jaytw

So I've had time to take a look at the code again, and it turns out the API actually returns bookable=true for those flights as well. In fact, there is no difference in the response between those flights and the actually bookable T+353 flights, so I have no way of telling them apart in the code. I don't think there's anything I can do on the script end short of just hardcoding it to ignore flights after 353 days, but on the other hand, it seems it might be handy to be able to see in advance seats that might open up in the next week. I'll probably add a message somewhere to alert the user that those flights may not be bookable yet.

tonyatflyertalk001

Definitely a useful feature to view in advance seats that may open up in the next few days, even if they are not yet available for booking.

Evan Bost

Experiencing Error: "Unable to confirm Fare for this Itinerary" and then "try a different search"

I may have made a mistake transferring points to Asia Miles...

Found availability for CGK > DOH > PHL, got past the calculated taxes/fees, but hitting error after passenger details...

EDIT: Just tried BKK > DOH > JFK, also showing availability. Same error...

help :[

jaytw

What are the dates for your flight? Are they more than 353 days from now?

Evan Bost

Sorry - forgot to state:
Looking for a return from SE Asia
4/22, 4/23, 4/24

4/23 is the date showing availability via Qatar, CGK > DOH > PHL

jaytw

I just tested those dates for CGK>DOH>PHL on economy, and was able to get past the passenger entry, but failed on business.

There seems to be something very peculiar happening with results for QR business awards on Cathay’s engine when it switches to "Flexible with Travel Dates”. For example, searching for business awards on CGK > DOH and DOH > PHL separately for 2023-04-17 on the native engine (i.e. without using the script), it will show an alert that "Fare search by ‘Flexible with travel dates’ is not available for your chosen itinerary” and that it will redirect you to search with "Must travel on these dates". It then shows business award availability for QR which also errors out past the passenger detail entry.

I tried looking for dates where both QR and other airlines are available in business, to see if it’s a QR issue or a general flexible date issue, and was able to find an example with LHR-HND on 2023-05-10, which shows business availability for both JL and QR. The JL flight breezes past the passenger entry, while the QR one gets stuck on invalid fare as well.

I’ve heard unsubstantiated rumours of QR no longer releasing business award space to CX starting next year. If that’s what’s happening here, it looks like CX may be restricting business award booking for QR, and yet somehow the actual available award space is still leaking into the results. My speculative assumption is that IT attempted to hide availability from the results, but half assed it and forgot to remove it from the "must travel on these dates" part. Considering the page that redirects to the “must travel on” redirect loads unstyled half of the time, I wouldn’t be all that surprised if they simply just forgot it exists.



Evan, I think you might have to call in to check on this one.

Has anyone succeeded in booking any QR business awards lately?

jaytw

Btw, here is the QR rumour I mentioned:




Google Translation:

percysmith

BAEC and QF FF can't see it either.

Evan Bost

Thank you both for looking into it.
At this point, I'm just hoping I can find any useful redemption for a long leg of biz class using the 180k Asia Miles I transferred. Might have to settle for HKG to mainland US, and book a separate itinerary to get from BKK to HKG. But even searching HKG to the US I'm not seeing award space for those dates, 4/22-4/24

Fly Me To The Moon

Thanks for following up and checking. I would NOT ignore the flights 353+ days out. That info is still helpful for advanced planning.

For example, today, I was able to use your tool to search for YVR-NRT on JL departing 01 Sep 2023. That date is 357 days out. I saw two J seats available, and tried to book it, and it worked! Got two CX 160- e-tickets (JL metal) emailed to me already.

So, apparently, in this example, JL offers bookable flights for redemption earlier than CX does!

jaytw

Since you mention 180K miles, I'm assuming you're booking for two?
I'm seeing J1 for Royal Jordanian BKK-AMM-JFK on 4/23 as well as BKK-AMM-ORD. Since BKK-AMM shows J2, you should hypothetically be able to book both, that is, if you don't mind traveling traveling separately for the second half of the trip and somehow reuniting after JFK/ORD. I tested the booking process and can confirm it does go past the passenger detail entry.

In the same vein, there is also the option for BKK-AMM-ORD + BKK-AMM-YYZ on 4/24.

Alternatively, if you can travel just one day later on 4/25, I'm seeing J2 for BKK-HKG-JFK on CX.

By the way, while doing these searches, I realised there was a regression in the code that went back to showing the larger number of seats between the two flights instead of the lower one. It has been fixed in 2.3.3

cgo

Thanks for this unelevated version!!! The new system is extremely frustrating.

I have a question for you though. I have been wanting to do a 'multicarrier award ticket' redemption, 4 segments in total. Each individual segment is showing as 'available' in the elevated + unelevated search engine. But when I contacted the call centre to book, they say that all the flights I have requested are not available for redemption.

The reason why I wanted to use the call centre to book is to save on the miles. The multicarrier award cost 165k miles, vs booking each flight per segment will cost more than that.

I have request the agent to repeatedly check and they said their amadeus system is real time.

Is this a normal experience? Or this is just a crappy bug that CX hasnt fixed?

cgo

You are a life saver, quite literally.

Now i wanted to ask if you have a multi-city version for this?

SpeedAdvantage

Tried multiple routes for multiple dates next year, it won't continue after passenger info entry.

cgo

I can confirm that you will receive an error message after you enter passenger information. You cannot proceed with the booking.