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FlyerTalk Forums (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/index.php)
-   United Airlines | MileagePlus (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/united-airlines-mileageplus-681/)
-   -   "Expert Mode" Changes (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/united-airlines-mileageplus/1385358-expert-mode-changes.html)

omegadeal Sep 8, 2012 9:44 am
UA already uses a captcha for viewing fare rules, so why not use it for viewing fare buckets as well?

At least this is done near the end of the year so people can get a clean start next year. If the AA/US merger goes through then I'm out.

cerealmarketer Sep 8, 2012 9:44 am
Simple solution -

Make an upgrade search calendar just like the award search calendar. Should be one line of code to change - 'R' instead of 'O'.

Would go a long way. The big issue for me is simply the annoyance of having to call in to check availability for a range of flights. And that can't be good for UA's costs.

ExpertFlyer still has the non-award availability via the GDS which I still find valuable for irregular ops and upgrade chances so keeping that subscription.

But so disheartening that with all the other problems they choose to 'fix' this first. Priorities are misaligned.

Also...why is MileWise still working for award search? Are they scraping?

pantanal Sep 8, 2012 9:45 am
Another idiotic move by United. Guess I was right to stop flying them this year and jumped to AA

glx Sep 8, 2012 9:46 am
My email to Jeff.

Jeff-

I'm sure you've heard this from numerous people in the last 24 hours, but removing Expert Mode search is a kick in the pants to loyal flyers, especially those that fly a lot. I'm a GS. I'll spend over $60,000 this year with your airline. Last year, I spent over $50,000. When I travel for business, I can choose whatever airline I want. I choose United because I know that when I fly on my own dime, I can pick the flights that will result in a comfortable experience due to the perks of choosing you for my business travel. Now, that's uncertain. I can't know in advance what my chances are for an upgrade. I can't find flights where an upgrade might clear immediately. I can't know in advance how full a flight will be.

The net-net of this? I'm unsure if I'll keep all of my business with you or if I'll spread it further around your *A partners. Right now when I fly to Europe, I am careful to book on UA planes on UA flight numbers. There's lots of times I fly UA where LH would be more convenient.

Please re-consider this change. It will only hurt the flyers that spend and rely the most on you.

exerda Sep 8, 2012 9:47 am
Originally Posted by omegadeal (Post 19277052)
UA already uses a captcha for viewing fare rules, so why not use it for viewing fare buckets as well?

At least this is done near the end of the year so people can get a clean start next year. If the AA/US merger goes through then I'm out.
If AA & US merge, they may offer me a viable alternative to UA. AA is a bit thin on some of the routes I frequent at the moment. Of course, then they'd have their own merger issues, but I find it hard to believe anyone could make it tougher on frequent travelers than UA has. :mad:

njcommodore Sep 8, 2012 9:50 am
Originally Posted by glx (Post 19277063)
I'm unsure if I'll keep all of my business with you or if I'll spread it further around your *A partners. Right now when I fly to Europe, I am careful to book on UA planes on UA flight numbers. There's lots of times I fly UA where LH would be more convenient.
With the revenue sharing going to another * partner has a small net effect on the bottom line.

OrlandoFlyer Sep 8, 2012 9:50 am
I found the following on ExpertFlyers website today:

Today United Airlines has decided to remove award and upgrade class inventory from various channels, affecting ExpertFlyer. As such, United will be removed from the list of airlines in the Award & Upgrade search tool until further notice. In addition, all Active Flight Alerts for United award or upgrade class codes will be put into the Expired state. Should the award and upgrade data become available at a later date, we will again activate those Flight Alerts.

However, all other United data will still be available on ExpertFlyer including:

Detailed regular fare class inventory via the Flight Availability search tool
Flight Alerts for regular fare inventory classes
Live Seat Maps and Seat Alerts
Fare Information searches and all related fare data
Flight Status, Flight Detail, Travel Information, and all other ExpertFlyer search tools.

Thank you for your understanding in this matter and continued support of ExpertFlyer.com

-The ExpertFlyer.com Team

UA-NYC Sep 8, 2012 9:50 am
Originally Posted by glx (Post 19277063)
The net-net of this? I'm unsure if I'll keep all of my business with you or if I'll spread it further around your *A partners. Right now when I fly to Europe, I am careful to book on UA planes on UA flight numbers. There's lots of times I fly UA where LH would be more convenient.
The problem with this part - UA still gets revenue flown on LH, so for flyers like you, this change won't impact UA. It's all about moving to non-*A airlines now, or those not covered under the ATI (AC, LX, SN, TK, US, etc.)

amislove Sep 8, 2012 9:50 am
Originally Posted by camachinist (Post 19277029)
Has anyone who is/with a corporate/full-service travel agency with native GDS/CRS access confirmed that availability is extent/gone from that source as well? My recollection (prior to booking awards on the internet) is that a travel agent could make award bookings so they'd have to be able to see information and book into available inventory. Mine did this a number of times back in the 90's. Corrections/clarifications are appreciated.

I mention this because of the discussion in this thread and the travel tools forum about EF scraping UA data versus having CRS/GDS access.
I have Sabre access, and I've never been able to see any non-revenue classes on UA (or even CO, back in the day) flights. For example,

Code:
1*C«                                                           
 20SEP  THU  ORD/CDT    LHR/‡6                               
1UA    958 F3 A3 J9 C7 D7 Z6 P5 ORDLHR  350P  555A‡1 DCA /E   
            Y9 B9 M9 E9 U9 H9 Q9 V9 W9 S9 T9 L9 K9 G0 N0 *A   
2UA    928 F3 A3 J9 C9 D9 Z9 P9 ORDLHR  617P  825A‡1 DCA /E   
            Y9 B9 M9 E9 U9 H9 Q9 V9 W9 S9 T9 L9 K8 G0 N0 *A   
3UA    938 F2 A0 J4 C2 D1 Z0 P0 ORDLHR  907P 1115A‡1 DCA /E   
            Y9 B9 M9 E9 U9 H9 Q9 V9 W9 S9 T6 L2 K0 G0 N0 *A
(of course, it's possible others [e.g., EF] may have access to more extended availability, but I think unlikely)

sfonorth Sep 8, 2012 9:51 am
It looks like you can still find upgrade availability through flight reservations by clicking on the "advanced search" link and select "Mileage Plus Upgrades".

mobilebucky Sep 8, 2012 9:57 am
The title seems misleading. It is expert mode removal!:td:

Steph3n Sep 8, 2012 9:59 am
Originally Posted by OrlandoFlyer (Post 19277089)
I found the following on ExpertFlyers website today:
"various channels" = the same place you got it.

Antipode Sep 8, 2012 10:00 am
If United just wants to block access to upgrade inventory like R, why not just block those and still allow the revenue fare classes to be shown? Blocking upgrade inventory is shady, but blocking access to revenue fare classes is only going to hurt the customer trying to do legitimate things like book tickets or same day changes.

PVDtoDEL Sep 8, 2012 10:00 am
Originally Posted by UA-NYC (Post 19277090)
The problem with this part - UA still gets revenue flown on LH, so for flyers like you, this change won't impact UA. It's all about moving to non-*A airlines now, or those not covered under the ATI (AC, LX, SN, TK, US, etc.)
AC and LX are definitely part of the ATI. I'm not sure about SN...


TK and US are non-ATI members - that's for sure.

NiceLanding Sep 8, 2012 10:01 am
Originally Posted by amislove (Post 19277092)
Originally Posted by camachinist (Post 19277029)
Has anyone who is/with a corporate/full-service travel agency with native GDS/CRS access confirmed that availability is extent/gone from that source as well? My recollection (prior to booking awards on the internet) is that a travel agent could make award bookings so they'd have to be able to see information and book into available inventory. Mine did this a number of times back in the 90's. Corrections/clarifications are appreciated.

I mention this because of the discussion in this thread and the travel tools forum about EF scraping UA data versus having CRS/GDS access.
I have Sabre access, and I've never been able to see any non-revenue classes on UA (or even CO, back in the day) flights. For example,

Code:
1*C«                                                           
 20SEP  THU  ORD/CDT    LHR/‡6                               
1UA    958 F3 A3 J9 C7 D7 Z6 P5 ORDLHR  350P  555A‡1 DCA /E   
            Y9 B9 M9 E9 U9 H9 Q9 V9 W9 S9 T9 L9 K9 G0 N0 *A   
2UA    928 F3 A3 J9 C9 D9 Z9 P9 ORDLHR  617P  825A‡1 DCA /E   
            Y9 B9 M9 E9 U9 H9 Q9 V9 W9 S9 T9 L9 K8 G0 N0 *A   
3UA    938 F2 A0 J4 C2 D1 Z0 P0 ORDLHR  907P 1115A‡1 DCA /E   
            Y9 B9 M9 E9 U9 H9 Q9 V9 W9 S9 T6 L2 K0 G0 N0 *A
(of course, it's possible others [e.g., EF] may have access to more extended availability, but I think unlikely)
I have Apollo access and don't believe I could ever see award space and upgrade space, even when it was UA's native system. IIRC I was able to see TWA award space on PARS back in the day. OTOH I do remember full service travel agents calling airlines to book awards and for other requests that they could not handle themselves.


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