Jul 19, 2021, 9:34 pm
Last edit by: Adam Smith
SADLY, AS OF OCTOBER 5, THIS TOOL HAS BEEN SHUT DOWN INDEFINITELY AND LIKELY PERMANENTLY, AS DESCRIBED IN THIS POST.
Other cowtools remain available at cowtool.com
ACCESS RULES ARE CLEARLY DESCRIBED BELOW. READ THEM. DO NOT POST OR PM ADAM SMITH ABOUT ACCESS, OR YOU WILL BE BANNED FROM EVER GETTING ACCESS TO THE TOOL.
[PSA from forum moderator Adam Smith: since it doesn't seem obvious to everyone, please note that the cowtool was created by cowtool. He has invested hundreds of hours in creating this very useful tool and making it available to the FT community. I, Adam Smith, have had nothing to do with creation of the cowtool. I can do nothing to get you access to the cowtool. Please do not ask me to give you access - I can't and won't, and will suggest that you be blocked from the tool for this waste of time, and lack of appreciation for cowtool's efforts, as described in more detail in this post. Also note that, other than this section and a clearly indicated moderator note below, the author of this wiki, writing in first person, is canadiancow, on behalf of [cowtool].
Please do not PM other Flyertalk users to try and gain access to cowtool, for the same reasons Adam's laid out above. - YOWgary
https://acrewardsearcher.cowtool.com/
Due to abuse, you must now first register (see https://www.cowtool.com, and read the rest of this wiki) and sign in to use it. All access is logged (not what you're searching, but the complexity of the searches, and the number of searches). Abusers will be throttled or terminated. Continued abuse will lead to a more involved registration process, up to and including personal vetting by cowtool.
Access to this cowtool for new users is temporarily disabled due to anticipated ("I'm going to make a big blog post") publicity and actual increases in usage. This is not free for me, and I am concerned what will happen if all the US major blogs pick it up.
If anyone "new" needs an account here, as long as you have 25 posts and your account is at least 3 months old, please register for a cowtool account, and then PM me (please include your email address) and I'll set you up with reward search access.
YOU DO NOT NEED TO INCLUDE ANYTHING IN THE PM OTHER THAN YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS. The PM interface shows me your posts and join date. A lot of people have explicitly included that information. It's unnecessary. I also don't need a paragraph of text, whether it's a please to bend the rules, or immense thanks. My life is immensely easier if the subject is "cowtool access" and the message is "[email protected]". I don't read the messages anyway.
However, I will read your posts, so don't spam FT with crap please. If you have a genuine interest in travel, points, and so on, it really isn't hard to make 25 contributive posts to FlyerTalk and be eligible for access. If you do not meet this threshold, I am not making an exception for you. Not because you live in SFO like me, not because you're really excited, and not because of any personal issues. In fact, if you PM me without meeting the requirements, you will be blocked from ever getting access. Moderator note: the rules for access are very clear. Please don't post in this thread, or anywhere else, asking how you can get access, offering to pay for access, or asking for the access rules to be changed. Those posts will be deleted.
I do not process PMs instantly. My goal is at least once per week, so it may take a few days.
Additionally, any Prince of Travel Platinum members may contact canadiancow over POT Discord for access.
Alerts
Basic price alerts were currently in available to all registered users. They have been turned off due to high load, until the system can be re-written to accommodate them.
Full search/availability alerts are in early alpha.
Each account is limited to 4 alerts* for now.
A price alert is set on a specific itinerary that includes AC metal (this may be expanded as we begin to see EK dynamic pricing). The general idea is that you making a booking at price X, set an alert, and then if the price drops, you'll get an email, and can rebook the itinerary at a lower price and cancel the old, more expensive, booking. This really only works well if you're SE or booked a fare with no cancellation fee. All results with AC flights will show a "Price alert" link on the right. Clicking this will add one. You can view all your alerts in the alerts section, where you can delete them, or select two one-way alerts to merge into a round-trip alert, which will determine the current round-trip price and reset the alert level (since round-trip pricing is not the sum of the two one-ways).
If you have at least 2500 FT posts and would like access to the price alert beta, send me a PM including the email you used to sign up for cowtool. There are currently no exceptions on the post count restriction. I am trying to slowly roll this out, and need an easy way to expand access, ideally to people who have contributed to FT a lot.
* Due to the fact that a round-trip alert requires making and then merging two alerts, the technical limit is 5, but I'm advertising it as 4.
Having Trouble? Hold "shift" and click the refresh button.
Feature Requests:
Bugs:
Other cowtools remain available at cowtool.com
https://acrewardsearcher.cowtool.com/
Due to abuse, you must now first register (see https://www.cowtool.com, and read the rest of this wiki) and sign in to use it. All access is logged (not what you're searching, but the complexity of the searches, and the number of searches). Abusers will be throttled or terminated. Continued abuse will lead to a more involved registration process, up to and including personal vetting by cowtool.
Access to this cowtool for new users is temporarily disabled due to anticipated ("I'm going to make a big blog post") publicity and actual increases in usage. This is not free for me, and I am concerned what will happen if all the US major blogs pick it up.
If anyone "new" needs an account here, as long as you have 25 posts and your account is at least 3 months old, please register for a cowtool account, and then PM me (please include your email address) and I'll set you up with reward search access.
YOU DO NOT NEED TO INCLUDE ANYTHING IN THE PM OTHER THAN YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS. The PM interface shows me your posts and join date. A lot of people have explicitly included that information. It's unnecessary. I also don't need a paragraph of text, whether it's a please to bend the rules, or immense thanks. My life is immensely easier if the subject is "cowtool access" and the message is "[email protected]". I don't read the messages anyway.
However, I will read your posts, so don't spam FT with crap please. If you have a genuine interest in travel, points, and so on, it really isn't hard to make 25 contributive posts to FlyerTalk and be eligible for access. If you do not meet this threshold, I am not making an exception for you. Not because you live in SFO like me, not because you're really excited, and not because of any personal issues. In fact, if you PM me without meeting the requirements, you will be blocked from ever getting access. Moderator note: the rules for access are very clear. Please don't post in this thread, or anywhere else, asking how you can get access, offering to pay for access, or asking for the access rules to be changed. Those posts will be deleted.
I do not process PMs instantly. My goal is at least once per week, so it may take a few days.
Additionally, any Prince of Travel Platinum members may contact canadiancow over POT Discord for access.
Alerts
Basic price alerts were currently in available to all registered users. They have been turned off due to high load, until the system can be re-written to accommodate them.
Full search/availability alerts are in early alpha.
Each account is limited to 4 alerts* for now.
A price alert is set on a specific itinerary that includes AC metal (this may be expanded as we begin to see EK dynamic pricing). The general idea is that you making a booking at price X, set an alert, and then if the price drops, you'll get an email, and can rebook the itinerary at a lower price and cancel the old, more expensive, booking. This really only works well if you're SE or booked a fare with no cancellation fee. All results with AC flights will show a "Price alert" link on the right. Clicking this will add one. You can view all your alerts in the alerts section, where you can delete them, or select two one-way alerts to merge into a round-trip alert, which will determine the current round-trip price and reset the alert level (since round-trip pricing is not the sum of the two one-ways).
If you have at least 2500 FT posts and would like access to the price alert beta, send me a PM including the email you used to sign up for cowtool. There are currently no exceptions on the post count restriction. I am trying to slowly roll this out, and need an easy way to expand access, ideally to people who have contributed to FT a lot.
* Due to the fact that a round-trip alert requires making and then merging two alerts, the technical limit is 5, but I'm advertising it as 4.
Having Trouble? Hold "shift" and click the refresh button.
Feature Requests:
Allowing alerting by brandFinish and release alerts"Copy into round-trip alert" instead of "merge into" in case you want bothOption to launch AC.com in new tab should be saved to your accountShow more information about stops, such as the timeSave filters to profileHistorical pricesColored background gradiated by %age of mixed cabin. Solid green if 100%, fading to white as percentage drops...Option to enable a priority reward discountLie-flat filter (maybe with lie-flat % filter as well?) - Unsure if this data is easily accessible+/- 1 or 2 days dropdown if entering a single value for date at top, grayed out if entering more than one date or rangeCities/Aircraft/Airlines should allow an OR condition in addition to the default/current AND
Annoying error dialog pops up far too regularly related to JS/Cognito crap
[SHUT DOWN] Unofficial Advanced AC Reward Search Tool (cowtool)
Feb 2, 2023, 8:53 am
#766
Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 36
Thank you canadiancow for this tool. Just a quick reminder if you are using eupgrades, always check the PE flex too,
Was looking for BRU-YYZ on 2023-05-22: . Y Lat 63,100 pts and PY Flex 70,300 pts (on cowtools and before signing in AC)
However, after signing in (Black card holder) Lat 61 000 pts and PY Flex is 60.900 pts !!
Was looking for BRU-YYZ on 2023-05-22: . Y Lat 63,100 pts and PY Flex 70,300 pts (on cowtools and before signing in AC)
However, after signing in (Black card holder) Lat 61 000 pts and PY Flex is 60.900 pts !!
Feb 4, 2023, 8:02 am
#768
Join Date: Feb 2023
Posts: 1
Thank you canadiancow for this tool. I bought a NYC-YVR-NRT ticket last year for $1200. I wish I have known about this tool beforehand.
Feb 4, 2023, 9:22 am
#769
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: SFO
Programs: AC SE MM, BA Gold, SQ Silver, Bonvoy Tit LTG, Hyatt Glob, HH Diamond
Posts: 44,318
Okay I've gone through the last week of requests and added everyone who followed the instructions.
Which, I'm happy to say, was about 90% of the requests for a change.
Which, I'm happy to say, was about 90% of the requests for a change.
Feb 4, 2023, 4:41 pm
#770
Join Date: Jan 2020
Location: Houston
Programs: UA, Hyatt Globolist, Marriott Pla, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 45
Canadiancow , much appreciate for doing that. I saw my friend used this and really impressive by the functionality. As I based in the UA hub , it is extremly helpful to see the options and think it is more useful than the expertflyer I currently use. Haven't unlocked the award ticket search functionality yet, but look foward to it.
Feb 4, 2023, 9:57 pm
#771
Join Date: Aug 2016
Posts: 62
Also the statement in the instruction about targeting process of requests at least once a week is very helpful too, which sets our expectation.
Awesome job!!~~~
My request was sent early morning (~1AM) this Monday (Jan 30), I guess technically it counts as this week, LoL.
I'm checking a few times daily, and looking forward to access the remarkable award ticket search function.
Thank you!~~~
Feb 4, 2023, 10:09 pm
#772
Join Date: Sep 2018
Posts: 29
Ooh, this sounds like a very useful and powerful tool! Eager to unlock it and fight along with everyone else for ANA flights lol.
Feb 5, 2023, 7:22 am
#773
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: YYZ
Posts: 595
I'll join the thanks party here, flexible on dates and was able to find myself two J tickets YYZ-IAD-BRU for 56.6k each in July. Great tool!
Feb 6, 2023, 5:26 pm
#774
Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Plat, Hyatt Globalist, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 119
Thank you for this tool Canadiancow! Quick question - is the F search limited to certain airlines? Seeing EY F & J availability on AC but cowtool only returns J. Confirmed filter is enabled
Feb 6, 2023, 5:42 pm
#775
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2015
Location: BOS, YVR, ZRH
Programs: *G
Posts: 17,398
For the exact same flight search? Can you post the example? The tool literally uses the AC search so it's next to impossible to give different results...
Feb 6, 2023, 5:49 pm
#776
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: SFO
Programs: AC SE MM, BA Gold, SQ Silver, Bonvoy Tit LTG, Hyatt Glob, HH Diamond
Posts: 44,318
It will show F if there's F available...
But I agree, if you're producing different results on AC.com, then I'd like to know about it
But I agree, if you're producing different results on AC.com, then I'd like to know about it
Feb 6, 2023, 6:47 pm
#777
Join Date: Jan 2023
Location: Virginia
Programs: AMEX
Posts: 30
We would like to stay in Kyoto so we would land ITM and we are thinking Sep/Oct this year.
Thank you
what is the best way to use reward flight search if you want to have a layover in Japan for a few days on your way from east coast USA to Asia ?
Thank you
We would like to stay in Kyoto so we would land ITM and we are thinking Sep/Oct this year.
Thank you
Thank you
what is the best way to use reward flight search if you want to have a layover in Japan for a few days on your way from east coast USA to Asia ?
Thank you
We would like to stay in Kyoto so we would land ITM and we are thinking Sep/Oct this year.
Thank you
Last edited by Adam Smith; Feb 6, 2023 at 7:28 pm Reason: Merge consecutive posts by same user
Feb 6, 2023, 6:59 pm
#778
Join Date: Mar 2022
Posts: 8
The results I get on AC.com are often somewhat lower than what I find in your tool, but I believe it is because I have an Aeroplan CC.
Last edited by lantro; Feb 6, 2023 at 8:09 pm
Feb 6, 2023, 7:18 pm
#779
Join Date: Jan 2019
Posts: 218
Wonder the alert is just for the price change or can it alert me the availability of certain route on certain dates?
Feb 6, 2023, 7:45 pm
#780
Join Date: Sep 2018
Posts: 220
How come AC does not have issues with this tool being around? I'm sure they're not happy about hundreds (thousands?) of people using it to scrape their website daily.