Jul 17, 2014, 1:23 pm
Last edit by: hillrider
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If you have any questions about using ExpertFlyer or wish to report any issues, please email them at [email protected].
ExpertFlyer.com - Master Information and Updates Thread
May 20, 2010, 1:59 am
#91
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Sun & beach destinations
Programs: UA-lifetime Platinum (2MM), IHG-Amb, HH-Diamond, Hertz-PC, Marriott-Gold, CX-AM
Posts: 1,427
Hello ExpertFlyer Voice, Thanks for your reply. What you told me might explain why the number of seat count at expertflyer doesn't match with what my travel agent see from their system. My travel agent is Hong Kong based and has special fare allotment with UA and many airlines. My TA is one of the biggest travel agents here and is mainly using GALILEO system & sometimes ABACUS as well. I don't know if the two systems that my TA is using have anything to do with the seat count in difference. You know I really have no idea what GDS, GALILEO & ABACUS are about since I'm not in the travel industry. 
GordonGordon to answer your first question, all of our information is live and never cached, it is retrieved in real time as it is searched. We know that the UA inventory especially is accurate as we get the UA data directly from the reservation system that hosts UA.
What your travel agent is telling you isn't that there isn't any inventory in that class, but that there aren't any fares available for purchase in that class. Just because a flight has inventory in H or M class, if there is no corresponding valid, bookable H or M fare then it doesn't matter. Please make sure to compare the availability results with a Fare Information search to determine the valid fares for the dates you'll be traveling.
Also, is your travel agent US based? If not, there is a possibility that UA could be showing non-US travel agents different availability then US based agents. Other airlines are known to do this, however we haven’t heard of UA doing it. Also what GDS is your agent using?
What your travel agent is telling you isn't that there isn't any inventory in that class, but that there aren't any fares available for purchase in that class. Just because a flight has inventory in H or M class, if there is no corresponding valid, bookable H or M fare then it doesn't matter. Please make sure to compare the availability results with a Fare Information search to determine the valid fares for the dates you'll be traveling.
Also, is your travel agent US based? If not, there is a possibility that UA could be showing non-US travel agents different availability then US based agents. Other airlines are known to do this, however we haven’t heard of UA doing it. Also what GDS is your agent using?
May 20, 2010, 9:34 am
#92
Left Expert Flyer 4/23
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 2,741
Hello ExpertFlyer Voice, Thanks for your reply. What you told me might explain why the number of seat count at expertflyer doesn't match with what my travel agent see from their system. My travel agent is Hong Kong based and has special fare allotment with UA and many airlines. My TA is one of the biggest travel agents here and is mainly using GALILEO system & sometimes ABACUS as well. I don't know if the two systems that my TA is using have anything to do with the seat count in difference. You know I really have no idea what GDS, GALILEO & ABACUS are about since I'm not in the travel industry.
Jun 14, 2010, 10:25 am
#93
Left Expert Flyer 4/23
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 2,741
Kenya Airways Awards now available
As of today Kenya Airways (KQ) awards for Business (D) and Economy (W) classes are available using ExpertFlyer's Award/Upgrade search tool.
Jun 29, 2010, 9:15 pm
#94
Left Expert Flyer 4/23
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 2,741
FLIFO Comments & Miles and Meals are back
Tonight we pushed an update that brings the return of two often asked for features:
This is just a start of an array of new and improved features that we’ll be rolling out over the next few months.
Enjoy!
-EFV
- Flight Status flight specific searches for AA flights will show the additional airline comment information if available.
- All Flight Details searches again show the Miles and Meals information for flights.
This is just a start of an array of new and improved features that we’ll be rolling out over the next few months.
Enjoy!
-EFV
Jun 29, 2010, 11:35 pm
#95
Moderator: New York City and FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2007
Programs: AA PLT, Natl EC
Posts: 10,855
Great additions! ^
Jun 30, 2010, 9:32 pm
#96
Left Expert Flyer 4/23
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 2,741
Thanks, and we also just added Aegean Airlines (A3) Award and Upgrade availability.
Jul 1, 2010, 12:13 am
#97
Moderator: New York City and FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2007
Programs: AA PLT, Natl EC
Posts: 10,855
The requested information could not be retrieved or is not available. This is likely due to invalid input criteria or lack of access to the information from the airline. Please revise the search parameters and try again.
Jul 1, 2010, 12:23 am
#98
Left Expert Flyer 4/23
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Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 2,741
The flight specific Flight Status search (for AA) and the city pair search pull from two different sources, hence the difference. The GDS (for flight specific AA searches) only has information going back to the previous day, which is now 6/30.
Jul 1, 2010, 9:13 am
#99
Moderator: New York City and FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2007
Programs: AA PLT, Natl EC
Posts: 10,855
If this is true across all airlines, though, might it be worth redirecting individual searches (which is what I save in my Saved Queries) for older flights back to the other source? That way I'd see it as "FLIFO data added for flights on same day" rather than "Flight Status info lost for flights older than one day".
Jul 1, 2010, 10:14 am
#100
Left Expert Flyer 4/23
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Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 2,741
OK, thanks - as long as I can still get the historical info via the city-to-city search, I can work around it.
If this is true across all airlines, though, might it be worth redirecting individual searches (which is what I save in my Saved Queries) for older flights back to the other source? That way I'd see it as "FLIFO data added for flights on same day" rather than "Flight Status info lost for flights older than one day".
If this is true across all airlines, though, might it be worth redirecting individual searches (which is what I save in my Saved Queries) for older flights back to the other source? That way I'd see it as "FLIFO data added for flights on same day" rather than "Flight Status info lost for flights older than one day".
Jul 1, 2010, 11:52 pm
#101
Join Date: Apr 2004
Programs: Marriott LT Titanium, AA 1MM, UA 1MM
Posts: 369
Forgive me if this is a stupid question, but is there a way to filter out responses to award searches that have no availability in the requested fare buckets? As it is I get a ton of flights listed that have 0 availability. I can imagine this information being useful under some circumstances, but I'd love to get rid of it and not have to scroll through so many screens full of zeros...
Jul 1, 2010, 11:59 pm
#102
Moderator: Luxury Hotels and FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Palo Alto, California,USA
Posts: 17,854
Forgive me if this is a stupid question, but is there a way to filter out responses to award searches that have no availability in the requested fare buckets? As it is I get a ton of flights listed that have 0 availability. I can imagine this information being useful under some circumstances, but I'd love to get rid of it and not have to scroll through so many screens full of zeros...
Jul 2, 2010, 8:15 am
#103
Left Expert Flyer 4/23
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 2,741
Forgive me if this is a stupid question, but is there a way to filter out responses to award searches that have no availability in the requested fare buckets? As it is I get a ton of flights listed that have 0 availability. I can imagine this information being useful under some circumstances, but I'd love to get rid of it and not have to scroll through so many screens full of zeros...
Jul 3, 2010, 12:37 pm
#104
Join Date: Apr 2004
Programs: Marriott LT Titanium, AA 1MM, UA 1MM
Posts: 369
We can probably put an option in the Filter Search Results drop-down box on the results page to remove any flights without inventory. It's funny, for every person asking us to remove the zero availability flights, someone else asks us to show as many flights as possible, even if they are zeros.
I would prefer that you put this on the award search screen, though, since I really want to put this in a saved query (since some of my queries are for rare awards).
Jul 4, 2010, 1:27 am
#105
Moderator: Luxury Hotels and FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Palo Alto, California,USA
Posts: 17,854
And if you do this option (I hope so), and there are multiple segments, show all the segments if at least one of them has availability.
Have been doing some PHP programming lately and it's pretty easy to do this in PHP so I assume it's easy to do it in other languages as well.
Have been doing some PHP programming lately and it's pretty easy to do this in PHP so I assume it's easy to do it in other languages as well.