Your problem is availabilty on NOV 20. The T fare is only available for
NOV30
MEL-SYD-SFO-LAX UA840/870/888
DEC18
LAX-SFO-AKL-MEL UA1162/9543(NZ)/9557(NZ)

You could also try the NZ5/6 direct MEL-LAX with the fare KUS1YL for AUD1234+tax

[KVS Availability Tool 2.3.2/Platinum - Apollo: ITN/US-TNT]

Seatmaps not working?
 

So I'm trying to check the seatmaps using Apollo and Galileo, as the Gold version allows for, but the sites these two menu items give aren't seatmaps. Specifically, the Apollo seatmap function seems to get to a booking screen at itn.net, and the Galileo seatmap to CheapTickets.com, another booking screen. Are the urls the tool uses correct now?

Edit: argh, never mind. Should have read the manual like a good user :(

Hey All,

Sorry to bother you all again, just a quick question about fares visable thru Platnium KVS?

From MEL, I'm looking for fares to LON. I know that there are lots of joint airlines fares (SK+TG or LH+TG basically fares with 2 airlines).

I'm just wondering why these fares are only apparantly visable when I use Sabre: Fares/ZUJ not when I use Sabre: Fares DotRes? Whats the difference between the two? I notice when DotRes I can change dates but not with ZUJ.

Thanks guys,
Kael

Sabre: Fares/ZUJ also shows consolidator/unpublished fares when you're originating in Australia or Singapoure. Those are identified with a "/*NET" suffix.

Regular (published) fares are always shown under the airline code that published them, even though such fares may permit travel on a combination of carriers. You would need to consult the fare rules to obtain the exact details.

It's not about booking classes, but I think this is the right thread to ask...

I am using KVS Platinum and trying out the PNR tools, but am having no joy. All 4 methods say that it is the wrong code or last name. Should I be using the 6 digit alpha-numeric Booking Code that I received from aircanada.com? The same that (in theory) I would enter when using 'View bookings' on aircanada.com?

I've had problems using it there, and was told that because a CSR had to make changes, that I can't view it using 'View bookings'. Could this same thing affect all the global PNR locators?

Confused,

Dr. PITUK

I'm glad you asked... I've had the same type of question but never bothered asking and just gave up!

That does not make lots of sense.

They sell more economy, yes. And they will give opups if needed.

But that does not mean that they would cut the number of seats available in J in order to sell more in Y. Indeed, they can list the available seats in both categories, and sell them as either, until the plane fills up.

J0 means it's fully booked in J. J1 means it's all booked (but not necessarily allocated) except for one seat.

Plus, we know that AC does not overbook J.

Thanks

So in order to actually book a consolidated fare, where can that be done. Are they still available thru engines like ITA, or are the only available thru certain wholesalers or something?

Also, the rules often don't include a booking code. How can one find this out?

It would make more sense to ask this question on the KVS thread on Travel Buzz which is where the discussion on KVS now take place.

I agree that it makes no sense, however during busy periods where J is not in demand, you will see it done. The only reason I can think of why they do it is that the J and Y buckets are independent of each other and that the legacy systems are not set up to dynamically take a seat out of J if a seat in Y is sold and that it has to be done manually as the route controller sees fit.

AC’s Revenue Management sometimes does continue selling the J cabin seats and sometimes they do not. Within Revenue Management the general practice is called “cabin sizing.”

Bookings made directly with AC cannot be accessed via the PNR manager, as they are stored in AC's proprietary RES III system and are not visible to the 'outside world'.

However, you can retrieve AC bookings made via a TA.

Those consolidator fares will not show-up on ITA, etc -- you would need to book via Zuji.com. The rules for consolidator fares are also very brief, so you would need to contact them directly to confirm the booking class.

Thanks KVS.

So now AC won't let me see my bookings on their system OR an outside system!! Grrrrr

Dr. PITUK

Version 2.4.0 Released
 

What's New in Version 2.4.0:

• WorldSpan: Awards/SkyTeam Method:
  
  This new access method gives you access to availability in award and upgrade booking classes for a number of SkyTeam airlines:
  
  Classes shown by the WorldSpan: Awards/SkyTeam Method:
  
  
  • NW: R A W (Domestic)
  • NW: D W (Intl)
    
  • KL: J C I S B M K H L Q T V W
    
  • DL: F A R Y B M H Q K L U T E N (Domestic)
  • DL: J D I O Y B M H Q K L U T E N (Intl)
    
  • CO: A/J P D Z R F E Y H K N B O V U Q I S W T X L G
    
  • AF: C D Z F O Y S B K H T V L R M Q X U W E A N I G (Short-Haul)
  • AF: P F A J C D I Z O Y B K H W T V X L N G U (Long-Haul)
    
  • OK: J C D I Z Y M B H T L Q E N V S G U W R
    
  • AM: J A D C Y B M S K Q N H X T L V U
    
  • AS: F U A Y S B M H Q L V K G T W
    

What's New in Version 2.3.1:

• Sabre: Fares/ZUJ Method: This new method is a replacement for the Fares/TCY method and allows you to view fares for a specific cabin class (e.g. Economy/Business/First). All published (incl. international) fares for the next 12 months are shown.
  
  
• Due to the recent changes to the Amadeus: AUA engine, the list of airlines supported by that method has, unfortunately, been reduced as follows: *A + AY BA EI MA QF AF KL AZ DL MX OK .
  
  
• New Fares Booking Class Filter
  • You can now filter fares by booking class(es) (the first letter of the Fare Basis code). To do so, enter the required booking class(es) in the "Display only the following classes:" field.
    
    Note: Some fares book into a class that is different than the first letter of the Fare Basis.

Reminder

• Due to major changes in the Amadeus-AUA & Sabre-ITN, all previous version of the Tool should no longer be used. Be sure to download the latest version to ensure uninterrupted access (this will resolve the "Datasource Error" issues).

For a quick visual demo of the Tool's features, available at each level, goto [View Screenshots].

[Download Version 2.4.0 Now].

I can't get CO fare codes to come up with the NWAWP tool. It says "No award seat is available for the date you selected." All I wanted to do was find CO's F inventory. I take it that's the only way to find CO F, correct?

There has to be at least 1 award seat available (in any cabin) for a flight to show-up via the NWAWP method:

[KVS Availability Tool 2.4.0/Platinum - WSpan: Awards/NWAWP/JP]

KVS Availability Tool FAQ/User Guide, Part 1 has been updated to reflect the latest changes/additions.

Award/Upgrade classes data is now available for 15+ airlines.

How come no AZ rewards? Will they be added soon (considering that they are skyteam..?)

KVS, do you know any Canadian websites (except for travelocity.ca) that offer the fares that are shown on the Sabre/DotRes method? I have tried Expedia unsuccesfully.

If it helps here is what I am looking for:

KHI-AUH Etihad 9th Jan
AUH-YYZ Etihad 19th Jan
YYZ-AUH-KHI Etihad 30th Jul

Fare Basis: DRTPK. Travelocity.ca won't bring up the flights I want :(

Expedia.ca brings up a much more $$ CRTPK fare.

Thanks

Is KVS free to use and install?

I am guessing that that could be because AZ does not provide its award availability to NWA in realtime, so AZ partner awards have to be requested via a manual process.

Yes, it is (at the Lite Level) -- see http://kvs.unrealnetwork.com/Tool/#Levels for details.

It's quite possible that no Canadian online agency would have EY 'plates' (which is a ticketing requirement for that fare). Is there a reason you don't want to book it directly with EY?

I'm puzzled as to why the Amadeus method doesn't show flights for SA (apart from some codeshares with LH, SQ etc.) Given their *A membership and the fact that Amadeus is their home GDS it baffles me. :confused:

I recall that when US joined *A, it took AUA over half a year to finally 'recognize' them as such via their online booking engine. So it's probably the same issue here...

Has something changed under the hood? I used to be able to go through our corporate proxy and firewall, but now I can't. I get:

Datasource Error:
Proxy Access Denied

I don't think anything changed at my end. I'm using v2.4.0.

That message is coming from your corporate proxy (which now requires authentication). Pls see the KVS Tool FAQ on how to provide the Tool with your proxy username/password.

Ah yes, sorry about that. I've completely forgotten I've previously set up the .ini file but I'd to change my password this morning... Oops.

Thanks. :)

Because I'm an eejit with tech things, my sweet young techie has set up a link to the .ini file on my desktop to make it easier for me to change the KVS proxy password when I change it elsewhere. :)

Ah... thanks. Wish they'd buck up though: I'm dying to know if they will show the O/I/X buckets as they do for LH and others. ;)

could you help me out?
 

I am looking to see what my chances to upgrade w/ systemwide certs (I am 1K) are on the following UAL flights:

Flt 889 SFO - PEK 11/8

Flt 858 PVG - SFO 11/17


Any help would be greatly appreciated!

You could try contacting AUA [to let them know that their AirManager service does not yet recognize SA as a *A carrier] -- there is a direct e-mail address and a phone number at http://aua.com/us/eng/Offers/AirManager/advantages/

"Simple" mode?
 

I really like the tool, but even though sometimes I feel like a professional in the travel industry, I am not.

Is there a chance for a "simple" mode that would "translate" all the booking classes into a more useful meaning (like award classes and actual fares).

I know this information is available in multistep operations and manual lookups in the forum, but it would be great if the tool would do that directly for me.

The same with the various engines, why does´t the tool aggregate the information for me instead of forcing me to send multiple queries?

Or am I just too lazy?

Matthias

This is a good question.

The various engines, assuming you mean GDSs, have their origins in the days of text based terminals tied into a giant mainframe over a telephone line. Although the GDS industry has in recent years introduced web based services based on XML command/response strings, even these enhancements still are just reformatted extensions of the old text level command strings.

The result of all this is the information must be asked for piecemeal with responses that are also fragmented. For instance, you can ask for availability of all buckets for a flight or just one bucket, but in one command you can't ask for all business class buckets only. So, for a service provider to allow you to ask for only business class availability might take a series of 4 or 5 queries being issued to the GDS or very intelligent software to filter out just the requested inventory from general request.

So, third-party services try to do the heavy lifting and translate what the you the user want to see, and how you want to see it, into a series of queries to the GDSs and then aggregate the responses into one screen reponse. The problem with this is that it takes a lot of communications time with the GDSs and not all GDSs and airlines speak the same "language". There is also proprietary software that must be written by the service provider to take this data and simplify it in a manner appropriate for their customers.

Hope this helps,

ExpertFlyer Voice

I suppose that is possible, however with 200+ supported airlines and their periodic booking class 'shuffles', maintaining an accurate record of which booking class is which, would be a very time-consuming task. Most users, who require access to specific award/upgrade booking classes, probably already know those classes by heart (or have them written down for easy reference).

As EFV has already mentioned, there are a number of technical limitations that need to be dealt with, and multiple queries would also hurt the performance, making the user wait longer to get the results.

Furthermore, information from multiple GDS systems can be different, even for the same flight. So, for example, if Sabre says J7 C6, Amadeus says J6 C6, Apollo says J5 C4, and WorldSpan says J9 C8, what should the 'aggregate' result show?: J7 J6 J5 C6 C4 C8? Hardly a simplification, is it?

So, the bottom line is that the Tool is meant to be powerful enough to get a lot of information that has been traditionally accessible via the conventional GDS interface (which is best suited for masochists), yet simple enough not to require a 3-month training course and 550 page command manual.

However, some amount effort is still required on the user's part, and if someone feels really strongly about this issue, then perhaps they should look into hiring a Travel Agent to do this work for them, or booking through the dumbed-down booking engines, which provide "user-friendly" descriptions of booking classes...

It would probably be best if you asked this in the UA forum. You may also wish to include the availability data shown by the Tool in your post...

Problem with 2.4.0?
 

I installed version 2.4.0 because of persistent errors today with ver. 2.3.1.
But now with 2.4.0 I'm getting timeout errors on Apollo and Sabre.

ITN Down: 04 Oct 2006
 

ITN servers went down, as of a few hours ago (this is being discussed in the UA forum, as it also brings the United.com booking functionality down: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=609088).

In the meantime, please use Amadeus or Galileo to check availability.