm
#1049
Left Expert Flyer 4/23
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 2,741
Removal of "2 zero flights only" restriction
We're excited to let you know that our reservation system provider has removed the restriction where only a maximum of 2 flights that have zero inventory are returned for a search.
Now, when doing an Award/Upgrade or Flight Availability search for airlines using that reservation system, such as AA, all flights with zero availability will be returned. This will allow for easier creation of Flight Alerts for those flights, especially for had to find awards and upgrades.
Now, when doing an Award/Upgrade or Flight Availability search for airlines using that reservation system, such as AA, all flights with zero availability will be returned. This will allow for easier creation of Flight Alerts for those flights, especially for had to find awards and upgrades.
Mar 13, 2017, 10:50 pm
#1050
Left Expert Flyer 4/23
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 2,741
Additional Points of Sale Added
We are happy to announce that we have added 6 new Points of Sale for Flight Availability class code data:
This is in addition to the points of sale that we previously supported:
If you encounter any issues, please email us directly at [email protected]
(Our apologies about the lack of alphabetic sorting of the list, this will be addressed next week.)
- Brazil
- France
- Italy
- Spain
- Switzerland
- UAE
This is in addition to the points of sale that we previously supported:
- Germany
- Singapore
- Australia
- Hong Kong
- USA
- UK
If you encounter any issues, please email us directly at [email protected]
(Our apologies about the lack of alphabetic sorting of the list, this will be addressed next week.)