VA and other seat maps not showing on ExpertFlyer

[aus_flyer]

VA seat maps haven't been showing on EF for ~2 days now, possibly longer.

You don't realise how much you use something until it stops!

 

[serfty]

Ouch, I see what you mean:

"An error has occurred while communicating with the airline reservation system. The support team has been notified of this problem. Thank you for your patience and understanding."

I have sent feedback ...

 

[Harrison_133]

Seems to be a glitch with EF.

Other airlines you can get seat maps for (e.g. ZL) are also showing the same error message.

 

[aus_flyer]

Seems to be a glitch with EF.

Other airlines you can get seat maps for (e.g. ZL) are also showing the same error message.

QF (and most others) working

 

[The-Aviator]

SQ also not working

 

[Princess Fiona]

BA not showing up either.
I suspect EF is coming to the end of its usefulness.
Writing was on the wall when it was sold a couple of years ago.

 

[aus_flyer]

BA not showing up either.
I suspect EF is coming to the end of its usefulness.
Writing was on the wall when it was sold a couple of years ago.

Any good alternatives?

 

[serfty]

Here's Loyalty Lobby's thoughts on this:

Reader Email: ExpertFlyer No Longer Showing Seatmaps Now For Several Days? | Loyalty Lobby

 

[kevrosmith]

EK not working either.

 

[kevrosmith]

I feel naked not being able to look up seat maps for upcoming flights. It was the feature I used the most. When QF started not being available once check-in window opened, that was a real inconvenience. Not being able to see seat maps in advance at all is devastating

 

[Lynda2475]

It is well known that the airlines are not fans of these tools because others profit by using code/ai to harvest award availability/loading information, then in the simplest cases share it or in the worst cases use it to snap up seats as they drop and then profit more by on selling the award seat (either for airlines that don't have the family member restriction or in hope they don't get busted).

So wouldn't surprise me if airlines making tweaks that can detect the bots to block them, given the number of complaints from customers being unable to find award seats (made worse by the services that snap them up as soon as they drop and on sell) and because of the profits being made for which the airlines do not get a slice/cut.

Im guessing Travel Agents will still be able to see loading information directly via their tools, so maybe some will end up paying a TA commission rather than an EF or other service subscription.

This may be controversial but I think the demise of some of these tools could actually be positive thing as it evens the playing field, forcing everyone to search the manual long way; meaning individuals aren't disadvantaged by these 3rd parties.

 

[Mattg]

EK not working either.

EY, LX, AY and various other airlines are also no longer showing seat maps. It seems pretty widespread.

I also note that Turkish Airlines flights no longer show up at all. Which was pretty annoying when I just did a bunch of flights with TK.

I am starting to wonder how ExpertFlyer can justify continuing to charge the same fees as a few years ago when the functionality is slowly disappearing, meanwhile no new features have been added for years.

 

[DejaBrew]

Out of curiosity, does anyone have any inkling as to what's behind the issues? i.e. is this an airline-specific thing or is it related more to the various airline reservation systems?

 

[aus_flyer]

This may be controversial but I think the demise of some of these tools could actually be positive thing as it evens the playing field, forcing everyone to search the manual long way.

Not sure savvy travellers should be punished for using tools to help plan their travel more effectively. I'd be lost without Expert Flyer for flight schedules (and other planning tools).

 

[Lynda2475]

Not sure savvy travellers should be punished for using tools to help plan their travel more effectively. I'd be lost without Expert Flyer for flight schedules (and other planning tools).

You don't need a paid subscription to find flight schedules, you can typically get this on an airlines website or use tools like google flights to see other options.

 

[serfty]

So wouldn't surprise me if airlines making tweaks that can detect the bots to block them

This is irrelevant as Expert Flyer has employed legitimate subscriptions to GDS' and retrieves the information via API calls. No 'bots' involved.

 

[Lynda2475]

This is irrelevant as Expert Flyer has employed legitimate subscriptions to GDS' and retrieves the information via API calls. No 'bots' involved.

Irrespective of whether they use an API call or screen scrape via a bot, its common knowledge the airlines don't like 3rd parties providing these types of paid services.

For all we know the Airlines that are no longer visible may have put pressure on / requested that EF's GDS subscription be cancelled or not renewed or otherwise limited.

Of course it may be just that EFs owner aren't seeing a significant enough return to continue to invest and maintain the service; and when things break they therefore have no incentive to resolve.

Whatever the root cause EF cant really justify maintaining the current price of a subscription now that information has been removed for so many major airlines.

And imo the upside remains in levelling the playing field wrt access to awards.

 

[DejaBrew]

And imo the upside remains in levelling the playing field wrt access to awards.

Would it really level the playing field? I mean.... access to reward seating is still going to be massively restricted by status and someone will just find another way to obtain and monetise the same (or similar) info via a similar tool in the future.

 

[aus_flyer]

And imo the upside remains in levelling the playing field wrt access to awards.

There are very few airlines where EF is useful for finding awards anymore

 

[serfty]

Irrespective of whether they use an API call or screen scrape via a bot,

I made no comment on the other parts of your post - I was merely pointing out your indicated assumption was incorrect.