Hi zznoname. The main thing to understand about EF vs KVS is that KVS just screen scrapes publicly available websites for his award inventory. As such, anyone can get the data for free. ExpertFlyer has direct GDS access, which allows us to get hidden data that isn't available anywhere else, such as AA upgrade inventory. There is another website, AwardNexus.com, which screen scrapes the same Oneworld sources (such as JL.com for CX award availability). AwardNexus has the benefit of being web based (which as ESpen36 points out, can be important), and has a free version for FT members that you should evaluate as well.

The chart that Lux put together is helpful for a features comparison, however the airline comparison is out of date (the up to date list for EF is here: http://www.expertflyer.com/sessionlessClassList.do), it also doesn't include what airline awards AwardNexus shows, which for Oneworld is the same as KVS.

At the end of the day you need to try all three tools to find what is best for you, regardless of the "Out of the two" statements you may read implying otherwise. We think that helping someone to use the best tool for their needs is more important then guiding people to just use our tool. If you have any questions, feel free to email us or PM me directly.

I was looking at your award search list on the url listed above and noticed several airlines missing. For example, I do not see NH, OZ, LH, or SQ listed. Are these included in your searches?

ExpertFlyer has information for Flight, Fare, Seat Map, Stats, etc. for searches of those airlines and basically all major airlines. The full list of airlines that are supported for Award & Upgrade searches is here: http://www.expertflyer.com/sessionlessClassList.do For any airline that may not be on that list, the data is freely accessible on the web via one of the airline award search tools or AwardNexus.

Another chart that Lux created to compare tools, which was oddly omitted in previous posts, is the services that the tools provide:

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6025/5...17620db4_b.jpg

In my experience, I pay for EF for Skyteam award space only, as BA/QF and CO/NH take care of OW and *A respectively.

I don't mind paying for a screen scraper like KVS if it provides a consolidated tool and doesn't need me to painfully navigate crappy websites (BA, I'm looking at you!)

But KVS is Windows-only and I have a Mac, so that's the end of that...

Many KVS Tool Members run it on their favourite Mac machines -- please see the Mac section at http://Help.KVSTool.com/#Mac for details.

Contrary to what the preceding post may have implied, there have actually been no major changes to the comparison tables. KVS Tool continues to provide an incomparably wider Award Availability coverage across all 3 Global Alliances, particularly when it comes to premium and 1st-tier airlines (such as SQ/LH/NH/OZ): http://Help.KVSTool.com/#Classes

It is a pleasure to welcome you as a new KVS Tool member -- enjoy!

That is incorrect. Most recently, award and/or upgrade information for FI, IB,and KE as been updated or added to ExpertFlyer since Lux made his comparison chart.

In addition, AwardNexus, which has full award availability for all major alliance airlines as well, is not included in the charts at all. Certainly a major change for those wanting to know about all options available when evaluating the best solution.

Award/Upgrade Availability for all these airlines is supported via the KVS Tool (in addition to the recent addition of Award Availability on Etihad Airways [EY], which is supported exclusively via the KVS Tool).

While an updated chart would certainly be welcome, we do not consider the addition of 3 or so airlines to be a "major change", given the overall number of airlines, for which Award/Upgrade Availability is supported in the KVS Tool.

FWIW, While I have been a paid subscriber to both services, I currently find that for me, KVS is the better fit based on my needs.

It was instrumental in helping me to book several CX F and J awards. It literally saved me so much time from having to manipulate the airline (asia miles and others) booking sites that it paid for itself in the first 2 weeks of use.

It is not up to you to determine what it "major" or not for everyone else. Just like it is not up to you to pretend that AwardNexus doesn't exist and isn't a "major" omission from the chart considering it has the full 3-alliance award search as well, and has a FREE version and is web based.

When people create threads like this they want ALL the relevant information to make a decision, not what YOU deem is relevant or not.

Glad you're enjoying your KVS Tool membership and congratulations on your successful CX J/F redemptions!

Award Nexus does not have full 3-alliance search- it does not cater for CZ/KE/MU among others- these 3 carriers (as well as ease of interface) is essentially why I keep my EF subscription.

Plus metered search sucks, it's better to search without thinking about maximising points/search quotas.

How accurate is KVS tool and Expertflyer on CX?
 

Dear All,

I've just been introduced to Experflyer and I think its a fabulous tool for frequent travelers. Unfortunately, it does not include award booking availability maps for CX. I've heard that KVStool does?

My question is how accurate are they? The seat maps are certainly spot-on when compared to the manage-my-booking ones on CX. Updates are instant. But how about for people who have not had seat assignments / checked in yet?

If, for example, Y is nearly completely sold - should the no. of tickets available on Y, K, M, V, O, S be near 0? or do they account for the possible availability of op-ups and keep it at 9?

The reason why I ask is there seems to be some discrepancies between what I see on the seat maps and the actual situation. Flights are often more full then they look.

1. "Award availablity" and "seat maps" are 2 separate things. CX (and other airlines that I know) do not allocate specific physical seats and mark them award-only.
2. If Y is nearly completely sold, whether CX wants to sell more seats and accomondate by doing op-ups is CX's corporate decision. The tools only reflect the availability CX provides.
3. For KVS Tool, the "Amadeus - Enhanced" function would distinguish between blocked and occupied seats, whereas the "Amadeus - Text" function displays both occupied and blocked seats as unavaliable.
4. Many people do not assign seats when they book, so of course more people would be on the FLT then the amount of advanced seat reservation.

Generally speaking seat maps are not a valid indicator of availability of tickets, award or otherwise. For CX seat maps, as noted here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/catha...l#post18175322 ExpertFlyer provides a complete and accurate CX Seat Map.

For CX award availability, the go to source is the award search on the JL website. That information is available for free, either by using JAL.com yourself or via AwardNexus.com which has a Free version for FT members.