Mwenenzi

SLF had been keeping it up to date in the last few years (many years). Been a while since the last revision. Changing rules & routes made it hard work.
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/members/slf.html

Dr. HFH

Never mind fees, -- I have plenty of room on my server and would be happy to make it available for this purpose at no cost.

zoombee

Ace, thanks! I'm not sure if the tool is just a static webpage which is managed off server or manually updated, or if there's some set of scripts or something that run on the server which could make moving it non trivial. Having options is always good though for if, when hopefully!, there's access to the setup.

zoombee

Thanks. Have sent a direct message. Hopefully that will lead to access/info which can help get the tool up again.

Best.

pbd456

I think the rule is not 100% clear.

For example.

NBO -xLHR - NA - Asia -Europe - xLHR JNB is not allowed due to south african and via Europe.

How about
NBO -xDOH - xLHR - NA -... Europe -xLHR JNB

Does the first entry to DOH then LHR count as transit via Europe?

Also,
how to read the intra australia? one per line or one more all lines?

zoombee

Mileage monkey is still down (been 6+ weeks so far I think). Am sure if we get the relevant files and ideally a little guidance then the service can be resurrected.

No replies to a direct message to SLF (sent Dec 2, not stats on when SLF last logged in, last post jan 2nd) and hauteboy (sent Nov 18, profile says last login Dec 17, last post Dec 12).

Looks like SLF may have been offline for FT and Mileage Monkey stuff for many months. Hope all is well and it's just more important things getting attention. Conversely hauteboy is still fairly active though in other forums (mostly trip reports). I am hesitant to do so but I imagine replying quickly with a hail (--> thus off topic, hence hesitation) to an upcoming post by hauteboy may prompt a reply. I can't think of anything else I can do directly except just wait and cross fingers in time an hello may come from someone with access to the relevant files.

Does anyone know either of SLF or hauteboy enough to have exchanged direct messages or even emails? If so, might you contact them? A known messenger beats a stranger messaging.

Best.

SLF

Hi all ... apologies for not checking in, and I also missed zoombee's PM ... (I don't check FT much these days).

The current situation is because I let the domain expire, I apologise for any inconvenience this has caused. From what I could see, the data in MM was quite old, and I didn't have a good feel for how much it was used (most of the hits in the logs seemed to be from automated checks, rather than real people). It became more & more time consuming for me, and I don't make any money from it at all, in fact it cost me money for domain names etc.

It seems that someone has taken over the slfft.org domain now (see below) - if we need to move to a new domain, it's not too big a deal. Looks like DropCatch (who registered it) do this on expiring domains, and then try to auction them off. There's no value in the domain slfft.org, so no need to pay them anything to get it back (it just means updating links as & where needed).

Current MM Status:
- source code is secured; much of it is in GitHub
- I still have the hosting up which was behind slfft.org, I just let the domain lapse
- flight & airport databases are secured, but fairly out of date (e.g. flight schedules)
- OW rules are out of date, the code has not been updated for some years to reflect changes
- the tool is static/standalone, it does not require a server connection (apart from loading maps etc.)
- it's written in JavaScript. hauteboy wrote most of it, I have added bits & pieces, and also updated the flight DB
- there are other tools I wrote which take the raw data and produce the flight DB. These are only partially on GitHub, some I didn't want to share

To make MM useful again involves the following:
== determine what level of interest in bring it up to date ... there's no point doing a ton of work if there is no use for it
== getting a domain to host it on (again, the actual hosting part isn't an issue at this point)
== securing a source for flight schedule updates
== updating the code which produces the MM flight DB from the new schedule source
== updating the OW rules code within MM
== me to get the build process back together

There are lots of other improvements which could happen ... but the key part is securing the flight schedule data to make this useful.

I'm certainly willing to work with someone on this....if you think you can help from securing a domain, as a javascript programmer, securing a source of flight schedule updates etc.... then please contact me. I'll make an effort to stop by here as well as look out for FT PMs.

Domain Name: SLFFT.ORG
Registry Domain ID: D402200000008748683-LROR
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.namebright.com
Registrar URL: http://www.NameBright.com
Updated Date: 2018-12-24T05:04:40Z
Creation Date: 2018-12-21T14:30:38Z
Registry Expiry Date: 2019-12-21T14:30:38Z
Registrar Registration Expiration Date:
Registrar: DropCatch.com 1292 LLC
Registrar IANA ID: 3501
Registrar Abuse Contact Email: [img]https://source.domaintools.com/email.pgif?md5=364741e308ddbc35367f1de06df5a82e&fa ce=arial&size=9&color=000000&bgcolor=FFFFFF&face=a rial&size=9&color=0000FF&bgcolor=FFFFFF&format=tra nsparent&format=transparent
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +1.7204960020
Reseller:
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited https://icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited
Domain Status: serverTransferProhibited https://icann.org/epp#serverTransferProhibited
Registrant Organization:
Registrant State/Province: Grand Cayman
Registrant Country: KY
Name Server: NS1.BRAINYDNS.COM
Name Server: NS2.BRAINYDNS.COM
DNSSEC: unsigned

Full Score

For SLF & hauteboy: Wonderful to hear that MM isn't dead and has simply been taking a well-earned rest. Whilst I'm unable to help with the technical stuff, I want you to know that there is one FTer here who has used your terrific database for many years doing 3/4 RTW trips a year. It has been indispensable. I do hope you have the time, interest and support to resurrect your nifty utility. Thank you for all your help in the past.

zoombee

Thanks so much SLF for getting back to us, and for the heap of world done to date. More than happy to help.

Depending on how much of this SLF wants to track and drive forward vs how much it would be good to have someone else track and drive forward, here's my offered/suggested actions (which I'm happy to track) to progress the "make MM useful again" goals SLF outlined:

* Request here: if you know anyone who might suggest where to get flight schedule updates then as per SLF's request please speak up (or message him)

* Request here: if you know a javascript programmer who may be happy to help on this then as per SLF's request please speak up (or message him)

* Request here: if like Full Score you found the tool non trivially useful then please speak up.

* Ideally: SLF and I + anyone else who feels able to contribute: let's schedule a call/skype/zoom/slack chat for in about a week so we've "met" and synchronously agreed the next steps we're taking on. If SLF is up for this I'm happy coordinate (it might end up just being anyhow .

* I'm happy to take a lead on specifying the gap in OW rules by (a) having a look at the code and if helpful adding documentation so it's clear what the OW rules it implements are, (b) reaching out to some of the rules experts over in that thread to have a plan for getting and maintaining clarity on the gap between what the tool enforces and what the published rules are. I'm hoping that if the gap is well stated, the code work to bridge it isn't too bad.

* SLF: unless you say otherwise I'll register MileageMonkey.net in a day or two (or sooner if you confirm that's AOK by you). The .com has gone, MileageMonkeytool.com is available and I'm happy to go with something else instead if preferred. FWIW I use google domains ($12/year, privacy for free) and usually put the DNS on cloudns.net. Let me know where to point it.

* When the tool is back up, I suggest we add a note somewhere that the data is stale and we're assessing the utility of the tool to people. I'm happy to take a lead on getting that up and in handling feedback.

* Re-assess in 2-4 weeks when we have more understanding on how we might bringing in better data and on what the level of interest for the tool is.

ajnaro

I, for one, found the tool very useful for planning purposes.

SLF

Thanks!

I did too ... but the challenge is without a source of flight schedules, is it still useful? No point (doing the work &) resurrecting it, if having out of date flight schedules means it's not useful.

Thanks to zoombee for those ideas & offers of help (I haven't replied yet as I'm watching other posts here first).

Is MM still useful when it only knows about airlines, aircraft & flight schedules from 2013-2014? The key issue to solve here is this...(all the others, domains, hosting, updating the code with rule changes, etc. can be solved). Without current flight schedules, is it helpful? If you look back in this thread, there are countless posts mentioning that certain routes were missing from MM at various times; I always took the approach of fixing the cause of why they were missing (i.e. why weren't the schedules there already) rather than just adding them as reported. Lots of routes got included/added without anyone needing to report them, due to the increase in reliability of the schedule feed. Going back to getting reports of "AAA-BBB is missing, could you please add it" isn't sustainable/scalable and doesn't make the tool useful.

anabolism

I wonder if it might be possible to get ExpertFlyer interested in taking this on? It could be a service provided to EF subscribers, or a free service that gets people interested in an EF subscription. EF certainly has access to flight schedules. Another option might be Airline Routes, who publish updates on routes/schedules/equipments (routesonline.com).

serfty

I always appreciated this tool - I used it well before the flight schedules/route were incorporated. You simply needed to be aware of what flight were actually available and for what routes.

In fact to keep route/schedule tables updated to reflect actuality in or near real time is always a difficult thing.

I never really used or paid attention to that part of the later tool versions.

serfty

ExpertFlyer was sold late last year to the same entity that owns 'the points guy'.

I'd be wary of having the functionality taken over until understand/seeing what Red Ventures do with E/F.

anabolism

There's also OAG. They might be too big, but who knows?