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)
Apr 13, 2023, 1:07 pm
#931
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: BC, Canada
Programs: Bonvoy Titanium Elite, VSE/MVC Chairman's Club
Posts: 548
If you do the same search Apr16-30, it returns zero, one, or two of Apr 20 and Apr 21
Apr 13, 2023, 10:49 pm
#932
Moderator, Air Canada; FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: YYC
Programs: AC SE MM, FB Plat, WS Plat, BA Silver, DL GM, Marriott Plat, Hilton Gold, Accor Silver
Posts: 16,836
This moderator note may be futile, since these people don't seem to read the thread or the wiki, but I'll just note that people inexplicably continue to post or PM me for access, and this is a really bad idea. I loved the one guy who referred specifically to the wiki in this thread, with a link, who clearly hadn't read it.
So, I've updated the title of the thread and put a note at the top of the wiki in gigantic red font to try to make it even more clear. But $5 says that by the end of the weekend, I'll get at least one more PM or someone will post in the thread asking about access. Likely both.
So, I've updated the title of the thread and put a note at the top of the wiki in gigantic red font to try to make it even more clear. But $5 says that by the end of the weekend, I'll get at least one more PM or someone will post in the thread asking about access. Likely both.
Last edited by Adam Smith; Apr 14, 2023 at 12:15 am Reason: Add info
Apr 13, 2023, 11:28 pm
#933
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: 44,467
I tend to wait two days to process PMs I get, just to give Adam a chance to block them first if they've been misbehaving.
Though I can't believe how many PMs I continue to get that are missing key information. I don't need a paragraph of text. I probably won't even read it. I do, however, need your cowtool account email.
Though I can't believe how many PMs I continue to get that are missing key information. I don't need a paragraph of text. I probably won't even read it. I do, however, need your cowtool account email.
Apr 14, 2023, 12:07 pm
#934
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: BC, Canada
Programs: Bonvoy Titanium Elite, VSE/MVC Chairman's Club
Posts: 548
it's still happening, now that that UA saver awards are back. it's returning a random combination of Apr 29, May 4, May 5, May 7 (which corresponds to availability on United's web site) on successive runs with no errors in the log section (i did see a 429 once against one of the days, but it hasn't happened again)
not a problem per se, but it makes the result set "unreliable" at least for me for this search. i'm double-checking it on the AC and UA sites, but that takes way more time than your wonderful tool...
Apr 14, 2023, 12:19 pm
#935
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: 44,467
My Search (Apr 26-May16)
it's still happening, now that that UA saver awards are back. it's returning a random combination of Apr 29, May 4, May 5, May 7 (which corresponds to availability on United's web site) on successive runs with no errors in the log section (i did see a 429 once against one of the days, but it hasn't happened again)
not a problem per se, but it makes the result set "unreliable" at least for me for this search. i'm double-checking it on the AC and UA sites, but that takes way more time than your wonderful tool...
it's still happening, now that that UA saver awards are back. it's returning a random combination of Apr 29, May 4, May 5, May 7 (which corresponds to availability on United's web site) on successive runs with no errors in the log section (i did see a 429 once against one of the days, but it hasn't happened again)
not a problem per se, but it makes the result set "unreliable" at least for me for this search. i'm double-checking it on the AC and UA sites, but that takes way more time than your wonderful tool...
People grab, hold, and release space all the time. Airline RM systems adjust things all the time. Airline inventory systems fail to return results all the time.
I don't think there's actually an issue with cowtool here.
Apr 14, 2023, 12:28 pm
#936
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: BC, Canada
Programs: Bonvoy Titanium Elite, VSE/MVC Chairman's Club
Posts: 548
thanks for looking in to it -- that makes sense, and i didn't think of refreshing the AC/UA web pages to see if they did the same thing...
Apr 15, 2023, 9:11 pm
#937
Join Date: Nov 2019
Location: Toronto, ON
Programs: AC SE100K, Star Alliance - Gold, Bonvoy-Titanium, Hilton-Gold, Avis-President's Club
Posts: 158
Thx cow. Just signed up today. Will learn in more details about using the rest of the functions. I’ve been using ur sqm calculator to forecast my year end!
Apr 18, 2023, 12:14 am
#938
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: 44,467
Having just noticed how big the text at the top of the wiki is, I just want to say "lol".
I've also edited the wiki a bit.
First, in terms of the PM, if the subject is "cowtool access", and the body is your email address, that's ideal. I'm literally just going through PMs copying and pasting stuff to grant access. The worst you can do is add a period to the end of your email address, because it adds extra effort, since Windows seems to like highlighting everything between the spaces. But I absolutely do not need three paragraphs of text. I appreciate that sometimes it's "can I send you money" or "even if you're not accepting money, can I buy you a drink" or "even if you're not accepting anything with monetary value, is there a charity you'd like me to send money to". But the answer to the first two questions is always no, and (if I actually ready your PM) the answer to the third question is "totally not necessary, but pick whatever suits you". But honestly, the shorter the message, the easier it is for me.
Second, you are not bypassing the restrictions outlined in the wiki. I don't know why so many people try. Regardless of anything else, if your PM doesn't have a valid cowtool account email, it gets ignored. If it does have have a valid cowtool account email, and you have not met the requirements, you get permanently blocked from this tool. There is nothing to gain from PMing me with 0 posts. Or 24 posts.
I'd written a "Third, ...", but I realized it was better left unsaid.
I've also edited the wiki a bit.
First, in terms of the PM, if the subject is "cowtool access", and the body is your email address, that's ideal. I'm literally just going through PMs copying and pasting stuff to grant access. The worst you can do is add a period to the end of your email address, because it adds extra effort, since Windows seems to like highlighting everything between the spaces. But I absolutely do not need three paragraphs of text. I appreciate that sometimes it's "can I send you money" or "even if you're not accepting money, can I buy you a drink" or "even if you're not accepting anything with monetary value, is there a charity you'd like me to send money to". But the answer to the first two questions is always no, and (if I actually ready your PM) the answer to the third question is "totally not necessary, but pick whatever suits you". But honestly, the shorter the message, the easier it is for me.
Second, you are not bypassing the restrictions outlined in the wiki. I don't know why so many people try. Regardless of anything else, if your PM doesn't have a valid cowtool account email, it gets ignored. If it does have have a valid cowtool account email, and you have not met the requirements, you get permanently blocked from this tool. There is nothing to gain from PMing me with 0 posts. Or 24 posts.
I'd written a "Third, ...", but I realized it was better left unsaid.
Apr 18, 2023, 8:32 am
#939
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: YOW
Programs: AC SE, FOTSG Platinum
Posts: 5,784
Last edited by YOWgary; Apr 18, 2023 at 8:38 am
Apr 18, 2023, 8:36 am
#940
Join Date: Jan 2020
Location: YYZ (&YTA/YOW/YVR)
Programs: AC SE (thanks to canadiancow)
Posts: 34
>the answer to the third question is "totally not necessary, but pick whatever suits you".
May I be so bold as to suggest https://miles4migrants.org ?
May I be so bold as to suggest https://miles4migrants.org ?
Tone it down on that coffee.
Apr 18, 2023, 8:55 am
#941
Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: Halifax
Programs: AC SE100K, Marriott Lifetime Platinum Elite. NEXUS
Posts: 4,582
email = (email =~ s/^(.+)\.?$/$1/)
Apr 18, 2023, 9:48 am
#942
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: YVR - MILLS Waypoint (It's the third house on the left)
Programs: AC*SE100K, wood level status in various other programs
Posts: 6,255
Apr 18, 2023, 4:12 pm
#943
Join Date: Jul 2022
Location: Boston
Programs: Hyatt Globalist, JAL Sapphire
Posts: 38
Got the intermittent "An error occurred" msg for a few mins... it's back now.. just had a heart attack - thought my access was removed :-)
Apr 18, 2023, 4:15 pm
#944
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: 44,467
Yeah I just got a slew of error logs. If it fails and you try again immediately, it might fail again. But waiting a couple minutes usually resolves any intermittent issues.
Apr 18, 2023, 5:36 pm
#945
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: 44,467
I just banned the number 1 heaviest user in the last 14 days.
They were using more than double the credits of number 2. And I've had my eye on number 2 for a while.
Number 2 is almost double number 5.
So this is not something anyone really needs to worry about. Unless you're a bot. Or you're using it 16 hours a day, 7 days a week.
They were using more than double the credits of number 2. And I've had my eye on number 2 for a while.
Number 2 is almost double number 5.
So this is not something anyone really needs to worry about. Unless you're a bot. Or you're using it 16 hours a day, 7 days a week.