^ Yes please, show us the url that we can replicate using any other web browser to get the routing rules such that we can determine if we are violating T&Cs or laws with the data we are obtaining with our PCs.

That doesn't make it much more useful for easy access. You still have to click on every fare to find out what it is. As a bonus, since they're sorted by price and one cannot specify booking class anymore, different cabins are now mixed within the results, for example a Z fare is between a cheaper economy fare and a full Y fare. Very convenient.

Better still, sometimes we cannot get any business class or first class fares for some airlines and city pairs with this method.

So can someone please fill me in on what GTC credentials are and how to get them? I'm trying to do some availability searches

I have the same problem. For NA itins there are so many fares loaded, even with an airline specified, that the 40 lowest fares that are displayed don't include J or F. For a Europe - NA itin with one airline specified I was able to get it to include J or F. For many routes it remains impossible to get premium fares though.

As noted in the KVS Tool User Guide, the [Fares/GOL] Engine does support domestic Fares, except those within US/CA.

Could you please provide a specific example?

This must be a Fare-specific issue -- what are the Fare details?

So are you complaining that it does or does not validate/filter Fares? :confused:

There is definitely no filtering by Availability/Booking Class taking place.

Please provide specific example(s), where the rules that should be validated are not being validated.

Unfortunately, it is a limitation of the [Fares/GOL] Engine itself as it does not support requests for a specific Cabin Class.

However, you can still retrieve details for any Fare (including any Business or First Class Fare) using the [Other Fare] option and entering the Fare Basis Code, even if that Fare is not shown in the displayed list.

And how, exactly, am I supposed to look up the details of a Fare Basis Code if the code itself isn't shown? To use the Other Fare feature you need the fare code. I usually use KVS to find fares. If I already know what they are, it kind of defeats the purpose.

GTC is getthere.com, an online travel agent who several large organisations use.

One of these organisations foolishly let an internal document on to the internet.


The KVS company then suggested you use this document to get an account with getthere.com

This page included a username and password that could be used to get a getthere.com account. That password has since been changed for obvious reasons.

There are other ways to get the credentials - if you work for a specific corporation or university that pay for getthere.com usage.

It was then confirmed by a getthere.com representitive that this method was against the getthere.com policies and must not be used with KVS and similar tools.

However the method still exists.

Basically if you want flight availablity via KVS Availability Tool, you have to (fraudulently or not) get a getthere.com account, and then, in direct contravention of the getthere policies, use KVS to scrape the webpages.

If you weren't aware, the reason that the old method of availability did not work was because flightstats.com, who had offered availability for free, and perhaps being fed up with KVS using their sevices, and costing them money, without any return from the adverts on that site, removed the service.

I'm not sure if this is all in breach of criminal law, rather than just civil, but I wouldn't want to be a KVS user and find out.

In the mean time, if you want access to availability, fares, and other data, you should send your money to a company that pays for legitimate access to this data. There are several tools in existence that does this, but as each search tends to cost a few cents, these tools aren't free.

You may be under the impression the money you pay each month for KVS goes towards providing the data. It doesn't. You may be under the impression you are buying a tool which will give you flight availability. You aren't. You are donating to the upkeep of a "web browser", with no guarantees on the return. That's all.

... is an unusual entity, if indeed it (a "company") exists. We have no way of knowing.

The entity has a "Company Representative" here on FlyerTalk -- and uses the first person plural (the "royal we") -- but doesn't publish the real world contact details that would make it easier for injunctions to be taken out or "cease and desist" notices to be served.

Very curious.

The [Other Fare] option is useful for Round-The-Wold Fares (as described at http://Help.KVSTool.com/#RTW), when you already have a ticket, or when you are about to purchase one and the booking source (e.g. telephone res agent) does not provide detailed Fare Information.

Is there a list of those tools somewhere?

FIFY. Based on this deficiency, it does not replace the method available when we paid.

Can you add a RSS to the User Guide as it seems to be changing daily and the history is often left without trace?


ORD LIM AA Nov 7th-JAN 12th
KVS: QLE0MCQ1 = $491
Actual Best: QLE2MCQ1 = $287

Same fare: QLE0MCQ1



You can see above it is filtering based on advanced purchase requirement.

Good luck getting any sort of refund out of KVS. A long time ago I paid for access to the 'Availability Tool' until one day when, similar to what recently happened, a certain set of data became unavailable. Lo and behold, a short time later the same data (from an end user perspective it was the same) became available again -- only this time it was at the cost of more money. That was when I learned the truth about how KVS operates and that all I had paid for (according to KVS) was a 'browser'. A few of us were in the same position -- we'd paid for access to something and were now being asked to pay more to get what we had been told we already had access to. Then, as now, people were offered additional access at no/low cost if we'd either stop posting about the matter or delete our posts. I forget all of the details, but the story is the same. S:rolleyes:me things never change.

CAVEAT EMPTOR!

That's probably because it never actually happened.

Indeed, people have been imagining things since the beginning of time.