Expertflyer and CX seat availability
Oct 24, 2008 | 1:01 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2007
Programs: CX Diamond, BA Gold, Flying Blue Platinum (For Life), Royal Orchid Sliver
Posts: 44
Expertflyer and CX seat availability
Is any one else struggling with expertflyer and inaccurate CX availability. It used to be spot on but the last 6 weeks, the availability shown on expertflyer is hardly ever correct, where as seatcounter is always 100% spot on, which is a shame as expertflyer is (or used to be) a fantastic tool.
Oct 24, 2008 | 1:43 am
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2004
Programs: CX Green, QF Platinum, BAEC Silver, Hyatt Glob
Posts: 10,797
I don't use expertflyer, but I wonder if it's anything to do with CX backend changes? You may have noticed that the online booking tool changed recently, so maybe its something to do with that.
Oct 24, 2008 | 2:37 am
#3
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: HKG
Programs: CXDM, SQ Gold, SPG, HHonors and Shangri-La
Posts: 551
Is any one else struggling with expertflyer and inaccurate CX availability. It used to be spot on but the last 6 weeks, the availability shown on expertflyer is hardly ever correct, where as seatcounter is always 100% spot on, which is a shame as expertflyer is (or used to be) a fantastic tool.
Oct 24, 2008 | 2:02 pm
#5
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Seat 1A
Programs: Non-status paid F/J (best value for $$$)
Posts: 4,141
CX is now using dynamic availability through a combination of married segment control, point of sale availability, and journey data polling as part of their revenue management 
As such, the availability you see on ExpertFlyer may not be accurate.
Married Segment Control = Availability is based on market (i.e. there may be availability for SYD-HKG-LHR [if requested together], but none if SYD-HKG and HKG-LHR are requested seperately).
Point of Sale Availability = Availability is not available in certain inventory on the GDS sets of some travel agencies (in countries with high booking and cancelling without buying ticket etc.) Note: CX availability on AA.com is sometimes better.
Journey Data Polling = Even thought availabilty is shown, the flight may come back as "uncomfirmable" just because the itinerary contains an "offensive" segment (causing CX to loose revenue due to a through are being sold rather than seperate tickets).
These days, I have lost all hope on relying on availability displays for CX flights. The only way to know if there is availablity is to have a travel agent try and do a test booking to see the flights/dates you want come back as "confirmed".
As such, the availability you see on ExpertFlyer may not be accurate.
Married Segment Control = Availability is based on market (i.e. there may be availability for SYD-HKG-LHR [if requested together], but none if SYD-HKG and HKG-LHR are requested seperately).
Point of Sale Availability = Availability is not available in certain inventory on the GDS sets of some travel agencies (in countries with high booking and cancelling without buying ticket etc.) Note: CX availability on AA.com is sometimes better.
Journey Data Polling = Even thought availabilty is shown, the flight may come back as "uncomfirmable" just because the itinerary contains an "offensive" segment (causing CX to loose revenue due to a through are being sold rather than seperate tickets).
These days, I have lost all hope on relying on availability displays for CX flights. The only way to know if there is availablity is to have a travel agent try and do a test booking to see the flights/dates you want come back as "confirmed".
Oct 24, 2008 | 7:23 pm
#6
Company Representative - ExpertFlyer
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 2,927
Is any one else struggling with expertflyer and inaccurate CX availability. It used to be spot on but the last 6 weeks, the availability shown on expertflyer is hardly ever correct, where as seatcounter is always 100% spot on, which is a shame as expertflyer is (or used to be) a fantastic tool.
In the future please email us directly as soon as you find an issue, after all if we don't know there is a problem, we can't solve it.
Thanks,
-EFV
Oct 25, 2008 | 1:26 am
#7
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Hong Kong, France
Programs: FB , BA Gold/OW emerald, QR
Posts: 17,053
CX is now using dynamic availability through a combination of married segment control, point of sale availability, and journey data polling as part of their revenue management
As such, the availability you see on ExpertFlyer may not be accurate.
Married Segment Control = Availability is based on market (i.e. there may be availability for SYD-HKG-LHR [if requested together], but none if SYD-HKG and HKG-LHR are requested seperately).
Point of Sale Availability = Availability is not available in certain inventory on the GDS sets of some travel agencies (in countries with high booking and cancelling without buying ticket etc.) Note: CX availability on AA.com is sometimes better.
Journey Data Polling = Even thought availabilty is shown, the flight may come back as "uncomfirmable" just because the itinerary contains an "offensive" segment (causing CX to loose revenue due to a through are being sold rather than seperate tickets).
These days, I have lost all hope on relying on availability displays for CX flights. The only way to know if there is availablity is to have a travel agent try and do a test booking to see the flights/dates you want come back as "confirmed".
As such, the availability you see on ExpertFlyer may not be accurate.
Married Segment Control = Availability is based on market (i.e. there may be availability for SYD-HKG-LHR [if requested together], but none if SYD-HKG and HKG-LHR are requested seperately).
Point of Sale Availability = Availability is not available in certain inventory on the GDS sets of some travel agencies (in countries with high booking and cancelling without buying ticket etc.) Note: CX availability on AA.com is sometimes better.
Journey Data Polling = Even thought availabilty is shown, the flight may come back as "uncomfirmable" just because the itinerary contains an "offensive" segment (causing CX to loose revenue due to a through are being sold rather than seperate tickets).
These days, I have lost all hope on relying on availability displays for CX flights. The only way to know if there is availablity is to have a travel agent try and do a test booking to see the flights/dates you want come back as "confirmed".