JY1024

Just signed up to play around with it... I'm intrigued - seems like a really neat tool! (I'm on Firefox 3.6.8.)

To start, I played around with a few flights/dates that I've been checking on AsiaMiles/Cathay. Queries on AwardNexus ran pretty quickly (one day, one class comes back in about 3 sec!) and matched what I'm seeing on CX site exactly. ^

In the previous case, I was searching on a very specific route (JFK-HKG, HKG-JFK). Next, I ran a more complicated query for BWI-TPE (ticking off Oneworld-BA, CX, and JL) - this is generally the search that I have the AA EXP desk do for me. The AAgents generally first look for the long-haul options and then for the short-haul flights separately as BWI-XXX and XXX-TPE are sometimes serviced by planes that do not have a First class. (E.g. BWI-JFK is AE, and HKG-TPE is sometimes on a two-class KA flight.)

Based on what I read in the "Tips" page, I think it generally makes sense why my query returned no availability:

- By checking the CX box, it's only looking for CX/KA flights, so since they don't service BWI, nothing returns.
- Same for JL.
- But what about for OneWorld (BA)? I can see availability for JFK-HKG when I run a CX/First query. But are no results coming back because there may not be F availability/options for the AE and CX/KA short-haul segments?

(Sorry if something like this has already been asked upstream. I tried to read through as many pages as I could, but until I started playing around with the tool, the some of the posts didn't make sense yet. )

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Edit to add:

Okay, I'm slowly learning to crawl... I did a route builder for OneWorld-BA with a connection through JFK. Now I'm seeing the for the BWI-JFK segment, it is pulling in all the AE options for BWI/DCA/IAD and clearly shows that it's in Y. Also seeing that it's pulling up HKG-TPE on flights that only have J. ^ This is what I'm used to seeing when I query on BA's site.

ckpeter

Welcome!

You got it for CX/JL. They are not generic alliance engine - they only search their own flights and own airports.

BA has coverage for BWI-TPE, but you may need to break down the search. I know that BA will sometimes offer cabin mixing (e.g. give you Y on AA eagle instead not returning any result at all). However, to be safe, you should not rely on the mileage site to mix the cabin for you. If you see no results (or no results that you like), mix the cabins yourself by searching for BWI-JFK for Y (on one-class eagle flights), JFK-HKG for F, and then HKG-TPE for either F or

In general, awards between TPE and HKG are plentiful, and so are eagle flights. You should concentrate on the long-haul JFK-HKG, as that is the most important flight to get.

Don't forget that you have plenty other award routing options on Oneworld, such as connecting in NRT, LAX, SFO, etc. I know that you are probably aiming specific for JFK-HKG, but other routing options are good as backups.

ckpeter

Missed your edit there as I was composing my reply.

It sounds like you got it. I also forgot to mention in my last post that Route Builder can be very helpful to quickly generate route/cabin mixing, for best search visibility.

jrobin

I used Awardnexus to book an award itinerary with QANTAS.

One feature I liked was that Awardnexus showed some flights existing that the QF award flight search engine returned as not available. (Before I called to book the award itinerary, I checked each flight in the tentative itinerary I wanted on the QF web site for availability.)

When I called QF to book the award itinerary, the flights were indeed available.
A score for Awardnexus: in addition to facilitating multiple searches, it also returns more available flights.

The specific flights where this occurred were CX: HKG-SGN-HKG

aktchi

Just reporting: Tried searching NRT-BKK on JL and the engine got stuck spinning its wheels.

Update: False alarm. Looking at my "recent searches", the search completed successfully. It was taking longer than expected and I gave up too soon.

cheltzel

ckpeter,

I just found this thread and your site. It is truly a fine piece of work! ^^^

I have been in software development for over 30 years, so take this as high praise. Having done interface coding where you have to connect several disparate sources (each with their own idiosyncrasies), I know this has been a monumental effort.

But I did find a small anomaly. I was doing a search fro JFK-ICN for various dates next summer. Your site always returns results for CA flights connecting via PEK. It never returns anything from the OZ nonstop or the UA one stop flight.

Here is a link to your results set for my last search:

http://p1.awardnexus.com/collage/vie...00fa14d0000d94

Please look at July 4. It shows only 1 option connecting in PEK on CA. On the ANA tool, there is availability on OZ221 in C/J and on UA891 in Y.

Please let me know if I posted the wrong link for you to view and I will happily provide whatever details you require.

Again, thanks for this wonderful tool!!

Chuck

cheltzel

I just tried it using the route builder and I get results that match the ANA tool.

JY1024

I've booked a fair number of partner awards to TPE, so I've bothered the AA EXP desk enough to now know most of the connecting options. So armed with that knowledge and Route Builder, I can see myself saving quite a bit of time! ^

But what about routes I'm less familiar with (or an alliance I normally don't use)? Is there a good way to figure out where the connection points would be for use in Route Builder? For instance, if I was looking for Middle East, Africa, S. America, etc - I'd probably only be able to ramble off a short list of connection cities. Normally I'd just resort to calling multiple EXP AAgents and having them each think through creative options for me.

(BTW, I don't expect this tool to be a panacea. It's already very slick, and I certainly don't mind doing legwork on my own.)

ckpeter

Congrats on getting your award booked.

QF's site actually has some hidden features, which I learned from a member posting in this thread earlier, where if you search using Multi-city with a dummy QF segment, the engine will return a lot more results (e.g. CX only shows up if I search it this way).

ANX incorporates this trick in order to access more award results.

I have an internal "Route Explorer" tool, but it is still in the lab. My suggestion is that you go to the respective Oneworld / Star Alliance flight search pages, which will offer you connection possibilities (links are on the Route Builder page).

In addition, you can download a program called Airline Route Mapper, which can be very helpful to visually explore airline routes.

ckpeter

Thanks, Chuck. Airline data are difficult to work with. It took me months to stabilize the design of the backend and the common access interface.

It sounds like you got your availability puzzle figured out. If you encounter any more problem, do not hesitate to let me know.

cheltzel

I've done the same in a different industry. And I know the pain you have gone through.

I am not sure, but it may be timing related. I tried your real-time search and I got results that were inconsistent with the ANA tool. After researching it and making sure it was inconsistent, I posted the first message.

Since it was my initial exposure to your site, I continued to play and "discovered" the Route Builder. I entered the same inquiry that failed before and it yielded results consistent with the ANA tool. So I sent the second message.

And then I reentered the original inquiry in the real-time search and it gave different results (consistent with ANA). Try as I could, I could not get it to fail again.

So, it could have been "an error somewhere above the keyboard"

Or, it could be one of those intermittent failures that can be so hard to nail down.

I'm pretty good at finding bugs, so I'll keep at it, if you don't mind.

ckpeter

One thing I should mention about ANX on ANA, is that it will mix the cabin for you. For example, if you want F but the J cabin is the highest class of service offer, you will get a J result. However, if the plane has F, then you won't see the J result.

In other words, it will downgrade to J or Y you if that is what is physically required, but not, if the F (or J) cabin is there, but no award seat is available.

The only exception is for domestic first, where ANX assumes that J award can be upgraded to redeem for two class domestic first (such as on UA).

Please poke around more and do let me know if you encounter anything that seems out of the ordinary.

Quasiconvexity

Thanks for a terrific interface! I dont have subscriptions to KVS or EF and find the ANA tool interface a little clunky but awardnexus made it look really easy! Was playing around with a few searches to look for alternatives to a trip I already have reserved (on LH F) and was able to find availability on a better date for the return. Called and had it modified instantly with no problems.

Thanks again for all the hard work, and for opening it up to us! ^

ckpeter

Thanks for trying ANX out. I am happy to hear that you found a better flight with it.

okazon69

I must add my thanks as well - looks fantastic, and after only a few tries, have to say it's a great way to bring information together in one spot.

I have a question specific to Aeroplan, in relation to Thunderroad's suggestion above:

A particular search, SIN-FRA on 4/24 in F gives a variety of results including non-stop LH779 when using NH, but nothing interesting when using AC. Where is this limitation coming from? (This flight does not show up on Aeroplan.com either, of course, which suggests flying SIN-HKG-YYZ-FRA .)

Would I will be able to book this flight if I call Aeroplan and tell them it "should be" available?