I can login again to the Seat Alerts app on iPhone.

Also can now once again , uk time 9am, login on seat alerts app android.

So the customer support response to me day or so was incorrect it would seem.

You can contact them and let them know the IP address you need unblocked and they will do it. https://www.expertflyer.com/about-expertflyer#contactus

The IP address was unblocked a few days later without action on my part, but thanks for the advice, which will be helpful next time.

Note that accessing the page you linked would've also been impossible. It 403'd on every request so the filtering was likely configured in a WAF before their web server. This is different from the blocking of IP addresses in their actual application which happens when you exceed a rate limit.

Everything works fine for iOS at the moment. Sound like you Android users also have a working app?

Here is the latest update that I have received from EF regarding the Android version of the app"

"The decision to discontinue support for the Android version was made due to various factors, including technological advancements and changes in our business priorities. We assure you that this decision was not taken lightly, and we understand this is not the desired outcome.

While there are no plans to reintroduce the Android version at this time, you can still access Seat Alerts and Seat Maps through our mobile site at ExpertFlyer.com/mobile."

They are saying that the Android app is not generating enough revenue in seat alerts or converting users to a subscription. It makes sense, given that Expertflyer is very US-centric, and the US is one of the few markets worldwide where iOS is dominant.

Android has been losing significant market share in the US lately, and support for more and more Android apps is being dropped. Newer services like Flighty don't even consider developing an Android app anymore. These decisions turn more US-based users towards iOS, eventually ending in a monopoly for Apple stateside, which may not be the best prospect. At the same time, other regions worldwide will continue to have a healthy mix of Android and iOS share.

I'm an android user and the app has suddenly started working for me. I simply went into the app (I was logged out as everyone else reported) and just left the app open for a minute or two. Then it automatically just logged me in and I can access all the features as normal. Not sure how this happened. I then exited the app to check what would happen when I accessed it again but it worked just fine, already logged in and all the features work like before. Maybe something temporary?

Anyone else having issues this morning? Searching LH and LX awards and search just hangs and then returns "An error has occurred while communicating with the airline reservation system. The support team has been notified of this problem. Thank you for your patience and understanding."

Twelve hours later, I'm getting the same thing. I'm trying to put together a last minute trip, so frustrating!

Airlines missing in Award & Upgrades
 

Looks like many airlines are now missing from the "Award & Upgrades" screen. They were there earlier today. New alerts cannot be set up for Air Canada, United, EVA, ANA, Asiana, etc.

Is that just a temporary glitch?

The list of airlines for the award search has suddenly removed about 70% of the airlines, including all Star Alliance Airlines. Does anyone else have this issue?

yes. Appreciate transparent communication on the outage, but desperately need transparency on if/when (even an estimate) it will be restored.

email from EF - YIKES
 

Dear subscriber,



Due to issues in obtaining award and upgrade data for the below airlines, we have removed them from our list of supported airlines in the Award & Upgrade search for the time being. This also means that any active Flight Alerts for those airlines are not currently working. We’re reaching out because you had at least one active alert that is affected by this outage. The affected airlines are:

• Adria Airways
• Air Canada
• Air China International
• Air India
• Air New Zealand
• ANA- All Nippon Airways
• Asiana Airlines
• Austrian Airlines
• Avianca
• Avianca Costa Rica
• Brussels Airlines
• COPA
• Croatia Airlines
• Egyptair
• Ethiopian Airlines
• EVA Air
• LOT- Polish Airlines
• Lufthansa
• SAS
• Shenzhen Airlines
• Singapore Airlines
• South African Airways
• SWISS
• TACA
• TAP- Air Portugal
• Thai Airways International
• United Airlines
• Virgin Australia
• Vistara

As always, the full list of supported Award/Upgrade airlines and classes can be found on our Help/FAQ page here:

https://www.expertflyer.com/sessionlessClassList.do

Just received the email below.

Does anyone feel like the value of ExpertFlyer has decreased considerably over the past few years?

I can't remember specifics, but I feel like it's gotten almost to the point of useless, and it's relatively expensive given all of the limited data and data availability issues. Not to mention that the UI / UX is terrible and hasn't been updated in forever. Setting seat alerts is such a tedious process.