What POS does the availability search use now?

It does not match ExpertFlyer US or UK POS for several airlines.

You mean award availability or do you mean purchase availability? The latter it seems is only on the mobile companion...I've just updated to 7.7.4.R1 and there is no Availability tab.

KVS, can you tell me what POS is used by the mobile companion (the only 'purchase' availability function I can find)?

I've been getting discrepancies between KVS and actual BA availability for BA1 on LCY-JFK. The KVS output does not seem to match either UK or US POS. Is it using some other POS? :confused:

I think he is speaking about availability via the mobile companion (web) interface at m.kvstool.com. The desktop app still does not have availability.

That's what I thought...it may be a long time.

This appears to be an issue with the [Awards/StarAlliance] Engine.
If you use [Awards/AC-StarAlliance], both FS & CS Classes are shown on UA TATL flights.

Unfortunately not, as cmn.jcs correctly advised, but welcome to FlyerTalk all the same, thebigtees! :)

A comparison would be off topic here, but there have been several threads discussing the merits and weaknesses of the three most popular tools. This is the most recent and useful that I'm aware of:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...pertflyer.html

You'll find several more by searching, but bear in mind that statements about what the three options are capable of can become obsolete very quickly. The KVS 'tool', in particular, has lost a lot of functionality in recent months.

Please provide full flight & date details via the Contact Form so that we can look into this matter.

And it now seems to be working again on KVS availability tool....weird issue

KVS Tool / MC not working properly
 

The mobile companion is not showing the availabilty properly.

No availability for A3 flights, it only shows the LH (codeshare on A3) flights:

http://fs2.directupload.net/images/1...p/ybeck5st.png

:td:

Done via contact form. For reference here it's BA 1 on Feb 10th which still shows J9 C9 D9 R9 I9 but does not match either BA's availability which is I0 or a US pos from expertflyer.

Indeed, Regular A3 Availability is not currently supported.

Will this be fixed or do we have to live without A3 availability?

At the moment, there is a small number of carriers (incl. A3), for which Regular Availability is not accessible via the current MC Engine. This may change in the future.

Award Availability for these carriers continues to be searchable via the main KVS Tool Application.

I would prefer not to have my current KVS login and FT username linked.

Do you know what POS is used for the availability search now? I am still seeing very different results for BA availability compared to UK/US POS.

What is this numbering thingie in mobile-companion? Is there a limit on queries?

Yes, I noticed this a few days ago when I spoke with my corporate TA. I asked him to read me his availability for a random set of BA flights, which was materially different from what I was seeing in the mobile KVS tool.

Is AC one of those? I now see no availability for AC flights, even on the mobile companion. :(
http://i.imgur.com/5iwVH4X.jpg

Certain limits do currently apply, in order to prevent excessive Mobile Companion usage.

Not at all -- the screenshot you have provided shows the Timetable view (not Availability).

Ya gotta love the ir:rolleyes:ny in that.

Moderator's note:

Indeed. Priceless. It would be interesting to see whose data they are pilfering now and what the number of search limitations are (or if this has been put in place to keep them from being tipped off). Morbid curiosity is getting the better of me....

If you would prefer the Availability option to be the default, please create a Bookmark by clicking/tapping the [http://www.kvstool.com/Images/AddFavourite16.gif] button.

The [Direct Only] option will now be saved as a part of the Bookmark.

@ KVS

I would also know the answer to this question!

You would like to know? Or you do know?

Pretty sure that information won't be forthcoming unless someone updates the wiki!

Not easy to find out without hacking KVS server...

So this is why the mobile companion started showing timetables for me. I had never used the timetable option before ... :(

How many people actually use the timetable option? Wouldn't it make sense for the most-frequently-used option to be the default?

is CX access down?

edit: realised that cathaypacific.com is down for maintenance

There is a basic tenet in psychology that states: The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. All the previous "methods" for availability and fares were screen scraped from websites were what was being scraped was shut down. The mobile tool's old availability source was no different. It came from http://1a.com.tw/tk/ which as you can see is now disabled.

Since the new availability source has a weird POS that no one can seem to figure out, and KVS is unwilling to tell us where it is, it's logical that this new source is being screen scraped as well. After all, if someone found out where this new availability data was being screen scraped from, it might be shut down too. This is consistent with the new fare search that is being scraped from a website that can't even show North American fares because he had no better website option to scrape from.

The access limits are equally as likely to prevent the owner of the website from finding out they are being scraped.

Either way, as others have shown the new availability data is inconsistent with both a US and UK POS, the bigger question is if the data is actually accurate vs if it is paid for.

Yeah that too. :p

Indeed, CX is currently experiencing a server hardware issue, which is affecting the [Awards/CX-OneWorld] Engine.

CX Award Availability continues to be accessible via the [Awards/JL-OneWorld], [Awards/BA-OneWorld], and [Awards/OneWorld] Methods in the KVS Tool.

Not if they just used a specialized web browser ;)

Could this question please be answered? :confused:
Flight Availability information is pretty useless at the moment without knowing what POS is being displayed, it does not match at all most carriers I have tried.

Mobile Companion has a dynamic POS.

If there is a specific flight you are concerned about, please provide the flight details and time of your search via the Contact Form, so that we can look into it.

Not showing users the POS that has been 'dynamically' selected for their searches, let alone allowing them to select it themselves, makes results truly useless.

What does this mean? I don't understand.

[Deleted by moderator] but I think it's disconcerting for folks that pay for a service that is not accurate.

As to "dynamic," one could speculate that it either means: a) the POS is dynamically assigned at time of query, or; b) the POS is dynamic as data sources dry up.

Moderator's Note:

I may be new to the Travel Tools forum, however, I have been an active participant of FlyerTalk for longer than five years.

When I took over moderation of this forum, I thoroughly acquainted myself with the hot issues, the personalities involved and prior actions of the moderating team.

Some FlyerTalk members expressed concerns about the legitimacy of the data that is provided through the KVS Tool. This is a proper topic for discussion, and the correct forum and thread for it.

The KVS Tool representative can easily put the controversy to an end by reassuring the FlyerTalk community that the KVS subscribers are being provided with bona fide data.

That being said, I expect posts on this topic to be informative and constructive. Dilatory and inflammatory messages will be summarily deleted. Repeat offenders will be suspended.

Thank you for your cooperation.