New Future Flight Status Tool (presently non-operative)
Jul 24, 2019, 9:39 am
#121
Join Date: Jun 2016
Posts: 148
there is a trick on the United app where if you set your phone’s clock to a date in the future, the app will let you query the status for a flight on or around that date. If you then subscribe to push notifications for that flight, it will stay there in flight status even when you set your clock back to the correct date.
i use this all the time to monitor seat maps and upgrades for future flights.
Jul 24, 2019, 9:41 am
#122
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,413
Jul 24, 2019, 9:44 am
#124
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: DEN
Programs: UA 1P-1MM, Marriott LT Titanium
Posts: 3,930
Jul 24, 2019, 9:45 am
#125
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: PHX
Programs: AS 75K; UA 1MM; Hyatt Globalist; Marriott LTP; Hilton Diamond (Aspire)
Posts: 56,467
No. Inventory caps at 9. Flight could be booked 0/60 in J and all you would know is J9.
Jul 24, 2019, 9:45 am
#126
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,413
No.
Expert Mode tells you the number of seats available for sale, up to 9. But, for one thing: there is a huge difference between 57/60 available and 9/60 available.
For another thing, if the flight is oversold in Y, and they start blocking J inventory, that looks like a bad sign for upgrades (because inventory starts to get tight) but is actually a great sign. You can see that in the app as something like "37 (+14 blocked)"
Expert Mode tells you the number of seats available for sale, up to 9. But, for one thing: there is a huge difference between 57/60 available and 9/60 available.
For another thing, if the flight is oversold in Y, and they start blocking J inventory, that looks like a bad sign for upgrades (because inventory starts to get tight) but is actually a great sign. You can see that in the app as something like "37 (+14 blocked)"
Jul 24, 2019, 11:00 am
#128
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: London
Programs: UA GS
Posts: 2,438
Yeah, that's always something that can be frustrating but I'm typically only looking at a couple upcoming trips at a time and I know that I just have to do the method as you said. But it's so much faster once it's in the app.
Jul 24, 2019, 11:47 am
#129
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Plat 1.995MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 66,857
It doesn't look like it's going to be easy to repair, either. The new URL format includes the date, so it was easy enough to change... but UA is now bounds-checking the parameter, so I get redirected to the main flight status input form if I set it too far into the future.
works --> https://www.united.com/en/us/flights...-25/AUS/SFO/UA
redirects --> https://www.united.com/en/us/flights...-26/AUS/SFO/UA
works --> https://www.united.com/en/us/flights...-25/AUS/SFO/UA
redirects --> https://www.united.com/en/us/flights...-26/AUS/SFO/UA
there is a trick on the United app where if you set your phone’s clock to a date in the future, the app will let you query the status for a flight on or around that date. If you then subscribe to push notifications for that flight, it will stay there in flight status even when you set your clock back to the correct date.
i use this all the time to monitor seat maps and upgrades for future flights.
i use this all the time to monitor seat maps and upgrades for future flights.
Jul 24, 2019, 12:03 pm
#130
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: London
Programs: UA GS
Posts: 2,438
If UA is bounds checking the URL data, how does the change the device's date work? Is UA querying the device for the date (to get the local date)? The default is to show data for the day before, "today" and 2 days in advance based on local time zone. Just a thought for those looking for a way to resurrect this capability.
Jul 24, 2019, 1:14 pm
#131
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,413
The United app appears to use the local device setting for date to determine which options to display in the date field on the flight status in the app. It probably uses this to make a backend API call which is different from the web-based flight status tool. They'd probably have to bounds check the API call too based on the time stamp on the server if they wanted to remove this, and I doubt this is worth it.
Whether or not it can be hit from the web is a different matter, though. They could potentially do some session authentication first, which would complicate things, potentially to the point of hopelessness.
Jul 24, 2019, 5:30 pm
#132
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: EUG
Programs: UA Silver, AS
Posts: 115
The website does calls like this one: https://www.united.com/api/flight/se...&IsMobile=true
However it doesn't work as a direct link since it expects an authentication header that would need to be supplied somehow ... I suspect the app does something similar. Question is whether you could just grab the header from one of the web request - in other words, I would expect any such value to expire at some point, question is how soon ...
PS. Yes, when using a suitable browser extension to inject the "X-Authorization-api" header, you can then make requests for future dates like this: https://www.united.com/api/flight/se...&IsMobile=true
PPS. I guess you guys are actually more interested in this one here rather than the seat map. But it works the same way:
https://www.united.com/api/flight/up...irportCode=SFO
However it doesn't work as a direct link since it expects an authentication header that would need to be supplied somehow ... I suspect the app does something similar. Question is whether you could just grab the header from one of the web request - in other words, I would expect any such value to expire at some point, question is how soon ...
PS. Yes, when using a suitable browser extension to inject the "X-Authorization-api" header, you can then make requests for future dates like this: https://www.united.com/api/flight/se...&IsMobile=true
PPS. I guess you guys are actually more interested in this one here rather than the seat map. But it works the same way:
https://www.united.com/api/flight/up...irportCode=SFO
Last edited by WineCountryUA; Jul 24, 2019 at 5:50 pm Reason: merging consecutive posts by same member
Jul 24, 2019, 5:38 pm
#133
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,413
PPS. I guess you guys are actually more interested in this one here rather than the seat map. But it works the same way:
https://www.united.com/api/flight/up...irportCode=SFO
https://www.united.com/api/flight/up...irportCode=SFO
Do you see a login-type request where that value is being provided by the server?
Jul 25, 2019, 9:36 pm
#135
Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 22
www.cablepick.net/united is not working for me this evening (the page loads, but when I submit the form, it just goes to a blank UA form). Anyone else?
Last edited by WineCountryUA; Jul 25, 2019 at 10:31 pm Reason: moved to exisiting thread