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)
May 13, 2021, 11:52 am
#31
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: 44,331
Though it wouldn't be distributed beyond us-east-1.
May 13, 2021, 5:00 pm
#32
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: 44,331
I've changed the display format, and it should be sortable by sensible metrics now.
Mixed-cabin filtering still needs some work though.
Mixed-cabin filtering still needs some work though.
May 14, 2021, 11:40 am
#34
Join Date: Mar 2021
Posts: 26
Wonderful tool!
Love the search tool you've created! Saves so much time when putting together optimal itineraries. Thank you!
May 14, 2021, 12:36 pm
#35
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: 16,773
Maybe once the calendar function is up and running, we should call this the "cowlendar" to distinguish it from other cowtools? 
With this being your first post, welcome to FT 
May 14, 2021, 7:47 pm
#36
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: 44,331
Why does United have a calendar grid?
Because they only display results for one day.
I don't think an actual calendar grid will be useful. I'll be moving the nonstop and price filter to JS so they can be adjusted without a full refresh. I'll add a similar mixed cabin and duration filter.
Do you really need a 7x5 grid of prices on each day when I can just show you all the itineraries over a two week period that meet your requirements?
May 14, 2021, 8:30 pm
#37
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: 16,773
Is the tool broken right now? All I keep getting is "Error searching".
Let me note that you need a 7x6 grid if you're going to show the prices for all the days in any month, like any decent "calendar" should
You pose a good question though. Historically, I've generally had fairly narrow windows in which I've wanted to travel. At those times, I wouldn't be so fussed about the grid.
But there are definitely times when my date range has been broader, and I've enjoyed having the calendar grid at Google Flights (for revenue trips, of course).
So I could see the grid being useful from time to time, but there are definitely other features that would be more useful. For instance, the ability to _exclude_ certain airlines, or include/exclude certain connecting cities, or ignore mixed cabin altogether.
I don't think an actual calendar grid will be useful. I'll be moving the nonstop and price filter to JS so they can be adjusted without a full refresh. I'll add a similar mixed cabin and duration filter.
Do you really need a 7x5 grid of prices on each day when I can just show you all the itineraries over a two week period that meet your requirements?
Do you really need a 7x5 grid of prices on each day when I can just show you all the itineraries over a two week period that meet your requirements?
You pose a good question though. Historically, I've generally had fairly narrow windows in which I've wanted to travel. At those times, I wouldn't be so fussed about the grid.
But there are definitely times when my date range has been broader, and I've enjoyed having the calendar grid at Google Flights (for revenue trips, of course).
So I could see the grid being useful from time to time, but there are definitely other features that would be more useful. For instance, the ability to _exclude_ certain airlines, or include/exclude certain connecting cities, or ignore mixed cabin altogether.
May 14, 2021, 8:36 pm
#38
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: 44,331
I just did a little search and there was one error but the rest came back fine.
I'm at a bar right now so I'll check when I'm... I dunno... Sometime
I'm at a bar right now so I'll check when I'm... I dunno... Sometime
May 15, 2021, 10:41 am
#39
Join Date: Mar 2021
Posts: 26
Getting errors
I've been getting the same error for every search for a couple of days now. It says "---> error searching". This in response to partner searches and simple, one date AC searches.
I'm not able to include a screeshot as I'm new to posting and Flyertalk won't allow it...sorry.
It's happening on both my phone and laptop. I don't think I changed any of the search parameters, but maybe user error. Or is Aeroplan restricting this tool now?
Does it still work for everyone else? Advice please.
I'm not able to include a screeshot as I'm new to posting and Flyertalk won't allow it...sorry.
It's happening on both my phone and laptop. I don't think I changed any of the search parameters, but maybe user error. Or is Aeroplan restricting this tool now?
Does it still work for everyone else? Advice please.
May 15, 2021, 10:43 am
#40
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: 16,773
I can't even get "Error searching" this morning. The page doesn't even load, just gives me:
{"message": "Endpoint request timed out"}
{"message": "Endpoint request timed out"}
Last edited by Adam Smith; Apr 13, 2023 at 10:39 pm Reason: Delete [code] tags
May 15, 2021, 11:11 am
#41
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: 44,331
I've been getting the same error for every search for a couple of days now. It says "---> error searching". This in response to partner searches and simple, one date AC searches.
I'm not able to include a screeshot as I'm new to posting and Flyertalk won't allow it...sorry.
It's happening on both my phone and laptop. I don't think I changed any of the search parameters, but maybe user error. Or is Aeroplan restricting this tool now?
Does it still work for everyone else? Advice please.
I'm not able to include a screeshot as I'm new to posting and Flyertalk won't allow it...sorry.
It's happening on both my phone and laptop. I don't think I changed any of the search parameters, but maybe user error. Or is Aeroplan restricting this tool now?
Does it still work for everyone else? Advice please.
Though if AC is broken right now, that would explain it.
I've been wondering if they'd either:
a) ask (tell?) me to take this down, or
b) break me
But the former certainly hasn't happened, and I'm pretty sure the latter hasn't either.
May 15, 2021, 11:20 am
#42
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: 16,773
Try just https://api.ft.canadiancow.com/ac-re...rewardsearcher. A timeout would mean it took over 29 seconds, which should never happen for just pulling up the form, and really shouldn't happen otherwise.
Though if AC is broken right now, that would explain it.
I've been wondering if they'd either:
a) ask (tell?) me to take this down, or
b) break me
But the former certainly hasn't happened, and I'm pretty sure the latter hasn't either.
Though if AC is broken right now, that would explain it.
I've been wondering if they'd either:
a) ask (tell?) me to take this down, or
b) break me
But the former certainly hasn't happened, and I'm pretty sure the latter hasn't either.
May 15, 2021, 11:35 am
#43
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: 44,331
Does it work for https://api.ft.canadiancow.com/ac-re...ue&cabinJ=true ?
May 15, 2021, 12:25 pm
#44
Join Date: Mar 2021
Posts: 26
Just tried the newest url you sent and I still get the same error.
If this is too detailed for the forum please let me know.
If I copy and paste your link with all parameters intact, the search works. If I change one parameter, like dropping the number of passengers down to one, I get a result along with the same error message tagged on. If I change more parameters I get just the error message and no actual information.
All on phone, haven't tested on laptop.
If this is too detailed for the forum please let me know.
If I copy and paste your link with all parameters intact, the search works. If I change one parameter, like dropping the number of passengers down to one, I get a result along with the same error message tagged on. If I change more parameters I get just the error message and no actual information.
All on phone, haven't tested on laptop.
Last edited by Adam Smith; May 15, 2021 at 12:54 pm Reason: Merge consecutive posts by same user
May 15, 2021, 12:44 pm
#45
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: 44,331
I've turned this off for now. AC is also using AWS API Gateway, with its 29 second timeout.
I'm slightly concerned this is causing AC issues, but I really hope not.
I'm slightly concerned this is causing AC issues, but I really hope not.