Beta: New oneworld Explorer Validator and QFF Earn Estimator

[martynking]

Hi all,

Long-time lurker here, but frequent reader of the discussions.

I want to start by acknowledging and thanking SLF for their past work on MileageMonkey, which was an incredibly useful tool for validating oneworld Explorer itineraries. Sadly, it now seems to have been retired permanently.

Having thought about it recently, I have created (or perhaps more accurately vibe-coded my way to) a modern version with the current rule set implemented as accurately as I could translate the published PDF rules into testable logic. I have also tried to structure it in a way that should make future rule changes easier to implement.

A few important things to note:

This tool is very much a beta. Things may be broken, incomplete, or behave unexpectedly.

It validates the rules of the itinerary only. It does not validate whether a route is actually flown by any oneworld airline, or for that matter sensible. So, for example, if you enter something ridiculous like GUM-HEL or AKL-KTM, the tool will accept it if the itinerary otherwise passes the rule checks.

I have also implemented Qantas Frequent Flyer earning estimates based on the relevant earn tables, including the ability to select a carrier for each sector. The main caveat here is that it currently uses only the L, D, and A fare buckets for calculations, so this is an area that will need further refinement. As with the routing component, you can select any carrier from the dropdown without validation that the airline operates that route.

Please also take a minute to read the full “Important: Read Me First” section on the tool page, as that gives further details about the current scope and limitations.

I would be very grateful if people were willing to try it out and see whether it behaves as expected. Feedback is very welcome, either through the feedback form or directly in this thread, whichever is easier.

The tool can be found here:

Oneworld Explorer Validator

Happy flying!

(Mods: if this is better placed in the oneworld thread, feel free to move it, and accept my apologies)

 

[madrooster]

Your tool fails any itinerary that includes two or more stopovers at the same port. The oneworld fares allow more than one stopover at the same port. The caveat is you may struggle to find someone to ticket it... but it is allowed and ticketable.

 

[martynking]

Your tool fails any itinerary that includes two or more stopovers at the same port. The oneworld fares allow more than one stopover at the same port. The caveat is you may struggle to find someone to ticket it... but it is allowed and ticketable.

Would you mind sharing the routing you tried that got it to generate a FAIL?

Just tried some now that did 2 xZZZ & combination of 2 xZZZ & a stop in ZZZ all of them seem to get a PASS.

 

[madrooster]

Would you mind sharing the routing you tried that got it to generate a FAIL?

Just tried some now that did 2 xZZZ & combination of 2 xZZZ & a stop in ZZZ all of them seem to get a PASS.

HND-XDEL-HKG-SUB-HKG-XBNE-DRW-XBNE-PER-HKG-XDOH-LHR-XDOH-MAN-XDOH-LAX-HND

This is a perfectly valid ticketable routing.

 

[martynking]

HND-XDEL-HKG-SUB-HKG-XBNE-DRW-XBNE-PER-HKG-XDOH-LHR-XDOH-MAN-XDOH-LAX-HND

This is a perfectly valid ticketable routing.

Thanks, that is helpful, and I have been able to check the behaviour at my end.

At the moment, the tool fails the routing because of this reason:

“Airport appears as an intermediate stopover more than once: HKG. Mark one repeated visit as transit with xHKG if it is a layover under 24 hours.”

On review, I think that is probably the wrong failure reason. I cannot see a general rule in the PDF that says the same intermediate port cannot be used for more than one stopover.

The part I am still trying to make sense of is the separate restriction that says “Maximum 2 stopovers permitted in the continent of origin”. With HND as the origin, Asia is the continent of origin. In the routing as provided, XDEL is marked as a transit, but HKG, SUB, HKG, and HKG appear to be four Asia stopovers.

So I think it's wrong to fail it simply because HKG appears more than once, but I am still not sure how the stopover-in-continent-of-origin limit should be interpreted in this case.

Was this actually ticketed with those HKG and SUB touches as stopovers, or were some of them treated as transits?

I’ll do some more work on this part. At minimum, I need to remove the repeated-port stopover failure and replace it with more accurate stopover counting logic.

 

[Franky]

Thanks, that is helpful, and I have been able to check the behaviour at my end.

At the moment, the tool fails the routing because of this reason:

“Airport appears as an intermediate stopover more than once: HKG. Mark one repeated visit as transit with xHKG if it is a layover under 24 hours.”

On review, I think that is probably the wrong failure reason. I cannot see a general rule in the PDF that says the same intermediate port cannot be used for more than one stopover.

The part I am still trying to make sense of is the separate restriction that says “Maximum 2 stopovers permitted in the continent of origin”. With HND as the origin, Asia is the continent of origin. In the routing as provided, XDEL is marked as a transit, but HKG, SUB, HKG, and HKG appear to be four Asia stopovers.

So I think it's wrong to fail it simply because HKG appears more than once, but I am still not sure how the stopover-in-continent-of-origin limit should be interpreted in this case.

Was this actually ticketed with those HKG and SUB touches as stopovers, or were some of them treated as transits?

I’ll do some more work on this part. At minimum, I need to remove the repeated-port stopover failure and replace it with more accurate stopover counting logic.

Marty - this is above my pay-grade, but best of luck with your objective…..

 

[martynking]

Marty - this is above my pay-grade, but best of luck with your objective…..

Thanks for your encouragement!

It started out coming across an old bookmark to MileageMonkey & then wondering if a similar tool could be recreated using the current rules with modern coding (but alas without the timetable data). Figured why not give it a try, what's the worst that could happen?

 

[martynking]

@madrooster

I have now made adjustments based on your feedback for that kind of routing. Repeated intermediate stopover ports no longer cause an immediate fail. The validator now reports them in Notes, and separately warns where the apparent stopover count in the continent of origin exceeds the published rule text.

 

[madrooster]

Sorry I copy and pasted the wrong routing from my sticky notes.

It should be HND-XDEL-HKG-SUB-XHKG-BNE-DRW-BNE-PER-XHKG-XDOH-LHR-XDOH-MAN-XDOH-LAX-HND

The Asia stops are HKG and SUB.

 

[madrooster]

@madrooster

I have now made adjustments based on your feedback for that kind of routing. Repeated intermediate stopover ports no longer cause an immediate fail. The validator now reports them in Notes, and separately warns where the apparent stopover count in the continent of origin exceeds the published rule text.

In the continent of origin, the maximum stopovers allowed is 2, so that rule should stand and be hard enforced.

 

[martynking]

Sorry I copy and pasted the wrong routing from my sticky notes.

It should be HND-XDEL-HKG-SUB-XHKG-BNE-DRW-BNE-PER-XHKG-XDOH-LHR-XDOH-MAN-XDOH-LAX-HND

The Asia stops are HKG and SUB.

Thanks for clarifying the routing.

With this sequence:
HND-XDEL-HKG-SUB-XHKG-BNE-DRW-BNE-PER-XHKG-XDOH-LHR-XDOH-MAN-XDOH-LAX-HND

that now passes the revised validation.

The Asia stopovers are now HKG and SUB, with DEL and the later HKG touches treated as transits, so that resolves the issue I was seeing with the continent-of-origin stopover count.

I have also made a further revision so that the “maximum 2 stopovers in the continent of origin” rule is hard-enforced. The earlier repeated-port check was too strict, but the origin continent stopover cap should stand as a proper fail condition.

Thanks again, that was a useful edge case to work with.