ExpertFlyer unable to search over 330 days into the future

[MikeV8]

Hello FF Gurus,
Trialling ExpertFlyer and looking for flights January next year (just on the 355 days ahead that Qantas release award seats). ExpertFlyer is returning message stating that "Airlines do not release flight information for flights over 330 days into the future".

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Qantas release the initial award seats 355 days out. From what I've seen, those get snapped up in the first few days (/hours) and it's a long wait before more are released.

So this appears a severe limitation of ExpertFlyer - unable to search for the first 25 days from release of seats.

Anyone know of a trick around this

 

[NM]

Rather than using the "Awards and Upgrades" search, do a search under the "availability" option and enter QF as the airline (do not select OneWorld alliance). This forces EF to look directly at the QF systems and it shows availability beyond 330 days. Under the availability results you are looking for P (First award), U (business class award). Unfortunately Z (Premium Economy) and X (Economy) awards do not seem to show under the availability view that way.

Of course you can also use the QFF web site to search via your QFF account.

 

[ExpertFlyer Voice]

Rather than using the "Awards and Upgrades" search, do a search under the "availability" option and enter QF as the airline (do not select OneWorld alliance). This forces EF to look directly at the QF systems and it shows availability beyond 330 days. Under the availability results you are looking for P (First award), U (business class award). Unfortunately Z (Premium Economy) and X (Economy) awards do not seem to show under the availability view that way.

That's not really true. All 4 award classes are available via the Flight Availability search 355 days in advance. The reason you might think they are not all available is the same reason why we don't use that method in the A&U search, because award classes that are 0 don't show up at all, only classes with values>0. In addition, we found that using this direct method returns less results then the via GDS method which is limited to 330 days. Both of these makes it harder to set Flight Alerts since less flights are displayed, unless you include another class like Y in the A/U search.

However, what we have done is switched the way A&U works temporarily to the direct method so you can search 355 days in advance for all award classes. Please test this out and let us know your opinion of which search is better - 355 days of information vs more comprehensive results. The alternative is we leave it the way it was, and you know to use Flight Availability if you want to see PUZX classes for >330 days, when available.

 

[NM]

That's not really true. All 4 award classes are available via the Flight Availability search 355 days in advance.

Ahh, just never seen any Z returned, but that may just be my searches and the scarcity of such availability with Qantas. Yes, I certainly have seen X returned.

The reason you might think they are not all available is the same reason why we don't use that method in the A&U search, because award classes that are 0 don't show up at all, only classes with values>0. In addition, we found that using this direct method returns less results then the via GDS method which is limited to 330 days. Both of these makes it harder to set Flight Alerts since less flights are displayed, unless you include another class like Y in the A/U search.

Could it be the "Point of Sale" being different? Do Qantas return different results for searches from "USA" verses for those for "Australia"? Is that perhaps how they control different award inventory for QF Frequent Flyer members and other FF program partners such as OneWorld alliance members?

Or could the difference be the application of QF FF account status information per My Account Preferences (Qantas Lifetime Gold status) or is that only used for seat availability?

However, what we have done is switched the way A&U works temporarily to the direct method so you can search 355 days in advance for all award classes. Please test this out and let us know your opinion of which search is better - 355 days of information vs more comprehensive results. The alternative is we leave it the way it was, and you know to use Flight Availability if you want to see PUZX classes for >330 days, when available.

I guess its too difficult to use the GDS as the default and if between 330-355 days then use direct method? Might be a little complex to code. Direct method is probably my preference, but its not a function I use often. However, if I was actively looking for an award in the 330-355 day timeframe then it would certainly be better to have the direct access method.

 

[MikeV8]

However, what we have done is switched the way A&U works temporarily to the direct method so you can search 355 days in advance for all award classes. Please test this out and let us know your opinion of which search is better - 355 days of information vs more comprehensive results. The alternative is we leave it the way it was, and you know to use Flight Availability if you want to see PUZX classes for >330 days, when available.

Thank your the reply and advice (and to NN).
The A&U now working for the dates concerned (5th Jan+). It's not finding many results, but then there are precious few January awards available (peak period they dont need to give seats away I guess).

It doesnt sound like the code would be too difficult - you've already enabled the direct method temporarily, so seems your code could branch to the Direct stream IF search > 330 days AND Airline=QF (rather than branching to the error message).

 

[ExpertFlyer Voice]

Could it be the "Point of Sale" being different? Do Qantas return different results for searches from "USA" verses for those for "Australia"? Is that perhaps how they control different award inventory for QF Frequent Flyer members and other FF program partners such as OneWorld alliance members?

No, the POS doesn't change, just how we request the data. We find the same classes on the same flights have the same inventory values regardless of method, it's just how verbose the results are and how many flights are returned.

Or could the difference be the application of QF FF account status information per My Account Preferences (Qantas Lifetime Gold status) or is that only used for seat availability?

Again, no, this is all things being equal.

I guess its too difficult to use the GDS as the default and if between 330-355 days then use direct method? Might be a little complex to code. Direct method is probably my preference, but its not a function I use often. However, if I was actively looking for an award in the 330-355 day timeframe then it would certainly be better to have the direct access method.

It doesnt sound like the code would be too difficult - you've already enabled the direct method temporarily, so seems your code could branch to the Direct stream IF search > 330 days AND Airline=QF (rather than branching to the error message).

It's more difficult then you might think, as our system wasn't designed for that and it's not done with any other airline. Also what date is on which side of the 330 line changes hourly depending on where in the world the departure city is. It also creates inconsistencies in the results and that makes people think there is something wrong with the data because things would just seem to randomly change ("Well I just saw this flight an hour ago, where did it go?").

We will look into doing a hybrid approach, however for now let's assume that it's an either/or proposition, which would you prefer? The reason I ask is that because with the direct access, we've seen cases where you have to change the time of day to later then 00:00 to see evening flights with inventory, otherwise we would have done it already. Thanks.

 

[NM]

No, the POS doesn't change, just how we request the data. We find the same classes on the same flights have the same inventory values regardless of method, it's just how verbose the results are and how many flights are returned.

Thanks for explaining. So the actual availability numbers are the same, its just the number of flight combinations that varies. I can live with that as its possible to find additional options by tweaking the search criteria (the "connecting airports" field, selecting individual segments etc).

 

[ExpertFlyer Voice]

Thanks for explaining. So the actual availability numbers are the same, its just the number of flight combinations that varies. I can live with that as its possible to find additional options by tweaking the search criteria (the "connecting airports" field, selecting individual segments etc).

Correct, but also that when there are no flight options, instead of the flights being returned with 0's, no flights are returned at all, making it harder to create Flight Alerts, unless you include another class in the search, like Y.

 

[NM]

Correct, but also that when there are no flight options, instead of the flights being returned with 0's, no flights are returned at all, making it harder to create Flight Alerts, unless you include another class in the search, like Y.

ok. Thanks for the tip on how to work around that one