hamburgoflyer

As of a few minutes ago, the airline ua doesn't even exist on EF
anymore (even though it's not even 11-1 in est, leave alone pst)

My saved ua searches all go into responses like
"No availability can be found for the date and class(es) specified"

FlyWorld

Exactly. In the pre-CO era, I never even thought about whether or not the upgrade system worked reliably or fairly. All I knew was that I got upgraded nearly all the time, and I was happy with that. So, when I didn't get upgraded, I just assumed it was for legitimate reasons (i.e. people ahead of my in on the priority list or people who purchased J/F seats). Even if there were shenanigans or errors, they happened so infrequently as to be a non-issue. All of the UG's that I missed in those days were on flights that seemed legitimately like they'd have people ahead of me or purchasing J/F, such as SFO-IAD during peak times. So, there was never a reason to question anything. It all worked and seemed clear and fair.

I'll also never forget my first experience with CO. It was after the takeover but before SHARES. I was GS at the time. The GS desk (and UA communications) encouraged us to fly on CO, told us that our status would be honored and it was a unified airline. So, I tried it. EWR-SFO on a full Y fare. I showed up at the airport and was told that I was something like #64 on the wait list. I asked them how that could be possible, given that I was GS on Y fare and should therefore be at the top of the list. The &*#^@#$ (insert proper profane word there) laughed in my face and told me that "GS means nothing here." I wish I'd realized how prophetic that experience would actually be. At the time, I thought it was an aberration. Little did I know, that was a top-down reflection of the new culture.

unavaca

My position on the upgrade list (and the subsequent upgrade) on the UA app has been accurate in my travels this year. Aside from buy-ups (which I don't begrudge), I've gotten upgraded according to my spot on the list at the start of boarding.

zrs70

It exists. Just not for awards. The fare code availability matrix is there.

jetsetr

As part of the recent Star Megado 5 experience, UA hosted folks in their maintenance facility at SFO. In attendance were the current and immediate three UA Insider predecessors: Aaron, Carlos, Shannon, and Scott.

Carlos, who is doing more work on the consumer-facing IT products, and now reports to Shannon, was showing a working version of the new UA mobile app.

When asked the question about "when will the mobile app provide some sort of 'Expert Mode' functionality," the responses from Carlos and Shannon were basically that they are working on presenting the information that travelers want, and that they want to display that information dynamically when travelers need it. Put another way, from searching and booking flights, to the time a boarding pass is scanned, the app will dynamically present different information that the traveler needs, when they need it. At least that's the stated goal and is what is driving the product development.

Pressed further about Expert Mode, Shannon stated, "When you want Expert Mode functionality, what are you really looking for? You are looking for 'R/RN' space, right? What we are trying to do is to be able to present that information to you in a logical, intuitive way, without you having to drain resources and jump through hoops to get that information."

I suppose if I had read between the lines, I could have connected the dots between what UA is trying to do with updates to their app and the decision to shut down EF access.

So what does this all really mean? Do I personally believe that searching multiple routes on multiple dates for R space on UA.com or on the UA app will become easier as a result of the "cease and desist" served to EF? Hardly. But based upon what I heard and saw, do I believe that UA will try to present the finding of R space (particularly on the app) more logically and in a more helpful manner? Yes I do. But do I believe the roll out will be smooth and without hiccups? Of course not.

It's not hard to believe that EF scraping data thousands of times per day was slowing down the system for all users. And it doesn't surprise me that UA may not be interested in licensing their data to EF, though I'm sure there is a price point at which those decisions become "flexible."

It's always an interesting ride with UA.

Seat1A

even the *A award search is unavailable, "until november 7 at the latest".. interesting...

Mike Jacoubowsky

UA is a major contributor to *A award availability, so how useful will the information be to EFs customers if it doesn't include UA information? Or am I misinterpreting this?

unhappyflyer

Sad and shocked to see it actually go. I was hoping for some last minute congressional like last ditch effort to save it.

hamburgoflyer

Well, that's exactly what we had and many of us seemingly thought
it was worth it and the "hoops" weren't too bad. Let's wait and see
what hoops ua will make us jump through to regain this information...

hookthem

I am extremely, extremely sad to see this go. This is a really [poor] move on UA's part.

However, I still value the many other aspects of EA (that I use MUCH more often!). I want seat availability by flight, and fare bucket availability (aside from R/RN).

jetsetr

If when you say, "that's exactly what we had and many of us seemingly thought it was worth it," you are referencing EF, well, sure, we had that. But it is also not hard for me to believe that thousands of scrapes per day didn't drain UA website resources and slow down the experience (in the aggregate) for everyone.

Do I wish and hope that UA would provide some native EF-type functionality to
the UA website and app? Of course. Do I think that the new features will provide the full EF-like experience? Nope. But I am definitely very curious as to how the "presentation of information we care about, when we care about it" will be executed.

jackal

UA processes hundreds of thousands of transactions per day and likely a million searches. EF's load is a literal drop in the bucket.

sbm12

No, they do not.
It is a small percentage, to be sure, but it is also clear that it is enough that UA noticed. And either way it is a violation of the T&C on the UA site. Think of it like throw-away ticketing. No one really notices until you do enough of it that they do. And then you're in trouble.

RSonny2010

United ‏@united

@rsonnysampayan We encourage anyone, incl. Expert Flyer to do a formal agreement with us to get data from our site for policy compliance.

schley

If UA made available or was planning on making available the same information that EF did, they wouldn't have shut them down. They did this IMO to try and control any other outlets of information and make their website the only source of information. I think they are going to come out with something that is NOT going to be more transparent than what they presently have.

I predict they will change the expert mode to allow us only to see something like a button which says "upgrade available" or similar. I can see them removing R altogether from their fare buckets which will show an actual number. Making it more opaque and thus allowing them to offer more monetary upgrades without complaints from their elites.

This move by UA was to cover their tracks for future changes that needed to be done in order to not have any other sources of information. Sorry but i see it this way. Otherwise who cares if EF is giving the same information you can get on the website right? I certainly don't buy the bandwidth argument as this only sounds like an argument to those who are ignorant enough to believe it.