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 20, 2023, 7:19 pm
#961
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2015
Location: BOS, YVR, ZRH
Programs: *G
Posts: 17,479
I've thought about a CAPTCHA before, but there aren't THAT many people using over 1k/day. My bank account is being hurt a lot more from death by a thousand cuts. I can quantify what 100k credits costs me, but it's not much. But 10k people using an average of 1000 credits per month is a lot more noticeable (to my wallet) than 1 person using 1000 credits per day.
That being said, 12 current users are going to start seeing the following:
I obviously lowered the threshold to generate that screenshot. The threshold is much higher than that (and probably higher than I'd like, but I want to start with a big red warning with a really high threshold). I still have other metrics I use for more manual auditing - this is literally just summing up your credit usage for the last two weeks. And there's no automatic ban... yet.
That being said, 12 current users are going to start seeing the following:
I obviously lowered the threshold to generate that screenshot. The threshold is much higher than that (and probably higher than I'd like, but I want to start with a big red warning with a really high threshold). I still have other metrics I use for more manual auditing - this is literally just summing up your credit usage for the last two weeks. And there's no automatic ban... yet.
Apr 20, 2023, 7:21 pm
#962
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: 44,471
Apr 21, 2023, 1:15 am
#963
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 4,785
Buy some AWS (AMZN) stocks? :P to even out the costs
but yeah, maybe eventually every account gets a quota (say 100/day or 1000/week) <- that's what AwardNexus did
It'd suck if few heavy users abusing the system caused the other 90% to suffer when they need the search (In my world, in reality, nobody should be searching ALL THE TIME, except maybe 3-6 bursts a year when they plan the vacation)
but yeah, maybe eventually every account gets a quota (say 100/day or 1000/week) <- that's what AwardNexus did
It'd suck if few heavy users abusing the system caused the other 90% to suffer when they need the search (In my world, in reality, nobody should be searching ALL THE TIME, except maybe 3-6 bursts a year when they plan the vacation)
Apr 21, 2023, 1:59 am
#964
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: 44,471
Buy some AWS (AMZN) stocks? :P to even out the costs
but yeah, maybe eventually every account gets a quota (say 100/day or 1000/week) <- that's what AwardNexus did
It'd suck if few heavy users abusing the system caused the other 90% to suffer when they need the search (In my world, in reality, nobody should be searching ALL THE TIME, except maybe 3-6 bursts a year when they plan the vacation)
but yeah, maybe eventually every account gets a quota (say 100/day or 1000/week) <- that's what AwardNexus did
It'd suck if few heavy users abusing the system caused the other 90% to suffer when they need the search (In my world, in reality, nobody should be searching ALL THE TIME, except maybe 3-6 bursts a year when they plan the vacation)
Points consultants are some "real users" (as opposed to bots) who might want to use it 40 hours a week. Though they're not generally the problem right now.
Even with the really restricted registration right now (and it's probably 2-3 people a day who gain access - not a ton), overall usage is on a clear upward trend, which suggests to me there's some account sharing going on. But I have a plan for that.
I actually have a few plans that might be able to let me reopen access entirely. But I actually spent a bit of time tonight starting the rewrite of alerts, since I'm a lot more interested in helping contributing members of the community than I'm interested in onboarding new random users.
Apr 21, 2023, 5:06 am
#965
Join Date: Apr 2023
Location: Toronto, Canada
Programs: Aeroplan, Hilton Gold, Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite
Posts: 7
This tool looks great, thanks a lot for putting so much effort into it! Is this by any chance open source? I'm a software engineer and would love to contribute
Apr 21, 2023, 2:02 pm
#966
Join Date: Mar 2021
Posts: 34
Just gained access and have been playing with the routes and notice the credits section. I've hit triple digits today from researching our route options and dates....Flying out of NYC is always tough we usually look at surrounding airports as well or a small domestic layover vacation.
but all that said, I will tone down my searches...sorry!
but all that said, I will tone down my searches...sorry!
Apr 21, 2023, 2:04 pm
#967
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: 44,471
Just gained access and have been playing with the routes and notice the credits section. I've hit triple digits today from researching our route options and dates....Flying out of NYC is always tough we usually look at surrounding airports as well or a small domestic layover vacation.
but all that said, I will tone down my searches...sorry!
but all that said, I will tone down my searches...sorry!
Apr 22, 2023, 5:27 pm
#968
Join Date: Jan 2016
Posts: 108
Is it possible to change the code so that the saved links do not automatically execute the search function? I have a few saved search links (with different city pairs) and when I click on one of them I am not able to change any information (e.g., location or date) before the automatic search is completed. I understand if it is difficult to do from your end, and in that case I will delete all my old bookmarked links and keep only a few new ones.
Thank you again for your wonderful multi-city award search engine which is still unmatched by any other fancy paid programs.
P
Thank you again for your wonderful multi-city award search engine which is still unmatched by any other fancy paid programs.
P
Apr 22, 2023, 5:47 pm
#969
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: 44,471
Yes, that would be trivial. I'm curious what other people think.
Apr 22, 2023, 6:09 pm
#970
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: YYZ
Programs: AC SEMM / HH Diamond
Posts: 3,194
I have a bunch of saved links for the PNR viewer tool, and those I generally do want to execute as soon as it loads. In fact, it would be nice if the "saved" list didn't load in that case (if a PNR was part of the URL) so that the PNR in question would load faster. Sometimes I'm pulling those PNR viewer links up while standing in front of a gate, or talking to an agent. Speed is of the essence.
I know that's not what this thread or question is about ... but my point is that some links do make sense to auto-execute.
In the case of a reward search ... I do like the ability to save all of the settings so that I don't need to re-type everything, but the timeline is entirely different when I'm searching for a new reward booking. In that context, using the saved parameters to pre-populate the various fields, but then not actually starting the search until I explicitly request that - I have to say, the concept certainly does not upset me, and even has some merit
I know that's not what this thread or question is about ... but my point is that some links do make sense to auto-execute.
In the case of a reward search ... I do like the ability to save all of the settings so that I don't need to re-type everything, but the timeline is entirely different when I'm searching for a new reward booking. In that context, using the saved parameters to pre-populate the various fields, but then not actually starting the search until I explicitly request that - I have to say, the concept certainly does not upset me, and even has some merit
Apr 22, 2023, 6:24 pm
#971
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2015
Location: BOS, YVR, ZRH
Programs: *G
Posts: 17,479
I have a bunch of saved links for the PNR viewer tool, and those I generally do want to execute as soon as it loads. In fact, it would be nice if the "saved" list didn't load in that case (if a PNR was part of the URL) so that the PNR in question would load faster. Sometimes I'm pulling those PNR viewer links up while standing in front of a gate, or talking to an agent. Speed is of the essence.
I know that's not what this thread or question is about ... but my point is that some links do make sense to auto-execute.
In the case of a reward search ... I do like the ability to save all of the settings so that I don't need to re-type everything, but the timeline is entirely different when I'm searching for a new reward booking. In that context, using the saved parameters to pre-populate the various fields, but then not actually starting the search until I explicitly request that - I have to say, the concept certainly does not upset me, and even has some merit
I know that's not what this thread or question is about ... but my point is that some links do make sense to auto-execute.
In the case of a reward search ... I do like the ability to save all of the settings so that I don't need to re-type everything, but the timeline is entirely different when I'm searching for a new reward booking. In that context, using the saved parameters to pre-populate the various fields, but then not actually starting the search until I explicitly request that - I have to say, the concept certainly does not upset me, and even has some merit
Apr 22, 2023, 6:49 pm
#972
Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: Halifax
Programs: AC SE100K, Marriott Lifetime Platinum Elite. NEXUS
Posts: 4,583
Nothing a "last updated" time, and a refresh button would seem fine to me.
I'll probably hit the refresh 95% of the time, but would be happy with it defaulting to fast (if possibly stale) data.
I'll probably hit the refresh 95% of the time, but would be happy with it defaulting to fast (if possibly stale) data.
Apr 22, 2023, 7:30 pm
#973
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: YOW
Programs: AC SE, FOTSG Platinum
Posts: 5,795
Would default user search settings be a PITA to implement?
For example, Im always searching for itineraries that are at least 70% J/F and dont include AI.
For example, Im always searching for itineraries that are at least 70% J/F and dont include AI.
Apr 22, 2023, 7:31 pm
#974
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: 44,471
No, but if you just take a saved link and remove one of the main search params (such as origins), it will do what you want.
Apr 23, 2023, 8:52 am
#975
Join Date: Jan 2016
Posts: 108
I see that several users like the "auto-execute" feature for the saved links. I am wondering if you can create a "stop search" button that can be clicked on in case any errors have been made on the entry data (e.g., dates or airport codes). Since each search we do seems to cost you money, I am trying not to waste any of it on incorrect data searches.