Checking CO SWU Availability - KVS
 

KVS is inviting Diamond-tier members to beta test their new CO SWU availability search engine.. Send them a message through their contact form.

http://www.kvstool.com/ContactC.php?...ta-CO-Upgrades

They mentioned that they need just a more few beta testers to RSVP, and then they can get the ground rolling on this new feature...

ExpertFlyer
 

I've just written ExpertFlyer to note the competition and ask their plans. I'd encourage other ExpertFlyer subscribers (and potential subscribers) to do the same.

How is this information propagated? KVSTool isn't financing industrial espionage, so in principle other pay services can sort out the same data, if it's being exposed as part of some paid or free data stream.

Being web-based, ExpertFlyer can be accessed from any portable device, such as an iPad or Android smart phone, and all operating systems such as Linux and OS X. KVSTool requires Windows emulation on platforms that can support this. There's nothing inherent in the problem that drove KVSTool this way, rather a limitation in programming skills and/or vision. It is possible to write cross-platform applications, and better in this case to go web-based as ExpertFlyer does.

Edit: Here's the response I got from ExpertFlyer:

I do scrape CO.com's upgrade standby lists, texting my cell phone with changes. (I once again went with a 3 oz flip phone over a digital boat anchor.) I actually got in trouble with ExpertFlyer's terms of service for scraping their site years ago.

Does anyone else find it tedious extracting SWU availability directly from CO.com?

At the risk of possibly encouraging others to support what I believe is a less than honest businessman, I would also point out that "CO SWU Inventory" is the same as CO miles-based upgrade inventory and likely CO CR1-based upgrade inventory. It is all the same.
It is just sending queries to co.com, parsing the results, sending more queries and eventually getting the results and then displaying the information reformatted into his GUI. EF won't offer the data because CO won't license access to it to 3rd parties and EF actually honors that.

Exactly what EF said next to me:

Yes, many KVS Tool members do.
As one member had recently noted:

Hello as KVS points out above, using the CO.com website to find out upgradable fares is a real nuisance. You literally have to spend hours to find open dates.

Having some sort of tool like KVS Availbility to automate these clicks would be very nice.

I'm interested in beta-testing and will be replying back to your email shortly.

The CO Upgrade Availability Beta is now underway.

If you have applied, but have not yet received the download instructions, please check your e-mail Junk/Spam folder.

KVS scrapes HTML but puts everything from dozens of web sites into one simple, fast and lightweight interface. It saves a lot of time and hassle.

I don't know why people think HTML scraping is such a bad thing. In today's world of web services, HTML scraping is pretty commonplace (anyone heard of Google news?).

It is not a problem in most cases IMO if the producer of the "new content" admits that's what they are doing and provides links back to the original content. In this case neither of those is actually happening.

Combine that with the questionable customer service I received and the offer to buy my silence when I complained in public and, yes, I now quite vocally object to the business practices exercised.

The KVS Tool does not actually "produce" such "new content". Instead, it provides a

that
It is both unfortunate and ironic that you have misinterpreted a goodwill gesture that was extended to you back in 2009 in such a manner.

Indeed, it is hard to describe retrieving multiple web pages, modifying some of the data displayed in them based on currency conversion resources (among other things) and otherwise stripping out large chunks of the data the original producers of the content intended to display as "producing" anything. Thank goodness the "browser" just shows the data as the folks paying for it (the travel agencies from which it is retrieved, not the subscribers who make "contributions") intended.

And, yes, it was 2009 that you tried to buy me off. Given that the business practices have not changed I'm not sure why the fact that it was almost 2 years ago should matter in this case. That you have followed up with other members who were similarly bought off and tried to hush them as well is similarly disgraceful IMHO.

Again, it's unfortunate that you continue to feel that way. However, you can rest assured that we had neither intended, nor made such a 'purchase'.

Indeed. I'm sure you phrased it as a "an 'op-up' to Diamond for the remainder of your Platinum-tier membership on a complimentary basis." And it was triggered by repeated complaints about the changes to the pricing structure. But certainly the two were unrelated, right?

The part where others have received similar and been hounded for not shutting up with their service complaints is also reality. Fits right in line with the service levels I was receiving back when I was a member and had the complaints that led to the "comp" in the first place.

Maybe pricing has changed, but does a bump in a level that costs an extra $15 per year constitute "buying one's silence"?

http://www.kvstool.com/MembershipLevels.php

Why is this a public discussion BTW?

I'm guessing not given that I didn't go quiet. But the others who have received similar comps have received similar entreaties to stop complaining out loud. Whether successful or not that certainly quacks an awful lot like a duck in my book.