ExpertFlyer shows wrong availability
 

I do not know whether this post belongs in here... Anyhow, I just subscribed to ExpertFlyer's premium service and on my first try to use the system, it failed:

I contacted United to book an around the world business class ticket (CRWSTAR1) which has international booking class "D". While ExpertFlyer showed availability on my chosen dates for a particular leg (D1 on one day and D4 on two subsquent days), United told me that there is no availability in D for such leg on any of these flights.

Naturally, if ExpertFlyer is well behind the true availability as used by the airlines, it is not worth much. I thought that the system is updated every 10 minutes? If so, why is there such a discrepancy?

Has anyone experienced the same issue?

Welcome to FT!

Could you list the specific leg(s) and date(s)?

Welcome to FT awmawm. Behind booking classes like C and D there are further sub classes for special fares. In other words, even so there is D class available does not mean you can get it with your particular fare. I am not an EF user but I think you can search specifically for RTW availability not just generic D class.

Or just try KVS....

8/15/07:
SQ491 DXB-SIN Availability: D1
8/16/07:
SQ806 SIN-PVG Availability: D1

8/16/07:
SQ375 DXB-SIN Availability: D4
8/17/07:
SQ826 SIN-PVG Availability: D4

8/16/07:
SQ495 DXB-SIN Availability: D4
8/17/07:
SQ806 SIN-PVG Availability: D4

8/17/07:
SQ491 DXB-SIN Availability: D4
8/18/07:
SQ806 SIN-PVG Availability: D4

Just looked it up again at 6:40pm CST on 8/4/07 and reconfirmed again with United that there is no availability on any of these flights in "D".

I am guessing that the UA agent may have been checking availability for each individual segment, as opposed to a set of married segments (see the KVS Tool FAQ for more info regarding these and other factors, which may affect availability):

[KVS Availability Tool 2.8.5/Platinum - Sabre: ITN/US-AXC1]

[KVS Availability Tool 2.8.5/Platinum - Sabre: ITN/US-AXC1]
[KVS Availability Tool 2.8.5/Platinum - Sabre: ITN/US-AXC1]

Talked again with United reservations who told me that they checked the MARRIED SEGMENT but it still shows not availability for "D" on SQ491. She states that United uses APOLLO only and does not have access to SABRE; she thinks that Singapore Airlines may block the D availability for use in SABRE only...

Talked again with United reservations who told me that they checked the MARRIED SEGMENT but it still shows not availability for "D" on SQ491. She states that United uses APOLLO only and does not have access to SABRE; she thinks that Singapore Airlines may block the D availability for use in SABRE only...

Could this be a POS issue? EF shows POS USA. If the OP is located outside of the USA, the availability may be different.

Could it be that the inventory made available by SQ for this class is something less (or zero) when booked by another airline for a ticket booked by that airline? This is certainly common for award and upgrade inventory by many airlines who save certain desireable invnetory categories for their own elites.

While it certainly makes sense for an airline to keep certain seats for its own own frequent flier program members, I am not sure that this approach would work for paid tickets. If that were truly the case, how could a ticketing agent (travel agent or another airline) rely on Apollo, Sabre, etc. to find available seats for a specific booking class? I thought the whole purpose of these reservation systems is that any agent anywhere in the world can book and reserve seats as long as the reservation system shows availability in the desired booking class?

Not only would it work, but it has been working quite well [for the airlines] for a number of years now -- there are links to a number resources on this topic, located in the KVS Tool FAQ under "POS (Point-of-Sale)/Dynamic Availability".

As explained in the resources above, availability can be made specific to a particular region, country, travel agency/airline Res office, or even agent... Not the same ≠ not reliable.

[KVS Availability Tool 2.8.5/Platinum - Apollo: ITN/US-ARL]

Since Apollo clearly shows availability, it's not the Apollo vs Sabre excuse. Also, SQ is hosted in a CRS called "Kriscom", not Sabre. Either way since multiple methods on KVS and EF match, it's not a problem with EF. It's either POS (where are you located?) or that SQ isn't allowing UA to sell certain/all of it's inventory, assuming of course, that you checked to make sure there was a valid D fare to sell the inventory against. Did you call SQ directly and ask them what they had?

Either way, EF appears to be showing the correct numbers as SQ has them published for the US.

I am now a proud KVS subscriber and used the above availability information for my discussion with the UA agent just a few minutes ago. While KVS/Apollo shows availability on the "married segment", the UA agent could not book me in "D" on SQ491. While the KVS Tool user guide states that it shows the "number of seats available for sale in that booking class", issues surrounding the point of sale/dynamic availability/regional restriction etc. appear to overrule whatever is displayed on Apollo, Sabre, etc. Hence, KVS (and any other tool) are not really precise unless they can incorporate all these additional restrictions and therefore do not help much in trip planning for trips with multiple carriers (even when carriers belong to the same alliance).

EF and KVS are excellent tools when your POS is USA. Both tools are USA centric.:p Where are you located?:confused: Alliance has nothing to do with it.

[QUOTE=lopinc1;8180927][B][COLOR=blue

Since Apollo clearly shows availability, it's not the Apollo vs Sabre excuse. Also, SQ is hosted in a CRS called "Kriscom", not Sabre. Either way since multiple methods on KVS and EF match, it's not a problem with EF. It's either POS (where are you located?) or that SQ isn't allowing UA to sell certain/all of it's inventory, assuming of course, that you checked to make sure there was a valid D fare to sell the inventory against. Did you call SQ directly and ask them what they had?

Either way, EF appears to be showing the correct numbers as SQ has them published for the US.[/QUOTE]

Because I am in the US, I did not call SQ because (at least based on my understanding) around the world tickets have to be booked with the local carrier (in my case UA).