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 10, 2023, 5:41 am
#796
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: YOW
Programs: AC SE, FOTSG Platinum
Posts: 5,727
Feb 10, 2023, 10:31 pm
#797
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
Finally got off my lazy butt and built a little admin thing so I can more easily grant access to people. Though I guess I did that because of how lazy I am.
I also added feature to block people who clearly have not met the very basic requirements outlined in the wiki.
Everyone who was just granted access should have received an email.
A few people were blocked. They will not be notified. But they'll get a different error when they try to search.
And then there's one person whose post history seems pretty spammy, but not bad enough for me to block. So they'll get a PM.
I also added feature to block people who clearly have not met the very basic requirements outlined in the wiki.
Everyone who was just granted access should have received an email.
A few people were blocked. They will not be notified. But they'll get a different error when they try to search.
And then there's one person whose post history seems pretty spammy, but not bad enough for me to block. So they'll get a PM.
Feb 11, 2023, 11:33 am
#798
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: 6,231
Feb 11, 2023, 11:48 am
#799
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: Vancouver
Programs: BAEC Blue, Air Canada 25K, Accorhotel Gold
Posts: 80
Indefatigable might be a better word👌
Feb 11, 2023, 10:13 pm
#800
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2015
Location: BOS, YVR, ZRH
Programs: *G
Posts: 17,399
Finally got off my lazy butt and built a little admin thing so I can more easily grant access to people. Though I guess I did that because of how lazy I am.
I also added feature to block people who clearly have not met the very basic requirements outlined in the wiki.
Everyone who was just granted access should have received an email.
A few people were blocked. They will not be notified. But they'll get a different error when they try to search.
And then there's one person whose post history seems pretty spammy, but not bad enough for me to block. So they'll get a PM.
I also added feature to block people who clearly have not met the very basic requirements outlined in the wiki.
Everyone who was just granted access should have received an email.
A few people were blocked. They will not be notified. But they'll get a different error when they try to search.
And then there's one person whose post history seems pretty spammy, but not bad enough for me to block. So they'll get a PM.
Feb 11, 2023, 11:23 pm
#801
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
Feb 12, 2023, 2:25 am
#802
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: USA
Programs: AC SE100K, F9 100k, NK Gold, UA *S, Hyatt Glob, Bonvoy Titanium
Posts: 5,195
If postcount ever ends up not being sufficient, I suppose a Zoom cowtool training breakout group orientation could be done on Saturdays
Last edited by expert7700; Feb 12, 2023 at 2:51 am
Feb 13, 2023, 12:00 am
#803
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Canada
Programs: Aeroplan E50/MM, HH gold, Nat Exec Elite, Kimpton Karma
Posts: 2,354
I add my thanks and accolades to all earlier posts. Just started experimenting with the tool and it’s great.
A question — perhaps I’ve misunderstood the instructions but when I search and check only F and J, I get mixed cabin awards as well. As one might expect the vast majority of results were mixed cabin (trans Atlantic itinerary). I repeated the search and checked 100% J in the filters but then got no results and I know there were some all “J” possibilities from the earlier search. What should I do differently or is my result what to expect?
A question — perhaps I’ve misunderstood the instructions but when I search and check only F and J, I get mixed cabin awards as well. As one might expect the vast majority of results were mixed cabin (trans Atlantic itinerary). I repeated the search and checked 100% J in the filters but then got no results and I know there were some all “J” possibilities from the earlier search. What should I do differently or is my result what to expect?
Feb 13, 2023, 12:12 am
#804
Join Date: Feb 2019
Location: ARN
Programs: AC, SK, Marriott
Posts: 1,150
I add my thanks and accolades to all earlier posts. Just started experimenting with the tool and it’s great.
A question — perhaps I’ve misunderstood the instructions but when I search and check only F and J, I get mixed cabin awards as well. As one might expect the vast majority of results were mixed cabin (trans Atlantic itinerary). I repeated the search and checked 100% J in the filters but then got no results and I know there were some all “J” possibilities from the earlier search. What should I do differently or is my result what to expect?
A question — perhaps I’ve misunderstood the instructions but when I search and check only F and J, I get mixed cabin awards as well. As one might expect the vast majority of results were mixed cabin (trans Atlantic itinerary). I repeated the search and checked 100% J in the filters but then got no results and I know there were some all “J” possibilities from the earlier search. What should I do differently or is my result what to expect?
Feb 14, 2023, 5:43 pm
#805
Join Date: Jan 2019
Programs: United
Posts: 16
Keep in mind also that AC's search tool doesn't always combine some J classes with AC or other carrier on the search results, eg TAP or LOT, so you can always benefit from looking from other departure points (eg YYZ,YUL,NYC, etc). If you're extra lucky, the AC segment may even cheapen out the non-AC J trip.
Feb 14, 2023, 7:21 pm
#806
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Canada
Programs: Aeroplan E50/MM, HH gold, Nat Exec Elite, Kimpton Karma
Posts: 2,354
i started working with the tool using a direct itinerary from YYZ to Europe (CDG and LHR). I did not rule out a connection. Your idea is interesting. I will try it. Thanks!
Feb 15, 2023, 5:41 am
#807
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 129
Experiencing different results when I repeat searches over the same date range and segments (i.e. 1st search = no results, 2nd search, a few minutes later = 5 results, 3rd search a few minutes later = 20 results).
Anyone seen this behaviour? I've only noticed it on two segments that I've been searching.
Anyone seen this behaviour? I've only noticed it on two segments that I've been searching.
Feb 17, 2023, 8:04 am
#808
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 73
I just tried running a search today and wasn't able to login, I was wondering if this was a scheduled downtime or if anyone else is having issues. I last used the tool 1 week ago approximately. Thanks!
Feb 17, 2023, 9:08 am
#809
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
Everything is working fine.
Feb 17, 2023, 10:15 am
#810
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: 6,231
"Scheduled downtime" - I think that the airlines have us conditioned. Looking at you AC.