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ExpertFlyer Help Desk, Information and Updates Thread

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Old Feb 14, 2015, 12:53 pm
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: ExpertFlyer Voice
The purpose of this thread is to post questions, feedback, and report issues with ExpertFlyer. The ExpertFlyer team will respond as soon as possible from the ExpertFlyer Voice account (usually within 24 hours except on weekends).

You can also contact ExpertFlyer support at [email protected]
This is a community-maintained thread it is not supported by ExpertFlyer.

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Seat Maps: we're currently not able to show seat maps for flights departing within the next 24 hours for several airlines: DL, BA, QR , ANA, B6, & JL
Searches currently not working:
  • Upgrades - AY, BA, EK, EY, IB, QR, VS
  • Awards - AY, BA, IB, EY, QR, VS

To search AA upgrades:
  • Use the Award & Upgrade tool
  • Only search for individual segments (set the "Connection Preference" drop-down to "Direct/Non-Stop only"). Flight results that are part of a connection won't show the upgrade version of C or A inventory because AA only files upgrade inventory as individual, not married, segments. (Married segments show revenue inventory instead of upgrade inventory.)
  • To avoid confusion, check the "Exclude Codeshares" box, as AA awards and upgrades are not valid on codeshares.
  • 2 minute video explanation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGRNFYIbHp4











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Old Sep 18, 2019 | 8:27 am
  #2086  
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Originally Posted by GFrye
Or it's simply phantom availability.
Are you able to book the seats on the Alaska site?
I thought so too when I first discovered the discrepancy but then I booked it on Alaska and it ticketed. These are not phantoms.
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Old Sep 18, 2019 | 8:39 am
  #2087  
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Originally Posted by TEDisgone
I searched BA and they do match what Expert Flyer shows but AA matches what Alaska shows. I don't have a QF account to see what they show but none of that really matters if I'm using Alaska points as my currency. So now my question is from what database is Alaska drawing on and how can we use that to track seats? I did try searching for my example route in EF using Alaska as the airline and it could pull up Economy seats but U (which is what Business on Qantas codes as but First Upgrade on Alaska) shows 0 so I don't know what special code to use to find either Business or First seats that seem to be available to Alaska and American but not other partners.
Originally Posted by TEDisgone
I thought so too when I first discovered the discrepancy but then I booked it on Alaska and it ticketed. These are not phantoms.
I've recently had a similar experience when booking QF seats using AA miles. The availability to AA was different from that which was shown on EF. One possible cause was QF's use of married sector availability (obviously, that's not relevant to the example that you've given), but it also seemed possible that QF was making private inventory available to AA that was not being published to the GDS. It was also interesting that some inventory that was published to the GDS was not bookable by AA, which simply could not see it (actually, the AA agent said that she couldn't see the flight at all).

Because married sector games aren't relevant to your search, I would tend to suspect the latter possibility. That is also supported by the fact that for your date, what AA shows to me is matched by what QF shows to me, and what BA shows to me matches what EF shows.

And if that is the cause, then there is no alternative but to search the relevant airline websites yourself. If it's not published to the GDS, EF can't help.
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Old Sep 24, 2019 | 8:26 am
  #2088  
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Good Morning... Is there a way to do a Flight Status Search for a flight that occurred several weeks ago? Thanks!
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Old Sep 24, 2019 | 8:52 am
  #2089  
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Originally Posted by MarJon
Good Morning... Is there a way to do a Flight Status Search for a flight that occurred several weeks ago? Thanks!
What info are you looking for? "Flight status," as in departure arrival info??
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Old Sep 24, 2019 | 8:56 am
  #2090  
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Originally Posted by MarJon
Good Morning... Is there a way to do a Flight Status Search for a flight that occurred several weeks ago? Thanks!
If you mean the exact times a flight took off and landed, that only goes back 7 days. The airline noted comments is available only a couple days in the past at most.
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Old Sep 24, 2019 | 9:05 am
  #2091  
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Originally Posted by ExpertFlyer Voice
If you mean the exact times a flight took off and landed, that only goes back 7 days. The airline noted comments is available only a couple days in the past at most.
Flightaware.com will show you two weeks, more if you subscribe.
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Old Sep 24, 2019 | 9:11 am
  #2092  
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Where do I go for a seatmap when EF cannot display because the flight in question is ‘under airport control’? In this case, this is 36 hours prior to departure.
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Old Sep 24, 2019 | 9:32 am
  #2093  
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Originally Posted by ExpertFlyer Voice
If you mean the exact times a flight took off and landed, that only goes back 7 days. The airline noted comments is available only a couple days in the past at most.
I was trying to find the reasons for a LOT flight that was cancelled at the end of August.... Thanks.
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Old Sep 28, 2019 | 11:21 am
  #2094  
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What does CXR mean in a fare rule routing ?
thanks
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Old Sep 28, 2019 | 2:50 pm
  #2095  
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Originally Posted by sabbasolo
What does CXR mean in a fare rule routing ?
thanks
I Googled "fare routing rules CXR" and got

https://www.atpco.net/glossary/C

on page 2: "CXR: Abbreviation for carrier."
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Old Sep 28, 2019 | 10:33 pm
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Originally Posted by Zorak
I Googled "fare routing rules CXR" and got

https://www.atpco.net/glossary/C

on page 2: "CXR: Abbreviation for carrier."
Thanks, I googled it of course and couldn't find it. I didn't use quotes though
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Old Oct 3, 2019 | 4:51 pm
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Hello,
Looking for guidance on how to use EF to find the miles accumulated for a flight. I've used EF for several years but can't seem to find that function. Odds are I'm just missing it.
Thanks for any help.
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Old Oct 3, 2019 | 8:43 pm
  #2098  
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Originally Posted by Blally
Hello,
Looking for guidance on how to use EF to find the miles accumulated for a flight. I've used EF for several years but can't seem to find that function. Odds are I'm just missing it.
Thanks for any help.
The Flight Details show the base amount of miles of the flight. The amount of miles credited is based on the fare class you book.
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Old Oct 5, 2019 | 7:08 pm
  #2099  
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Hey guys. First time using EF, tinkering around with the trial period before committing to a paid membership. For background - looking to snag an award ticket on ANA to Japan next November. That's a bit too far out to book tickets just yet, but I figured I'd try getting used to the tools at my disposal beforehand. Playing around with some "what if" scenarios with flights next years just to get my feet wet.

Very new to all of this, so maybe this is my not understanding how airlines work with awards, fare codes, etc. or maybe I'm not understanding ExpertFlyer.

First observation - if I search for reward tickets on the ANA website I can do so well into September 2020. If I try the same dates on ExpertFlyer it says it's too far in the future. Is there a reason for that? Says dates that far in the future aren't supported by the airline, but the airline's website seems to work...?

In any event, I tried some August dates to see what I could learn. I picked two arbitrary dates for outbound / return, and on ANA's website I can see that there is award inventory in business class, for both legs (non-stop flights NH11/NH12 between ORD and NRT). If I try the same inquiry on ExpertFlyer it shows that there is indeed availability on the outbound, but not the return. Any reason why it wouldn't see the return leg?

Finally, I figured I'd drill into the outbound flight fare inventory to see if I could learn how many reward tickets tend to be made available in early booking. From the previous EF query it tells me that business class reward tickets are an "I" fare. If I search on that flight, no "I" fare bucket shows up at all.

Suffice to say I'm a bit confused all around here!
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Old Oct 5, 2019 | 11:48 pm
  #2100  
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Originally Posted by jerseytom
Hey guys. First time using EF, tinkering around with the trial period before committing to a paid membership. For background - looking to snag an award ticket on ANA to Japan next November. That's a bit too far out to book tickets just yet, but I figured I'd try getting used to the tools at my disposal beforehand. Playing around with some "what if" scenarios with flights next years just to get my feet wet.

Very new to all of this, so maybe this is my not understanding how airlines work with awards, fare codes, etc. or maybe I'm not understanding ExpertFlyer.

First observation - if I search for reward tickets on the ANA website I can do so well into September 2020. If I try the same dates on ExpertFlyer it says it's too far in the future. Is there a reason for that? Says dates that far in the future aren't supported by the airline, but the airline's website seems to work...?
ExpertFlyer does not get ANA award data from the ANA website. Most reservation systems support up to ~335 days in advance only. We are looking for other data sources to see ANA 355 days into the future.

In any event, I tried some August dates to see what I could learn. I picked two arbitrary dates for outbound / return, and on ANA's website I can see that there is award inventory in business class, for both legs (non-stop flights NH11/NH12 between ORD and NRT). If I try the same inquiry on ExpertFlyer it shows that there is indeed availability on the outbound, but not the return. Any reason why it wouldn't see the return leg?
ANA shows additional inventory to their own frequent flyers vs what they offer to partner airlines. We show the inventory from the Star Alliance partner point of view.
Finally, I figured I'd drill into the outbound flight fare inventory to see if I could learn how many reward tickets tend to be made available in early booking. From the previous EF query it tells me that business class reward tickets are an "I" fare. If I search on that flight, no "I" fare bucket shows up at all.
For some airlines a flight may not be shown if there is no award availability in any cabin for the flight. You can still create a Flight Alert for the flight from the results page of the Flight Availability search or via the Create New Flight Alert page. Also you can enter Y as an "Other Class" in the Award search to force all flights to show anyway.

If you have a question about a search in the future, please email us directly at [email protected]
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