I previously wrote about ExpertFlyer announcing that it would no longer display award availability on Star Alliance and some other airlines. I can’t guarantee that the two are related, but it seems like there’s a little more to it…
Star Alliance restricts websites where benefits can be used
A variety of websites exist to help consumers book award tickets. Some allow you to search for seat availability on many airlines, and some allow you to set award availability alerts. Historically, many of these tools worked by retrieving award availability directly from the airline’s website (basically, searching for seat availability using a script). and display it on your website).
Some Star Alliance airlines are reportedly trying to crack down on this. Since nothing has been officially announced, we have to piece together what’s going on here.
Seats.aero is a search tool that allows you to easily find award spaces. The company revealed Air Canada announced that it has received a cease-and-desist order from its lawyers requiring the company to stop using its website to search for award tickets. Seats.aero does not intend to comply with the request and reportedly intends to oppose it.
The timing is interesting. Because just days earlier, Mark Nasr, Air Canada’s vice president of marketing and digital, Appeared on Facebook Live Includes point miles and bling. In it, we indicated that we would be taking drastic steps in the near future to improve the availability of partner benefits.
In it, he talked about point brokers and also some automated tools that collect availability, making it harder for others to find availability. However, it is our understanding that not only Air Canada is behind this action, but other Star Alliance airlines are also involved here.
Basically, Nasr said, these search tools started out in a good place, as a passion project to help the community. But in the meantime, the volume of these searches puts a strain on Aeroplan and its partners’ IT systems and enables point intermediaries.
This seems like a complex legal issue
I’m not a lawyer, and I don’t pretend to have any expertise on the legality of using airline websites to obtain benefits. However, I will share my understanding of both sides of the argument.
The airline claims that the website’s terms of use prohibit the use of data from the website in ways not expressly permitted, and that these scraping services do not comply with this policy. ing. for example, terms of service Air Canada’s website states that by using this website, you agree not to use automated scripts or the like.
These websites claim that website scraping is completely legal. The idea is that you can legally use public information from public websites for your own purposes without breaking any laws.they claim that This precedent is maintained Many times in court. They believe that just because an airline makes such a request does not mean it is legal.
It appears that at least some of these search tools have no intention of complying with this request and intend to take the case to court as they believe they have sufficient legal grounds to do so.
Do airlines care about their consumers or…?
Is this just a case of airlines trying to bully consumers, or are they actually looking out for people’s best interests? To be honest, this is a difficult subject and one that I don’t understand. Both aspects are possible. As we know, airline saver benefits can be difficult to obtain.
One of the biggest problems we face when it comes to obtaining rewards is fraud by mileage brokers. There’s no denying that they use automation to find award seats. I’m not sure if you’re using a major publicly available tool or setting up your own script. In the former case, limiting their use may be helpful. On the other hand, if it’s the latter, it’s not.
This change is a double-edged sword, as it will only make the benefits harder to obtain for smart consumers. On the other hand, finding award seats takes more effort. On the other hand, eliminating automation levels the playing field a bit.
For example, some of these tools allow you to set award availability alerts, which will display a message when seats become available for a particular award. So it can be difficult for the “average” person to find that award seat if others don’t even need to manually confirm it.
Saver-level benefits are harder to come by than ever, but at the same time there’s more interest in miles and points than ever before, and more people are vying for those few seats.
I don’t think you can blame airlines as a whole for not wanting to overload their servers with these tools, but the direct benefits to airlines are limited. And while I don’t know if I agree with the conclusion that it’s good for consumers, I can see how you can have an honest discussion about it.
However, this is first and foremost a legal question, so it appears that the courts will decide.
conclusion
Air Canada has sent a cease-and-desist order to Seats.aero, requesting that the website stop collecting award availability information from Air Canada’s website. We understand that other airlines and award search tools may also be involved here.
Air Canada legally argues that collecting seat availability information from its website violates its terms of service. The counterargument is that there is legal precedent for scraping public websites. Seats.aero has no intention of following Air Canada’s request, so this should be interesting…
What do you think about airlines trying to stop scraping of award availability? Do you think this is a good or bad thing for consumers?
