Ben Edelman's Travel-Related Resources on the Web

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Discussion in Flyertalk occasionally inspires me to develop web-based applications and other resources of assistance to frequent travelers on certain airlines. By and large, I seek to make contributions that combine technical innovation (such as figuring out how particular portions of an airlines' web site work) with substantive significance (such as helping frequent travelers more quickly and efficiently obtain the information they need). To that end, I have prepared the following resources:

• All Airlines
  • Real-Time Access to Galileo CRS data
    • Inventory by fare bucket
    • Helpful when planning discounted or award travel, when contemplating standing by for a flight
    • Direct links to inventory on specific flights
• American Airlines
  • Archive of November 6, 2002 Analyst Conference
    • Part 1 (4.5 hours), Part 2 (58 minutes)
      • Find a section of particular interest? Send reference (which part, how many minutes into the file) to ben@edelman.org for inclusion on this site.
      • Discussion and highlights in Flyertalk.
      • Windows Media Player 7 or later is required.
    • AA site doesn't allow fast-forwarding to segments of interest (see screenshot -- note no fast forward buttons!)
      • See original at amrcorp.com - investor relations - conference calls.
  • Seatmaps - update: no longer operational due to aa.com redesign
    • Bookmarkable availability listings for specified flights
    • Easier & faster to use than ordinary aa.com seatmap tool
    • View maps for all cabins on multiple flights simultaneously
  • Deep links to selected areas on aa.com - update: no longer necessary due to aa.com redesign
  • Archived TWA.com web site
    • American bought some of TWA's assets but (understandably!) ceased operation of TWA's web site. Unfortunately, American's own web site doesn't have all the details (about TWA planes in particular) that remain important to some frequent travelers.
    • Specific links
      • The TWA Fleet
      • TWA.COM
      • Links are thanks to archive.org
    • Motivating discussion in Flyertalk
      
  • December '01 AAdvantage Mailing Insert with (alleged) errors in award structure (obsolete)
    • Wrongly (I think) says upgrades from full-fare Business to First are as expensive (in miles) as upgrades from discount coach to Business, rather than as cheap (relatively speaking) as upgrades from full-fare Coach to Business
    • See also motivating discussion in Flyertalk.
    • I sent a note to AAdvantage asking them what's going on here. A reply letter told me (cutting to the chase and skipping their [very eloquent!] boilerplate): The newsletter is correct and the new upgrade awards were effective November 21, 2001. Funny that, since the insert itself only says the awards become effective on April 30, 2002! I think the G. Hicks who wrote me this letter misunderstood the question...
      
• Delta Air Lines
  • Seatmaps
    • Bookmarkable availability listings for specified flights
  • Easier & faster to use than ordinary delta.com seatmap tool
  • View maps for both cabins on multiple flights simultaneously
• Others' Resources
  • Shuly Wintner's Seat Maps, Availability Lookups, etc.
  • FlyAOW's Availability Lookups