Originally Posted by drtravix
And by the way, the reason nobody offers a better way to view fare rules/routings is because the GDS' closely monitor "messages" sent to/from their system, and establish a ratio of messages to bookings. If you generate too much traffic/messages without making many bookings, you either get charged for the messages, or lose your contract to access the GDS.
For this reason, it just isn't economical to offer people the ability to perform high volume queries to the GDS, unless it's something which offers a more direct return for the company providing the service.
In my opinion this is short sighted. I would be travelling more if I could see fare rules. But the flip side is that people would make a sample booking just to view the fare rules and not purchase a ticket. MAking a sample booking maynot always work since the fbooking might not show the fare whose rules you want to see.