jackal

Can't schedule data be legitimately obtained from the GDS?

Not that you (personally) have (or are willing to pay for) GDS access, but I don't see why this necessitates scraping the UA site--schedule data can be obtained from many other sources, either directly or indirectly.

sbm12

Yes, it can. And it can be acquired illegitimately, too. See http://wandr.me/tools/flight_timetable.aspx for proof of that.

If users are willing to build a second copy of their data on a 3rd party site then tracking changes should be relatively trivial. But I'm betting that people mostly don't want to enter all their flight data a second time. Parsing confirmation emails a la Traxo/TripIt would work, but I don't have that in my repertoire yet.


n.b. The link above is to a travel-related commercial site which I operate. FT rules require that I disclose that in the post.

DaviddesJ

I don't think that entering my record locator in order to accesses UA's servers once to retrieve the details of my reservation could reasonably be found to infringe UA's rights. This isn't really any different than using a web browser to visit the site, which is, after all, a software tool.

The terms of service are, of course, extremely broad. They claim to disallow even any 'manual process' for copying any 'content' from the website, i.e., if I write down on a piece of paper information about my reservation then I am in violation of the literal language. But with contracts of adhesion there is a doctrine of unconscionability.

Of course, UA might harass you or cause you trouble anyway.

sbm12

You're free to believe that. But the C&D letter I received (and many others have received similar over the years) suggest that UA disagrees. And unless you're willing to pony up the cash to hire lawyers and fight them it will be a short-lived service.

DaviddesJ

I might be willing to fund litigation if someone really wanted to pursue a test case. Feel free to contact me offline.

mahasamatman

Contrary to popular belief, lawyers are not a requirement to participate in the legal system. People represent themselves all the time. I'd personally love it if United came after me so I could have their T&C invalidated in full as unreasonable and overly broad. Now I just need something for them to come after me for...

BH62

Upgraded a couple of XP computers to Win 7 & now I have to reinstall various apps. On previous installations of Firefox I've used the Expert Flyer 6.1 GreaseMonkey script to show buckets & upgrade availability, but apparently this has fallen into the C&D trap (see upthread) & I can't find the source file. A little poking around found an Android/TamperMonkey/Whatever app that'll install on Chrome. But I prefer Firefox, so is the Firefox script anywhere accessible? Shhh, I won't tell.

mahasamatman

I use it on Firefox. The location should be somewhere in this thread: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...ilability.html. Also, GreaseMonkey scripts should run on either browser.

yosithezet

Without status? I'm Gold in both programs.

Nanette Emrich

This is my first post so hopefully I'm in the right place. My husband has over 100,000 mileage plus points and I am approaching that myself. We have a long international flight coming up and are booked in economy plus. When looking into an upgrade to business class it appears that we would need to use 35,000 points plus cash on each leg to upgrade. And that is just to be wait listed. Am I reading this right or is there some other way to get upgrades? Thanks for any advice!

alex_b

That's correct, but you will get the miles and cash back if you don't clear. If you post your route you'll get a view from people about how likely you are to clear.

If you haven't booked yet, you can enable expert mode and look for R space, which will allow you to upgrade immediately.

RNE

Yes, another (surer) way to upgrade is with cash. Always find out what the all-cash option is before committing to the miles-and-cash option. In some cases, it may make more sense to pay cash. Also, cash is confirmable immediately; no waiting for a waitlist to clear. And you'll earn more PQMs and RDMs with a cash upgrade.

To determine the cash upgrade cost, there is sometimes an option on your reservation to upgrade. That will give you the cash cost. If you don't see it, or even if you do but it says no cash upgrade is available, call UA to ask what it would cost to pay for an upgrade.

Lastly, at check-in there's a chance you'll be offered an opportunity to use cash to upgrade. This offer may be less than the fare difference and therefore is perhaps a good deal. You'll have to decide that for yourself.

thegrailer

What is the "Star Alliance Desk" as opposed to for example, the 1k desk?

Thanks

See e.g.,
Star Alliance Desk

jackal

The Star Alliance Desk folks are specially trained to assist with matters relating to Star Alliance partner itineraries. This can be mileage upgrades on partner carriers, RPU upgrades on Copa flights, GPU upgrades on LH flights (although those are now done by LH at the gate with paper certs, AFAIK), and other things. They are usually very experienced agents who have lots of experience, though, so they can do many things that regular (even Premier) agents can't or don't know how to do.

The only downside of having to contact the *A Desk is that there is no priority queue for Premier members. Even if you call the Premier line and have to be transferred, hold times for the *A Desk can be atrocious. (I know this from personal experience, including once when I was almost denied check-in on a Copa flight because my upgrade hadn't been applied properly, and I was waiting on hold to talk to the *A Desk until even after the Copa check-in window had closed...fortunately, they still let me check in once everything was straightened out--and still in business, fortunately!)

thegrailer

Ahhh - @:-)

Let me follow up: How do I get the *A desk? Ask the phone agent to transfer or is there a separate #?

Is this something to add to the wiki?

Cheers and thanks