Nov 11, 2014, 2:41 am

FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides

Last edit by: Xyzzy

Where does the KVS tool get its data and is KVS authorized to provide this data in the manner it is presented?

The tool is known to access a variety of web sites, many in a manner that is not authorized. Please see the next section of this Wiki for a list of sites believed to be accessed and their data access policies (where known).

Additionally, under some conditions the tool appears to access sites via a KVS-operated back end. This means that the tool is not just a 'web browser' that runs via a user's machine. No detailed public information is available about how this works or whether any of this back-end access is authorized.

Websites KVS Accesses and their relevant Terms of Use

http://book.aircanada.com/pl/AConlin...verrideServlet
http://book.aircanada.com/pl/AConlin...PreviewServlet
https://book.aircanada.com/pl/AConli...verrideServlet
https://www.aircanada.com
Terms of Use:

Quote:

http://www.aircanada.com/en/about/legal/notice.html
Use of our web site for any other purpose, including any commercial use or purpose, is expressly prohibited.
Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, you agree that, in using or accessing our website, you shall not commit or participate in any of the following acts or actions, each of which is expressly prohibited under this User Agreement:
directly or indirectly, use or access, or encourage, solicit, permit, facilitate, aid, assist or abet, including, but not limited to, the selling, licensing, distribution or provision to any person of any means that permit, the use or access, or agree to provide the use or access, of our website through any manual process or any automatic, electronic or technical device, including but not limited to automated scripts, robots, crawls, screen scrapers, web "bots", deep-links, indexes, spiders, click-spams, macro programs, or any other device, program, software, system, algorithm, methodology or technology, now known or hereinafter discovered, that performs the same or a similar function, in order to, without limitation: "data mine"; "screen scrape"; data process; access, extract, copy, distribute, aggregate or acquire information; generate impressions or clicks; input or store information; search or generate searches; or manipulate or monitor any portion or content of our website;

http://data.flight24.com/flights/
Terms of Use:

Quote:

http://www.flightradar24.com/terms-and-conditions
Website’s information and Services are provided for personal, non-commercial use only. Permission is granted to temporarily download one copy of the materials (information or software) on Flightradar24’s web site for personal, non-commercial transitory viewing only. This is the grant of a license, not a transfer of title, and under this license you may not:

Modify or copy the materials;
Use the materials for any commercial purpose, or for any public display (commercial or non-commercial);
Attempt to decompile or reverse engineer any software contained on Flightradar24's web site;
Remove any copyright or other proprietary notations from the materials; or
Transfer the materials to another person or "mirror" the materials on any other server.

This license shall automatically terminate if you violate any of these restrictions and may be terminated by Flightradar24 at any time. Upon terminating your viewing of these materials or upon the termination of this license, you must destroy any downloaded materials in your possession whether in electronic or printed format.

http://data.seatexpert.com/tpi/find.php
Terms of Use:

http://plane.lan.com/cgi-bin/recibo_...bo_eticket.cgi
Terms of Use:

Quote:

http://www.lan.com/en_us/sitio_perso...-use/about-us/
You may use the information on our site solely for non-commercial purposes, and any use or modification of the website contents is not permitted.

http://reservations.usairways.com/Default.aspx
Terms of Use:

Quote:

http://reservations.usairways.com/en-US/aboutus/site_usage_policy.html
Content may be used for non-commercial personal use only, and you agree not to modify, copy, transmit, distribute, display, perform, reproduce, publish, license, create derivative works from, sell or otherwise transfer any information, software, products or services obtained from the Site without prior written permission from US Airways. You agree not to use any automatic device, manual process, or scraping to monitor or copy the Site or the content contained therein for any purpose without US Airways’ prior written permission. You agree not to use any device, software or routine to interfere with or attempt to interfere with the proper working of the Site or any activities conducted on the Site.

https://book.austrian.com/app/fb.fly
Terms of Use:

Quote:

http://www.austrian.com/Info/LegalRegulations/WebsiteTerms.aspx?sc_lang=en&cc=AT
2. Proprietary rights
All trademark rights, copyrights, database rights and other intellectual property rights to the contents of the Austrian-website, (as well as the organization and layout of the website), together with the underlying software code rest, either with Austrian or with its licensors. You may not, either in whole or in part, copy, modify, distribute or use or reproduce in other form contents of the Austrian-website, or the underlying software code, without the prior written consent of Austrian.

3. Permissible use
All Austrian-website online services (including the booking machine) are provided solely for the purpose of enabling you to check the availability of goods or services relating to your journey (the timetable, for example), make legitimate reservations, use our online check-in or transact other business with suppliers. You may only use the website in accordance with these terms and conditions and for the legally permitted purposes described above. In particular, you indicate your agreement to the following:
...
3.5 You may not reproduce information from the Austrian-website for commercial purposes. This also includes providing prices for Austrian flights on another website or another online server. In particular you may not copy, distribute, in other way use or reproduce discarded content from the Austrian-website with the help of 'robots', other search machine technologies or through other automatic mechanisms.

https://booking.qatarairways.com/qri...Booking.action
Terms of Use:

https://book.tam.com.br/TAM/dyn/air/...ng/retrievePNR
Terms of Use:

https://classic.checkmytrip.com/plne...ievePNR.action
Terms of Use:

Quote:

(D) not to use any automated system or software to extract data from the Application, Documents or Services for commercial purposes (such as screen scraping);

Quote:

https://mytripandmore.com/TermsAndConditions.aspx
Except as expressly permitted by these Terms, you may not:
...
9. use any "robot", "spider" or other automatic device, software, program, algorithm, routine, methodology, or any manual process or functionality:
...to monitor, assemble, analyse, index, copy, transmit, distribute, transfer, or link to any of the pages, data, materials, or content available on the Site,

https://pilotweb.nas.faa.gov/PilotWe...yICAOAction.do
Terms of Use:

https://prefunds.aa.com/refunds/receipt
https://www.aa.com/reservation/findReservationSubmit.do
Terms of Use:

Quote:

https://www.aa.com/i18n/footer/siteUsage.jsp
Intellectual property notifications
...
D. American Airlines owns or uses by permission all software contained on the Site, including without limitation all HTML code and Active X controls. Copyright and other laws and international treaty provisions protect this software. The law expressly prohibits any modification, redistribution, or reproduction of the software, and such actions could result in severe civil and criminal penalties. American Airlines will seek and support prosecuting violators to the maximum extent possible.
E. You may not copy, display, distribute, download, license, modify, publish, re-post, reproduce, reuse, sell, transmit, use to create a derivative work, or otherwise use the content of the Site for public or commercial purposes. Nothing on the Site shall be construed to confer any grant or license of any intellectual property rights, whether by estoppel, by implication, or otherwise.
...
Limitations on your use:
You agree that you will not Misuse the Site. "Misuse" includes, but is not limited to, using the Site to do any of the following:
...
L. Copy or create derivative works from, display, distribute, license, perform, publish, recreate, reproduce, sell, transfer, or transmit any information, products, services, or software obtained by, from, or through the Site.
M. Monitor or copy any Content by using any manual process, or any robot, spider, or other automatic device, without first obtaining American Airlines' prior written consent.

https://raw.github.com/opentraveldat...i_airlines.csv
Terms of Use:

https://secure.jetairways.com/PlatformID/Identify.aspx
Terms of Use:

https://tickets.airtran.com/SeatAvailability.aspx
Terms of Use:

Quote:

http://www.southwest.com/html/about-...ons/index.html
Prohibited Activities

You may not copy, display, distribute, download, license, modify, publish, re-post, reproduce, reuse, sell, transmit, use to create a derivative work, or otherwise use the content of this site for public or commercial purposes without our express written permission. Nothing on this site shall be construed to confer any grant or license of any intellectual property rights, whether by estoppel, by implication, or otherwise.

You may not modify, re-render, frame, mirror, truncate, add to, inject, filter or change the order of the information contained on any page of the Southwest Airlines sites, including, without limitation, by any way of reproducing Southwest Airlines or SWABiz® web pages or Company information on any other web site without our express written permission.

You may not copy, derive, edit, translate, decompile, reverse engineer, modify, use, or reproduce any code or source relating to our sites, including without limitation, any service or product Southwest offers.

You may not cause to appear any pop-up, pop-under, exit windows, expanding buttons, banners advertisement, or anything else which minimizes, covers, or otherwise inhibits the full display of the Southwest Airlines sites.

You may not use any deep-link, page-scrape, robot, crawl, index, spider, click spam, macro programs, Internet agent, or other automatic device, program, algorithm or methodology which does the same things, to use, access, copy, acquire information, generate impressions or clicks, input information, store information, search, generate searches, or monitor any portion of the Southwest Airlines sites or Company information.
...
You may not disguise the origin of information transmitted to, from, or through the Southwest Airlines sites. You may not circumvent any measures implemented by Southwest Airlines aimed at preventing violations of the Use Agreement. You may not violate the restrictions in any robot exclusion header.

When you use the Southwest Airlines sites or Company information for an authorized purpose, you must include all proprietary notices without changing, hiding or deleting them.

You may not engage in any conduct that is, or that Southwest Airlines deems to be, in violation of this Use Agreement.

Quote:

https://www.checkmytrip.com/cmt/apf/...&SITE=NCMTNCMT
3. Licence restrictions

3.1 Except as expressly set out in this EULA or as permitted by any local law, you agree:
...
(D) not to use any automated system or software to extract data from the Application, Documents or Services for commercial purposes (such as screen scraping);

https://www.delta.com/mytrips/findPnr.action
http://www.delta.com/ism/SeatMapDisplay.action
http://www.delta.com/shared/components/blank.jsp
Terms of Use:

https://www.finnair.com
Terms of Use:

https://www.flysas.com
Terms of Use:

https://www.iberia.com/web/retrievePNR.do
Terms of Use:

https://www.lot.com
Terms of Use:

https://www.lufthansa.com
Terms of Use:

Quote:

http://www.lufthansa.com/online/port...d=2016866&l=en

2. Proprietary rights
...You may not, either in whole or in part, copy, modify, distribute or use or reproduce in other form contents of the Lufthansa-website, or the underlying software code, without the prior written consent of Deutsche Lufthansa AG.

https://www.routehappy.com/
Terms of Use:

https://www.swiss.com
Terms of Use:

https://www.tripforyou.net/t4u/PTopAction.do
Terms of Use:

https://www.tripple.jp
Terms of Use:

https://www.united.com/web/en-US/app...n/default.aspx
Terms of Use:

Quote:

https://www.united.com/web/en-US/content/legal.aspx This website is for the User's personal, noncommercial use only. User agrees not to modify, copy, alter, distribute, transmit, display, perform, reproduce, publish, license, create derivative works from, transfer, or sell any information, software, products or services obtained from this website without United’s prior written permission. User agrees not to use any robot, spider, other automatic device, or manual process to monitor or copy this website or the content contained therein or for any other unauthorized purpose without United’s prior written permission. ... United reserves the right to investigate any illegal and/or unauthorized use of this website, including, but not limited to, unauthorized framing of this website or unauthorized use of any robot, spider or other automated device, and to take appropriate legal action, including, without limitation, civil, criminal and injunctive redress.

Quote:

http://www.gcmap.com/faq/using
Q: May I use the Great Circle Mapper's maps on my web page?
A: You may use maps generated by the Great Circle Mapper on non-commercial web pages (q.v. commericial use below) so long as you do not profit from them and you include the following credit on pages which include maps:
...
Q: May I use the Great Circle Mapper's maps for commercial sites or publications?
A: Please write to Karl L. Swartz regarding terms for commercial use of the maps.

http://www.iata.org/about/members/Pa...line-list.aspx
Terms of Use:

Quote:

http://www.iata.org/Pages/terms.aspx
2. Your Conduct

The content on this Site is for your personal use only within the organization or entity to which you are attached as applicable, and it is not intended for commercial exploitation unless expressly agreed in writing by IATA through a duly authorized representative. IATA authorizes you to download or reproduce selected materials at this Site only for your personal, non-commercial use, in the ordinary course of business provided that you retain all copyright and other proprietary notices contained in the original materials on any copies of the materials and that the title or database brand name and IATA name is stated as the source.

You may not otherwise modify, disassemble, create derivative works, distribute, reproduce, publicly display, perform, transmit, re-transmit, sell, rent, sublicense, or otherwise use any materials or content on this Site for commercial or non-commercial exploitation by yourself or the organization or entity to which you are attached or permit third parties to so do. Without limitation, unlimited or wholesale reproduction, copying of the content for commercial or non-commercial purposes and unwarranted modification of data and information within the content is not permitted, and any use of these materials on any other website or networked computer environment for any purpose without IATA’s prior written consent is prohibited.
...
4. Intellectual Property Rights

...You must not modify, decompile, or reverse engineer any software IATA discloses to you via this Site, and you must not remove, overprint, or deface any notice of copyright, trademark, logo, legend, or other notice of ownership from any originals or copies of software or information from the website. "IATA Trademarks" means all names, marks, brands, URL names or addresses, logos, designs, trade dress and other designations IATA uses in connection with Products or Services. You are not permitted to incorporate any IATA Trademarks into any other trademarks, service marks, company names, Internet addresses, domain names, or any other similar designations. Any unauthorized use of any materials contained on this website may violate copyright laws, trademark laws, the laws of privacy and publicity, and communications regulations and statutes.

http://www.itn.net/cgi/get
Terms of Use:

http://www.kenya-airways.com/kqbook.aspx
Terms of Use:

http://www.myairlines.ru
Terms of Use:

http://www.qantas.com.au/regions/do/dyn/checkmytrip
Terms of Use:

http://www.seatexpert.com/multiple_results.php
Terms of Use:

http://www.seatguru.com/ajax/findseatmap.php
Terms of Use:

http://www.seatmaestro.com/airlines-...eckmytrip.html
http://www.seatmaestro.com/themes/de...te_airline.php
Terms of Use:

http://www.seatplans.com/ajax/Airline
http://www.seatplans.com/ajax/airports-and-city
http://www.seatplans.com/find-and-compare/
Terms of Use:

KVS Availability Tool

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Oct 26, 2014 | 8:41 am

#7381

aradisc

Join Date: Jun 2013

Posts: 555

Looks like 7.5.1 fixed the issue you all were describing this morning:

Quote:

Resolved: [Availability/GA] & [Awards/SQ] Methods Issues 27 Oct 2014
Be sure to upgrade to the latest version (7.5.1).

Oct 26, 2014 | 8:42 am

#7382

KVS

Original Poster

FlyerTalk Evangelist

Join Date: Jan 2004

Location: Worldwide

Posts: 12,952

Quote:

Originally Posted by jerry_greece

i get a data source error [L1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stephan B. Brom

Got the same message.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fims

I have the same error L1 as well after upgrade to the latest version.

Quote:

Originally Posted by source05

Data error L1 since the new update. Everything worked fine before

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomh009

New version worked fine for me yesterday, but not this morning ...

We have identified and resolved an issue that was causing an incorrect error message to be displayed to some users.

Please download KVS Tool V7.5.1 and try again.

Oct 26, 2014 | 8:42 am

#7383

tomh009

Join Date: Jul 2001

Location: YYZ

Programs: AC SE100K, HH G

Posts: 2,454

Quote:

Originally Posted by jerry_greece

now it works for me! but i don't see award availability for A3 flights (X class).

Working again for me as well, so likely a temporary server problem rather than anything more nefarious. No problem checking AC availability, at least.

Oct 26, 2014 | 8:56 am

#7384

KVS

Original Poster

FlyerTalk Evangelist

Join Date: Jan 2004

Location: Worldwide

Posts: 12,952

Quote:

Originally Posted by mileageking

Do you guys see v7.5.0? I downloaded the latest ver couple times and mine shows 7.4.6.R2?

Please clear your browser's cache or try using a different one to download.

Oct 26, 2014 | 9:00 am

#7385

KVS

Original Poster

FlyerTalk Evangelist

Join Date: Jan 2004

Location: Worldwide

Posts: 12,952

Quote:

Originally Posted by jerry_greece

now it works for me! but i don't see award availability for A3 flights (X class).

A3 Award Availability should be checked via the [Awards/StarAlliance] / [Awards/AC-StarAlliance] Methods, as noted in the KVS Tool User Guide:

http://Help.KVSTool.com/#A3

Oct 26, 2014 | 12:09 pm

#7386

GJS - yow

Join Date: May 2004

Location: Ottawa

Programs: AC SE*MM/S100K; HHonors Diamond; a bunch of others at various levels!

Posts: 1,595

Quote:

Originally Posted by GJS - yow

Same for me. Neither Availability (GA or GTC) is working, nor is Fares/PSH. I did not explore any further.

Quote:

Originally Posted by KVS

We have identified and resolved an issue that was causing an incorrect error message to be displayed to some users.

Please download KVS Tool V7.5.1 and try again.

7.5.0 is working for me now. (Edit - only Availability, not Fares).

Last edited by GJS - yow; Oct 26, 2014 at 12:11 pm Reason: clarification

Oct 26, 2014 | 12:34 pm

#7387

GJS - yow

Join Date: May 2004

Location: Ottawa

Programs: AC SE*MM/S100K; HHonors Diamond; a bunch of others at various levels!

Posts: 1,595

Quote:

Originally Posted by GJS - yow

7.5.0 is working for me now. (Edit - only Availability, not Fares).

I downloaded and installed 7.5.1, and still the Fares option is giving a datasource error.

Oct 26, 2014 | 4:40 pm

#7388

mileageking

Join Date: Jan 2008

Posts: 3,946

Quote:

Originally Posted by KVS

Please clear your browser's cache or try using a different one to download.

I cleared my browser history & cache several times. Deleted previous KVS downloads, restarted computer few times and still downloads and installs 7.4.6.R even if I select 7.5.1.

Also, how do I get GTC membership credentials? I read through info on KVSTool website but doesn't tell me how to register. Help please.

Oct 26, 2014 | 6:05 pm

#7389

Viajero Millero

Join Date: Nov 2011

Location: MEX

Posts: 1,030

Downloaded latest version and Availability/GA working.

I'm like a little kid covering my ears and saying:

LALALALALALALALALAALALALLALALALALALALALALALALALALA (Don't tell me where it's coming from) LALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALAL

So...yeah.

Oct 26, 2014 | 10:42 pm

#7390

mat_bkk

Join Date: Aug 2004

Location: LYS, BKK, JFK

Programs: LH SEN* ;

Posts: 358

The update solved the issue for me !
Thanks !!!!!

Oct 26, 2014 | 11:11 pm

#7391

angatol

Join Date: Oct 2011

Posts: 4,964

Quote:

Originally Posted by Viajero Millero

Say hi to lorraine!

Oct 27, 2014 | 3:08 am

#7392

jerry_greece

Join Date: Jul 2005

Location: 39000ft

Posts: 1,334

i don't understand why there is a limit at 20 class categories returned. this clips some fare categories out!

Oct 27, 2014 | 5:17 am

#7393

source05

Join Date: Jul 2013

Location: NCE

Programs: BA Bronze, Flying Blue, HH, Melia and many others

Posts: 86

everything works fine again since the last update from this morning.
Great job KVS and great tool.

Oct 27, 2014 | 2:45 pm

#7394

eyancy

Join Date: Oct 2014

Posts: 1

The use of GetThere credentials in tool

The creation of an account to be used for “screen scrapping” or other methods of automated data collection using the GetThere booking tool is strictly forbidden. Any entity that has created an account for this purpose should stop doing so immediately.

Eric Yancy,
Information Security Officer, GetThere

Oct 27, 2014 | 3:19 pm

#7395

A_Lee

Join Date: Sep 2006

Location: NE & SE Asia, N America

Programs: TG ROP Gold, Lifetime OZ Diamond Plus, BA Gold

Posts: 3,105

Quote:

Originally Posted by eyancy

A most interesting post, Eric! While I'm sure most of us who have been following the way KVS attempts to get users to piggyback on accounts they're not authorized to be using, I'm wondering if you have any information you can give us regarding the legality of this? Of course laws vary from one jurisdiction to another, but perhaps if you're familiar with the laws in let's say the U.S., how are users there potentially legally liable for unauthorized access to your data? And also KVS itself. I know KVS has denied in the past that they directly code access to these types of accounts into their software, but based on reports of the program at times accessing websites and using credentials that were never expressly provided by the user, my guess would be that KVS, even if being technically correct, could easily be doing it indirectly. For example, if their software just did some accessing of a webpage where credential information was shown, pull up that data and store it into a file, then they'd be technically correct that their software doesn't store those credentials internally. BUT it would have a specific mechanism in the software for obtaining that and using that even without the express approval by the user of supplying those credentials. Given KVS's secrecy and avoiding answering questions directly, I wouldn't at all be surprised if they don't or haven't in the past used something similar.

Well, if the access of the GetThere data is at all illegal in certain jurisdictions, then that begs the question of the owners/moderators here on FlyerTalk as to whether the promotion of a tool that is using illegal methods and/or the owner of the tool suggesting to users to illegally access data is in violation of the terms and condition of this website.

From this websites terms and conditions:

Quote:

Content prohibited from our sites and services includes but is not limited to: (1) illegal content; (2) content in facilitation of the creation, advertising, distribution, provision or receipt of illegal goods or services; (3) offensive content (including, without limitation, court ordered defamatory statements, threatening, hateful or pornographic content); (4) content that discloses another's personal, confidential or proprietary information; (5) false or fraudulent content (including but not limited to false, fraudulent or misleading responses to user ads transmitted via our sites and services); (6) malicious content (including, without limitation, malware or spyware); (7) content that offers, promotes, advertises, or provides links to posting or auto-posting products or services, account creation or auto-creation products or services, flagging or auto-flagging products or services, bulk telephone numbers, or any other product or service that if utilized with respect to our sites and services would violate these TOU or our other legal rights; and (8) content that offers, promotes, advertises or provides links to unsolicited products or services. Other content prohibitions are set forth in supplemental terms for particular categories or services on our sites and services and all such prohibitions are expressly incorporated into these TOU as stated in the introductory paragraphs above.

In my view, KVS is in violation of item 2, if the accessing of this information is illegal, being they're clearly promoting their tool and methods for doing that here. For item 4, I've not seen them post directly on this website such content, but they are using this website to facilitate this.

Just an idea for anyone who's data is being misused, one might want to take a round-about approach, in addition to any direct methods being sought, to terminate their promotion of illegal and/or unethical access of data.