Oct 30, 2013, 3:36 pm
Last edit by: Ocn Vw 1K
UA Insider's reply in posts 247 and 254 of this thread:
Hi everyone,
We recognize the importance and value to you of accessible and transparent information about United flights. It’s a meaningful part of your travel planning, and we are committed to providing useful information that is both accurate and preserves the integrity of United’s data and systems.
While we are committed to data transparency, Expert Flyer has been accessing united.com in an unauthorized fashion to retrieve UA availability. In addition, these activities have consumed significant united.com bandwidth that could otherwise be used by regular consumers. As a result, we had to take this action to protect the security and integrity of United’s systems.
Thank you for your understanding as to why we had to take this action. We continue to look at ways in which we can provide you with timely and useful information (some of which you will see in new releases of our own digital channels) as well as with partners that have authorized access to our data.
Aaron Goldberg
Sr. Manager - Customer Experience Planning
United Airlines
We recognize the importance and value to you of accessible and transparent information about United flights. It’s a meaningful part of your travel planning, and we are committed to providing useful information that is both accurate and preserves the integrity of United’s data and systems.
While we are committed to data transparency, Expert Flyer has been accessing united.com in an unauthorized fashion to retrieve UA availability. In addition, these activities have consumed significant united.com bandwidth that could otherwise be used by regular consumers. As a result, we had to take this action to protect the security and integrity of United’s systems.
Thank you for your understanding as to why we had to take this action. We continue to look at ways in which we can provide you with timely and useful information (some of which you will see in new releases of our own digital channels) as well as with partners that have authorized access to our data.
Aaron Goldberg
Sr. Manager - Customer Experience Planning
United Airlines
UA Blocking Expert Flyer and KVS Access to R and Elite Award Searches.
Oct 30, 2013, 8:52 am
#106
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Northern Calif./Eastern Ida.
Programs: Amethyst Premier Plutonium Medallion
Posts: 20,648
My note to premier voice and SMI/J:
Team-
It was an unpleasant surprise to receive the email below this morning. I am deeply saddened to see how despite advertising itself as "flyer friendly", United has continually degraded the their product and made travel more difficult for me in the last 18 months. This recent change, highlighted by my friends at Expert Flyer, makes hard-earned upgrade instruments and frequent flyer mile benefits that much more challenging to use, since the archaic United search engine doesn't support the level of power provided by Expert Flyer to search across multiple days, city pairs, and connections simultaneously for both upgrade and award inventory. Despite what you might believe, Expert Flyer is a service that brings extensive business to United, and eliminating this inventory from their service will decrease United's own revenue stream -- something it seems United can ill afford after last week's Q3 earnings call...
Combining this development with restricted award and upgrade availability, lack of transparency in the upgrade process, downgrades in premium cabin dining and amenities, and lackluster operational performance I have experienced in recent months -- I have no choice but to carefully consider a status match with one of United's competitors who I feel might do a better job of demonstrating their value for my business through their actions, not simply a collection thinly veiled tag lines about being "flyer friendly".
For further feedback about this change, I suggest you review this FlyerTalk thread for a number of other similar opinions, many of which come from very high value flyers who United would be well served to listen to.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...yer-com-7.html
Welcome your feedback, you can reach out to me at this email address or call me at (xxx) xxx-xxxx.
Regards-
PV_Premier
UA MP xxxxxx
It was an unpleasant surprise to receive the email below this morning. I am deeply saddened to see how despite advertising itself as "flyer friendly", United has continually degraded the their product and made travel more difficult for me in the last 18 months. This recent change, highlighted by my friends at Expert Flyer, makes hard-earned upgrade instruments and frequent flyer mile benefits that much more challenging to use, since the archaic United search engine doesn't support the level of power provided by Expert Flyer to search across multiple days, city pairs, and connections simultaneously for both upgrade and award inventory. Despite what you might believe, Expert Flyer is a service that brings extensive business to United, and eliminating this inventory from their service will decrease United's own revenue stream -- something it seems United can ill afford after last week's Q3 earnings call...
Combining this development with restricted award and upgrade availability, lack of transparency in the upgrade process, downgrades in premium cabin dining and amenities, and lackluster operational performance I have experienced in recent months -- I have no choice but to carefully consider a status match with one of United's competitors who I feel might do a better job of demonstrating their value for my business through their actions, not simply a collection thinly veiled tag lines about being "flyer friendly".
For further feedback about this change, I suggest you review this FlyerTalk thread for a number of other similar opinions, many of which come from very high value flyers who United would be well served to listen to.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...yer-com-7.html
Welcome your feedback, you can reach out to me at this email address or call me at (xxx) xxx-xxxx.
Regards-
PV_Premier
UA MP xxxxxx
Oct 30, 2013, 8:54 am
#107
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: SF Bay Area
Programs: UA GS 2MM
Posts: 947
Hashtag time
Seriously? I'm very disappointed with this move.
Taking it social (twitter @united, Facebook, Google Plus and a bunch of hashtags) might help get the disapproval message back to United.
Taking it social (twitter @united, Facebook, Google Plus and a bunch of hashtags) might help get the disapproval message back to United.
Oct 30, 2013, 8:56 am
#108
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: United Arab Emirates & Arizona, USA
Programs: UA MM/1P, EK Au, QR, TK, Marriott Life Ti, Hilton Dia, IC Dia, Hyatt Glob, Accor Pt, Shangri-La
Posts: 4,527
Add me to the list of heretofore loyal United customers for whom this move directly will lead to stopping flying UA altogether.
The main reason I am loyal to United is for GPUs, and the only way that I use 80% of my GPUs (well, now more like 100% with the near-elimination of the benefit on LH) is to search for R availability and then book a flight on which I can confirm an upgrade at booking. Not to mention how much harder this will make booking awards.
Really mind-boggling. It was almost impossible to rely on 1K agents to search before; how much longer will hold times be now?
The main reason I am loyal to United is for GPUs, and the only way that I use 80% of my GPUs (well, now more like 100% with the near-elimination of the benefit on LH) is to search for R availability and then book a flight on which I can confirm an upgrade at booking. Not to mention how much harder this will make booking awards.
Really mind-boggling. It was almost impossible to rely on 1K agents to search before; how much longer will hold times be now?
Oct 30, 2013, 9:06 am
#109
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: EAU
Programs: UA 1K, CO Plat, NW Plat, Marriott Premiere Plat, SPG Plat, Priority Gold, Hilton Gold
Posts: 4,712
So UA joins DL in the category of unusable SWUs. That leaves the only real advantage at mileage redemption.
Maybe tomorrow or Friday UA announces much better award/upgrade search capability on their website - or that they've fixed the upgrade waitlist.
I'm having a tough time continuing to find value in UA's program. With unuseable GPUs, mileage upgrades that are unuseable due to copays, all I'm left with is ok mileage redemption (used to be great but now United has taken away my ability to do flight by flight inventory searches) and some network benefits.
I'm going to have to reconsider whether I want to make sure I make 1K next year or just bail to DL or AA starting 2014. There's a lot of employee airfare / CC spend that moves with that decision.
Maybe tomorrow or Friday UA announces much better award/upgrade search capability on their website - or that they've fixed the upgrade waitlist.
I'm having a tough time continuing to find value in UA's program. With unuseable GPUs, mileage upgrades that are unuseable due to copays, all I'm left with is ok mileage redemption (used to be great but now United has taken away my ability to do flight by flight inventory searches) and some network benefits.
I'm going to have to reconsider whether I want to make sure I make 1K next year or just bail to DL or AA starting 2014. There's a lot of employee airfare / CC spend that moves with that decision.
Last edited by raehl311; Oct 30, 2013 at 9:12 am
Oct 30, 2013, 9:10 am
#110
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: LAS, BUD
Programs: UA-1K, Aegean-Gold, TK-Elite, Accor-Platinum, SPG-Gold, Hilton-Gold, Club Carlson-Gold,AMEX-Platinum
Posts: 300
SAD!!! Very sad... no problem if they remove but even their own waitlist does not work... Why take this away?
I urge everyone who is bothered by this to email to 1K voice or customer care. We really should let them know that we are not happy about this...
Makes no sense...
I urge everyone who is bothered by this to email to 1K voice or customer care. We really should let them know that we are not happy about this...
Makes no sense...
Oct 30, 2013, 9:11 am
#111
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Northeast Kansas | Colorado Native
Programs: Amex Gold/Plat, UA *G, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott LT Gold, NEXUS, TSA Disparager Unobtanium
Posts: 21,607
Oct 30, 2013, 9:12 am
#112
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Seattle, WA
Programs: DL Diamond, UA 1K MM, SPG Plat For Life, Marriott Plat, Nexus/GlobalEntry
Posts: 9,198
I'm going to allow some time for a comment here from UA Insider before writing my email to 1Kvoice. I'm incensed by this change if it's going to be permanent.
Oct 30, 2013, 9:13 am
#113
Moderator, Omni, Omni/PR, Omni/Games, FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Between DCA and IAD
Programs: UA 1K MM; Hilton Diamond
Posts: 67,146
Call me naive or too trusting but I take that as temporary. It could have been worded much differently if it was going to be permanent. That being said, I am not sure why they would pull the info from EF but allow it to continue on their own site via expert mode and I fully expect the information to remain available on the UA website via expert mode.
Oct 30, 2013, 9:15 am
#114
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: New York, NY
Programs: Hyatt GLOB, Marriott Lifetime PLT, UA 1K 1MM.
Posts: 1,728
personally i never used EF so this event in isolation, it doesn't impact me.
however i do use expert mode on united.com religiously to look for and monitor R inventory. i don't know if i'm lucky (i also have the luxury to keep my travel plans flexible so i do a LOT of searching), but almost all of my GPUs on the flights i book have R available at the time of booking so i clear pretty regularly. if this is a precursor to removing viewing R on united.com, then i am very, very concerned as GPU's are the main reason i tolerate UA domestically.
however i do use expert mode on united.com religiously to look for and monitor R inventory. i don't know if i'm lucky (i also have the luxury to keep my travel plans flexible so i do a LOT of searching), but almost all of my GPUs on the flights i book have R available at the time of booking so i clear pretty regularly. if this is a precursor to removing viewing R on united.com, then i am very, very concerned as GPU's are the main reason i tolerate UA domestically.
Oct 30, 2013, 9:21 am
#115
Moderator, Omni, Omni/PR, Omni/Games, FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Between DCA and IAD
Programs: UA 1K MM; Hilton Diamond
Posts: 67,146
I beg to differ, but whatever.
Here's an e-mail I got from 1K Voice nearly 2 weeks after they took down expert mode:
UA belatedly claimed that they had the "intention" to replace it with some undefined "enhancement." Outcry from customers persuaded them to return a "comparable" feature.
Here's an e-mail I got from 1K Voice nearly 2 weeks after they took down expert mode:
Originally Posted by 1K Voice
I had previously replied to your e-mail concerning the "expert mode" feature; however, I am including an update that we just received from our management team.
At United we strive to provide innovative online tools to make traveling easier and more enjoyable. The popular feature referred to as “expert mode,” which allows you to see specific availability in individual fare classes when searching for flights on united.com, was recently removed from our website. Our intention was to replace it with an enhanced resource, but we quickly learned our customers did not want to part with the advanced availability search functionality for any length of time.
As a result of valuable customer feedback, united.com will be introducing a comparable expert mode application with an opt-in feature in a couple of weeks. We appreciate this opportunity to respond and look forward to serving you on board a future United Airlines flight.
At United we strive to provide innovative online tools to make traveling easier and more enjoyable. The popular feature referred to as “expert mode,” which allows you to see specific availability in individual fare classes when searching for flights on united.com, was recently removed from our website. Our intention was to replace it with an enhanced resource, but we quickly learned our customers did not want to part with the advanced availability search functionality for any length of time.
As a result of valuable customer feedback, united.com will be introducing a comparable expert mode application with an opt-in feature in a couple of weeks. We appreciate this opportunity to respond and look forward to serving you on board a future United Airlines flight.
Oct 30, 2013, 9:24 am
#116
Suspended
Join Date: Jan 2009
Programs: UA 1k
Posts: 1,208
Many on here complain about these and many other unfriendly changes. Yet, less than 10% are actually moving. So many threats of "make this more unfriendly and I'll move" but not actually doing it. If I were Jeff, I'd continue to downgrade because my customers appear stuck w/me.
Oct 30, 2013, 9:29 am
#117
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 10
Yes, and the elite award inventory being cut off is awful as well. It's a vital service. Yet another change I don't like. A big one, too.
I guess I can just call every day and waste 45 minutes of an agent's time going over every permutation of every upgrade I am looking for. Fun!
I guess I can just call every day and waste 45 minutes of an agent's time going over every permutation of every upgrade I am looking for. Fun!
This doesn't seem wise from a business perspective - surely they want to reduce the number of calls.
Oct 30, 2013, 9:29 am
#118
Join Date: Mar 2012
Programs: Mileage Plus 1K; Marriott Platinum; Hilton Gold
Posts: 6,355
Is the metaphor intended to suggest that 1ks will become gefilte fish through this latest action of delisting R space on EF?
Oct 30, 2013, 9:32 am
#119
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: SIN
Programs: UA 1K MM, SQ PPS, CX Silver, Accor Platinum, Marriott Gold, SPG Silver
Posts: 679
Oct 30, 2013, 9:32 am
#120
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Los Angeles
Programs: UA Plat 2MM. DL Plat, AS MVP
Posts: 12,752
Did I miss something? Expert mode is still there, right? While expertflyer certainly made things a little easier, we can still find the inventory it seems. Why are people talking about having to call United?
Last edited by zrs70; Oct 30, 2013 at 9:41 am
