New Features at ExpertFlyer

Last week saw the rollout of new features at ExpertFlyer, one of my favorite road warrior tools.

ExpertFlyer is a subscription service that gives travelers access to many pieces of the travel booking puzzle that are normally available to reservations agents only – information like the current status of fare buckets on particular flights, full fare listings between a particular city pair (to help you see what the best possible published price at any time might be), real-time seat maps (which help you keep from having a seat assignment that sucks), and a peek at award inventory.

Subscribers to ExpertFlyer find themselves in a better position to strategically plan for award bookings, decide which flights are best for securing upgrades, and find alternative options in the event of flight delays or cancellations. I have personally subscribed for years and view it as one of my most essential travel tools.

Now there are new things in the toolbox that I’m excited about:

* Flight Timetables – This a comprehensive way to see every possible published way to fly between two cities (something that travel search sites do not always do for you, believe it or not).  They also have the ability to see all possible flights from an airport or to an airport on a given day.  I can see this coming in handy in constructing complex tickets OR in the case of extreme irregular operations when needing a creative rerouting solution to be somewhere on time!

* Aircraft Equipment Change Alerts (for premium subscribers only) – Nothing is worse than losing your prime seat assignment because of a swap for a different kind of aircraft.  (Almost as bad is missing out on a great premium seat because the equipment substitution brings in a better airplane… like a widebody with internationally configured seats!)

* Interline Agreement Information – For the international travel crowd, this will help you determine whether you can check your luggage through seamlessly when using different carriers.

* Visa, Health, and Passport Information – An easy place to find all the visa requirement information one needs when booking to a new country.

I was already a huge fan of ExpertFlyer before these new additions.  Now it’s even more essential for my day-to-day travel needs.

If you want to try it out, click here to sign up a free five day trial.

 

(Full disclosure – I do receive affiliate commissions for subscribers signed up through my trial link.)