New Free Accounts on Expert Flyer

[Princess Fiona]

Just noticed a thread on MilePoint that EF have released an update with a new free subscription. I'm on my iPhone now so can't post a link
But it seems that the free subscription will allow one free Active Seat Alert at any time.
The trial and Premium subscriptions are still available.

 

[flmyngo]

I just signed up for the 5-day trial, but even the basic monthly subscription seems valuable for just $5/month.

 

[JohnK]

It is amazing how the English language can be used sometimes and not know the meaning of the words.

Free subscription? Only for Active Seat Alerts? How about searching for flight availability and seat maps and not caring about if and when seats ever become available for upgrades?

 

[Princess Fiona]

It is amazing how the English language can be used sometimes and not know the meaning of the words.

Free subscription? Only for Active Seat Alerts? How about searching for flight availability and seat maps and not caring about if and when seats ever become available for upgrades?

As posted the Free subscription allows access to seat maps for flights. And the ability to create an alert for a specific seat. If availability is required can still join up for a 5 day trial membership and then pay for the basic or premium membership if thought to be worthwhile.
In any case prior to this update the only way to set up a seat alert on EF beyond the 5 day trial period was to pay a subscription fee.

 

[ExpertFlyer Voice]

We're excited to announce that ExpertFlyer released a significant update today. For the first time we now have a Free account level in addition to our Basic and Premium paid subscriptions.

Many of you enjoy the advanced features that ExpertFlyer has to offer, however we wanted to extend the power of ExpertFlyer to those that may not need all of those advanced features. As such, we took the feature that we feel has the widest general appeal, Seat Alerts, and made it available and easy to use in a Free version of ExpertFlyer.

Here are the details on the Free account and what this means to our paid subscriptions. Please note, what we called "Pending" alerts are now called "Active" alerts, to better reflect that they are actively searching for availability.

Free Account:

• With the Free account, you can only create Seat Alerts
• 1 Active Seat Alert at a time is included with the Free account
• This 1 included free alert can use the Any Window Seat, Any Aisle Seat, or Any Seat alert options. The Any Exit Row Seat, Any Two Seats Together, or Specific Seat alert options require a paid Seat Alert which is $.99
• Additional Active Seat Alerts can be purchased for $.99 each and include all alert options.
• If you sign up for a Free Account to start, you can at any time click the Upgrade button that you'll see after you log-in to start a 5-Day trial of our Premium service, or to reactivate your Basic or Premium subscription if you already had your 5-day trial.

Basic Subscription:

• In addition all existing features that Basic subscribers have enjoyed, Basic subscribers can now create Seat Alerts as well.
• 4 Active Seat Alerts are included free of charge with a Basic subscription and include all alert options.
• Additional Active Seat Alerts beyond the included 4 can be purchased for $.99 each.

Premium Subscription:

• Premium Subscriptions still include up to 30 combined Active Flight and Seat Alerts.
• Flight Alerts are still a Premium subscription only feature
• Additional Active Seat Alerts can be purchased for $.99 each if you already have 30 active alerts
• We will soon add the ability to purchase additional Flight Alerts as well if you already have 30 active alerts.

Note that if your Basic or Premium subscription isn't renewed at the end of your subscription term, the account will become a Free account and any Active Seat Alerts that weren't paid for will go into a "Paused" state. To un-Pause a Seat Alert, you can either renew your Basic/Premium paid subscription, or use the 1 included free Seat Alert.

This also means that all existing accounts that were "inactive" until today, where the paid subscription (or 5-day trial) lapsed and had not been renewed, are now Free accounts. You are welcome to log-in and create your free Seat Alert, and you can upgrade the account back to a Basic or Premium subscription at any time.

Please feel free to post any questions and please email us at [email protected] with any feedback or bugs you may find. Thank you for your support!

 

[ExpertFlyer Voice]

As posted the Free subscription allows access to seat maps for flights. And the ability to create an alert for a specific seat. If availability is required can still join up for a 5 day trial membership and then pay for the basic or premium membership if thought to be worthwhile.
In any case prior to this update the only way to set up a seat alert on EF beyond the 5 day trial period was to pay a subscription fee.

Exactly, the major change is that Seat Alerts has now been expanded to Basic users and the new Free account level. All other features, including Flight Alerts (fare class/award/upgrade availability alerts) stay the same.