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UA Blocking Expert Flyer and KVS Access to R and Elite Award Searches.

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Old Oct 30, 2013, 3:36 pm
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UA Insider's reply in posts 247 and 254 of this thread:
Originally Posted by UA Insider
Hi everyone,

We recognize the importance and value to you of accessible and transparent information about United flights. It’s a meaningful part of your travel planning, and we are committed to providing useful information that is both accurate and preserves the integrity of United’s data and systems.

While we are committed to data transparency, Expert Flyer has been accessing united.com in an unauthorized fashion to retrieve UA availability. In addition, these activities have consumed significant united.com bandwidth that could otherwise be used by regular consumers. As a result, we had to take this action to protect the security and integrity of United’s systems.

Thank you for your understanding as to why we had to take this action. We continue to look at ways in which we can provide you with timely and useful information (some of which you will see in new releases of our own digital channels) as well as with partners that have authorized access to our data.

Aaron Goldberg
Sr. Manager - Customer Experience Planning
United Airlines
Originally Posted by UA Insider
Expert mode/visibility in UA channels is unaffected by this.
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UA Blocking Expert Flyer and KVS Access to R and Elite Award Searches.

Old Dec 23, 2013, 3:21 am
  #751  
 
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Originally Posted by WineCountryUA
Another potential reason and closer to what UA stated, had to with the frequency of queries. Some speculated rates were potentially a significant percentage of the total activity.
Amazon realized they needed lots of robust computing, and now they're a major player in providing virtual servers to others. Why doesn't United just monetize this, and charge a small fee per query to any account that makes over a thousand queries per day? Make it a profit center. If forced to "sustainable harvests", third parties like ExpertFlyer would use predictive modeling to determine which queries were most likely to learn something.

While the gist of this thread is that without tools our GPUs have become Confederate currency, what about our miles themselves? All of my recent award searches have revealed United's award search screens to be outright lies. This may have roots in incompetence as usual, but leaving it unfixed has to be deliberate. Scraping award fare classes is the only way to protect customers from this abuse.
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Old Dec 23, 2013, 10:31 am
  #752  
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Originally Posted by Syzygies
....While the gist of this thread is that without tools our GPUs have become Confederate currency, what about our miles themselves? ...
That is the hyperbola of some. The ability is still there, it is definitely less convenient (I am an EF subscriber) but GPUs are still a great benefit -- just use united.com or KVS or the other tools still available. If you want throw up your hands, just makes it easier for others.
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Old Dec 23, 2013, 11:16 am
  #753  
 
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Originally Posted by WineCountryUA
just use united.com or KVS or the other tools still available. If you want throw up your hands, just makes it easier for others.
Oh great, it's that easy? Find me any layflat nonstop from SFO to Europe, next May/June/July. The answer would appear to be none.

I do understand that someone who earns 1K primarily international, and waitlists GPUs for every flight, typically clears all six by year's end. I'm willing to pay more to plan GPU use in advance, which isn't an option. (I'd welcome a "dutch auction" where GPUs are always valid on some fare classes, with fare management broadening these classes as appropriate. I realize this would be controversial.)
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Old Dec 23, 2013, 11:57 am
  #754  
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Originally Posted by Syzygies
Oh great, it's that easy? Find me any layflat nonstop from SFO to Europe, next May/June/July. The answer would appear to be none.
I don't recall it ever being "easy" to find business class awards nonstop from SFO to Europe over the past fifteen years or so. Particularly during peak summer vacation season, and particularly in the dead zone six months out. Not sure what that has to do with EF being available or not - UA has never been particularly generous with nonstop award space from SFO to Europe.

At the same time, it's pretty much always been the case that awards can be had if you're flexible in your routing, and that's true today just as it was true fifteen years ago. And yes, the absence of EF makes it more cumbersome to find that space, no one disputes that.

The question really is whether you're going to light a candle or curse the darkness?
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Old Dec 23, 2013, 12:05 pm
  #755  
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Originally Posted by Syzygies
Oh great, it's that easy? Find me any layflat nonstop from SFO to Europe, next May/June/July. The answer would appear to be none.....
And how did the existence or not of EF change the availability of business seats for Europe peak season?? Actually for those of us who understand the system, one could argue EF made it hard since the "non-pros" did not have work as hard.

BTW, I booked 1 award + 1 upgraded at booking SFO - Europe for August last month -- many routes at the time were I2 or more, R2 or more(RN5 on FRA-SFO) while EF was still available -- but unneeded for me since all work well online. BTW all the inventory is gone now. Peak season opportunities are there, but the demand is high and disappears quickly -- that why it is called Peak Season.
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Old Dec 24, 2013, 9:09 am
  #756  
 
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Originally Posted by WineCountryUA
BTW, I booked 1 award + 1 upgraded at booking SFO - Europe for August last month -- many routes at the time were I2 or more, R2 or more(RN5 on FRA-SFO) while EF was still available -- but unneeded for me since all work well online. BTW all the inventory is gone now. Peak season opportunities are there, but the demand is high and disappears quickly -- that why it is called Peak Season.
To refine what you're saying, I observed last year that peak season R capacity was grabbed day by day as new GPUs were issued. I qualified for 1K early this year, but without ExpertFlyer or my own tools in place couldn't find flights I wanted in the crucial window before more people reached 1K.

You received your GPUs ahead of me, and found ways to use them. Well done.
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Old Dec 24, 2013, 10:39 am
  #757  
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Originally Posted by Syzygies
To refine what you're saying, I observed last year that peak season R capacity was grabbed day by day as new GPUs were issued. I qualified for 1K early this year, but without ExpertFlyer or my own tools in place couldn't find flights I wanted in the crucial window before more people reached 1K.

You received your GPUs ahead of me, and found ways to use them. Well done.
??? I was looking at travel to Europe and South America for February yesterday and there was reasonable R availability on a variety of flights.
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Old Dec 24, 2013, 10:41 am
  #758  
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Originally Posted by Kacee
??? I was looking at travel to Europe and South America for February yesterday and there was reasonable R availability on a variety of flights.
Agreed. There is still R availability into late April. Come May, it's R=0.
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Old Dec 24, 2013, 10:43 am
  #759  
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Originally Posted by halls120
Agreed. There is still R availability into late April. Come May, it's R=0.
I think May through September to Europe is P fare or sweat out the waitlist (though there will always be the occasional exception).
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Old Dec 24, 2013, 11:26 am
  #760  
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How can I check R availability online at united.com for a reservation for which I've already applied a GPU and am waitlisted? Can I check within "Manage Reservations" or do I need to perform a dummy booking using the advanced search feature and check the "Mileage Plus Upgrade Award" box? Or should I be doing something else altogether?

Man, I miss the ease, convenience, and time saving of checking and monitoring R inventory with ExpertFlyer.
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Old Dec 24, 2013, 11:31 am
  #761  
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Originally Posted by SAT Lawyer
How can I check R availability online at united.com for a reservation for which I've already applied a GPU and am waitlisted? Can I check within "Manage Reservations" or do I need to perform a dummy booking using the advanced search feature and check the "Mileage Plus Upgrade Award" box? Or should I be doing something else altogether?

Man, I miss the ease, convenience, and time saving of checking and monitoring R inventory with ExpertFlyer.
Dummy booking. Enable expert mode. You are looking for fare class R.

Yes, for me this was the most useful feature of EF. It's such a hassle to check for R segment by segment.
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Old Dec 24, 2013, 1:58 pm
  #762  
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Originally Posted by SAT Lawyer
... Man, I miss the ease, convenience, and time saving of checking and monitoring R inventory with ExpertFlyer.
With the exception of auto alerts, KVS offers the same, if you are willing to pay for the convenience (and can run windows software).
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Old Dec 25, 2013, 4:24 pm
  #763  
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Originally Posted by Syzygies
Oh great, it's that easy? Find me any (I'd welcome a "dutch auction" where GPUs are always valid on some fare classes, with fare management broadening these classes as appropriate. I realize this would be controversial.)
This is a great idea. Someone at UA please take notice of this and study it carefully. Many people here would probably be willing to pay a premium coach fare to guarantee an upgrade. I expect this would enhance revenues on your end as well.

Originally Posted by WineCountryUA
With the exception of auto alerts, KVS offers the same, if you are willing to pay for the convenience (and can run windows software).
I agree. And now you can search up to 30 days on KVS. Very convenient.

It would be nice if KVS would allow search by regions. Such as *any* non-stop TATL in a given time window. Someone for KVS, please consider this, I am sure some people would pay a premium for it.

Last edited by iluv2fly; Dec 26, 2013 at 1:22 am Reason: merge
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Old Dec 31, 2013, 8:23 pm
  #764  
 
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Is paying for KVS the only way to search for R inventory now? (other than manually using UA an expert mode) searching one day and flight at a time?
I was trying to search SFO-SYD went from feb-june and couldn't find one R seat. It took forever until it UA stopped responding.
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Old Dec 31, 2013, 8:29 pm
  #765  
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Originally Posted by eng3
It took forever until it UA stopped responding.
That's what really annoys me about UA blocking EF: UA stated the reason was that EF's searches were degrading the site's performance by taking up "bandwidth." Yet since blocking EF, UA's site if anything is slower than before.
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