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-   -   ExpertFlyer Help Desk, Information and Updates Thread (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/travel-tools/1297709-expertflyer-help-desk-information-updates-thread.html)

ExpertFlyer Voice Dec 19, 2016 12:29 pm


Originally Posted by IMH (Post 27634942)
I assume this refers to the online petition at http://airtravelfairness.org/ that ExpertFlyer recently encouraged subscribers and followers to support.

The folks at TravelTech created the airtravelfairness.org site to facilitate a letter writing campaign to the DOT and be able to make your voice heard without having to figure out how to leave a comment with the DOT.

If you wish to comment to the DOT directly you may do so here: https://www.regulations.gov/document...2016-0204-0002

fly_yag Dec 20, 2016 10:48 am

Newbie question here.

If I am searching for star alliance award space on a Lufthansa flight (for example) where I intend to use Aeroplan miles to book should I be searching using Air Canada as the airline or should I select Lufthansa as the airline? It seems that availability differs significantly between the two.

ExpertFlyer Voice Dec 20, 2016 3:42 pm


Originally Posted by fly_yag (Post 27640251)
Newbie question here.

If I am searching for star alliance award space on a Lufthansa flight (for example) where I intend to use Aeroplan miles to book should I be searching using Air Canada as the airline or should I select Lufthansa as the airline? It seems that availability differs significantly between the two.

You select the airline that operates the flight. As noted in the search results, we show the partner level inventory for LH.

zpaul Dec 26, 2016 3:52 am

Good morning! I'm trying to do various searches this morning (seat maps, awards/upgrades, fares) and the site is not responsive - I even had trouble logging on. Any relief in sight? It's been like this for the last few times I've logged in ever since renewing my Premium service about a week ago.

IMH Dec 26, 2016 6:56 am


Originally Posted by zpaul (Post 27663070)
[...] site is not responsive [...] trouble logging on. [...] It's been like this [...] since renewing my Premium service

Have you sent an email to [email protected] ? All anyone else can do is say whether or not they are having similar problems. (I have used EF several times in the past few days and everything has been fine.)

The Wolf Dec 28, 2016 5:11 pm

Under the following link, Expertflyer claims to be able to show LX O class.
Is this true? I thought this was only available to SEN / HON via the m&m hotline.

bobert24 Dec 29, 2016 1:48 pm

Confession: I'm on my 4th "5 day free trial" in ~2 years. Every time I've signed up, I've fully intended to pay for a membership. But I've found your website so frustrating to use that I could never bring myself to do it. Fixing these issues would most likely lead to a not-insignificant increase in your paying membership.

The biggest problem is that there's a very steep learning curve to using this site, and next to no information to help with that. I'm more than willing to put in the time and effort, but not when all I can do is attempt to learn by trial and error, and hope that I've guessed correctly as to why some things work and some don't. The help guide provided on the site is extremely limited, and doesn't answer some very basic (much less more advanced) questions. For example, just a couple posts up:


Originally Posted by fly_yag (Post 27640251)
If I am searching for star alliance award space on a Lufthansa flight (for example) where I intend to use Aeroplan miles to book should I be searching using Air Canada as the airline or should I select Lufthansa as the airline? It seems that availability differs significantly between the two.

This question should not have to be asked. I've been trying to figure this out since signing up again a few days ago. This is extremely basic information that's required to use your site as effectively as possible - it should be in your documentation. Right now the documentation feels less like a "premium" service, and more like what you would expect to get from somebody developing free software in their spare time, out of the kindness of their heart.

I understand that the back-end systems that your site interfaces with are very complex, and the way that they function isn't something you have control over. I'm not in any way asking for you to change that - you can't. All I'm suggesting is that you provide some explanations of how things work that you do have control over.

This is something that all businesses have to face eventually - they understand what they do, and from their perspective (and with the knowledge they have), it's very simple. Outsiders/customers, on the other hand, don't have that intimate knowledge of how it all works, and are left to somewhat fend for themselves. They will often just not even bother to try, as is the case here.

I guess I should mention that I'm not new to this - I've flown over a million miles & redeemed over 3 million frequent flyer miles over the past few years, etc. I have a strong background in IT, and understand how these systems work. I'm familiar with fare buckets, can quote more than a few routing rules for various airlines off the top of my head, stuff like that. I've very rarely been called dumb in my life - usually the opposite (although I'm sure that will change after this post). This is in no way a DYKWIA or anything like that - I'm simply trying to make it clear that this frustration with your site's usability isn't limited to complete newbies who've never been on a plane before.

I'd love to sign up for your site and actually use it for its intended purposes. If I could get the functionality out of it that I know it's supposed to have, it would be worth every penny. But right now it's lacking so much basic information that using it is instead a very frustrating, wasteful experience.

ssbmoro Dec 30, 2016 8:12 am

I just signed up for ExpertFlyer so I'm still learning my way around. Is there a way to exclude or filter out coterminal airports from query results?

For example, I'm looking for award space from BWI - JFK, and I'm only interested in starting and ending at those two airports. But all of my search results are cluttered with flights starting in DCA or IAD and ending in LGA or EWR as well.

The Wolf Jan 2, 2017 3:26 pm


Originally Posted by The Wolf (Post 27673658)
Under the following link, Expertflyer claims to be able to show LX O class.
Is this true? I thought this was only available to SEN / HON via the m&m hotline.

This seems to have been corrected now.

ExpertFlyer Voice Jan 2, 2017 10:14 pm


Originally Posted by ssbmoro (Post 27680508)
I just signed up for ExpertFlyer so I'm still learning my way around. Is there a way to exclude or filter out coterminal airports from query results?

For example, I'm looking for award space from BWI - JFK, and I'm only interested in starting and ending at those two airports. But all of my search results are cluttered with flights starting in DCA or IAD and ending in LGA or EWR as well.

Seeing the alternative airports in the search results means that there isn't any award inventory for the airports you specified, otherwise they would be returned first. If you need further help please email us with the date/airline/class specifics.

gilbertaue Jan 9, 2017 8:29 pm

Looking at SQ352/351 for SIN-CPH-SIN and can't find the I award booking class in the system. Does it mean SQ is not loading any I upgrade seats?

lcpteck Jan 10, 2017 2:27 am


Originally Posted by gilbertaue (Post 27734633)
Looking at SQ352/351 for SIN-CPH-SIN and can't find the I award booking class in the system. Does it mean SQ is not loading any I upgrade seats?

Yeah that means there's no award space available for now. You can create an alert which will send you a notification when it opens up.

gilbertaue Jan 10, 2017 5:33 pm


Originally Posted by lcpteck (Post 27735717)
Yeah that means there's no award space available for now. You can create an alert which will send you a notification when it opens up.

Thanks lcpteck!

PV_Premier Jan 12, 2017 7:30 pm

I am having trouble reconciling the results for QF searches. I see two J seats on a certain date YVR-SYD booking with AS miles, but when I try to confirm them, AS says no.

ExpertFlyer says: A flight will only be returned by Qantas if it has an Award class that has availability greater than zero.

When I search for the flight on ExpertFlyer I see:


QF 76 0 YVR
xx/xx/17
8:00 PM SYD
xx/xx/17
6:15 AM 744
Unavailable
70% / 13m
Business - Award & Upgrade U No

Does "No" mean that this flight actually has no availability, or does it actually have availability simply because it showed up in the search results?

lcpteck Jan 12, 2017 7:37 pm


Originally Posted by PV_Premier (Post 27752510)
Does "No" mean that this flight actually has no availability, or does it actually have availability simply because it showed up in the search results?

NO means no availability. It will say YES if there is.


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