Galileo-CRS (English Language Access) Ben Edelman's Other Travel-Related Resources on the Web

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This page is no longer operational. For a replacement, see Matthias Metzger's Availability Tool and the publicbackup availability tool. See also related discussion in FlyerTalk and my listing of airline fare codes.

The remainder of this page is provided purely for archival purposes.

Aeroplan.de provides German access to the Galileo CRS, but many interested users speak and read only English. Guidance from Flyertalk explains the use of the original form in German, and this information allowed me to translate the page into English. The translated version is below. Note, however, that results pages remain in German.

This access to the Galileo CRS is particularly helpful because it shows availability in so-called "fare buckets." For sophisticated travel planners, this detailed availability information can be helpful in obtaining desired fares, specials, or frequent flier promotions. For more information about this data and the circumstances in which it may be helpful, see Flyertalk. Other sources of such data include professional travel agents and the travelocity.com site (when signed in using "Advanced" mode).

Update: This system is also available in a framed interface for easy retrieval of availability on multiple flights, airlines, dates, etc. (Thanks to FT'er Plato90s for this suggestion.) In the past, there was also a similar interface available for Japanese data from a different instance of the Galileo CRS, provided by etour.co.jp, but this system ceased operation in September 2003.

Known problems & suggested resolutions

• Limit of four non-stop flights displayed per city pair (typically morning flights) when viewing flights on a single specified airline.
  • Resolution: Omit the specification of airline code, and the system will show eight non-stop flights rather than eight.
  • Resolution: For city pairs with more than eight non-stop flights per day, try any of the several systems available at Airlines of the Web.
• Missing fare codes.
  • Explanation: Inventory in some fare codes is kept secret -- available only to an airline's staff but not to the general public or to travel agents through CRSs. (Such codes include certain buckets used for award travel.)
  • Explanation: Some fare codes are only listed when specifically requested via the "Class" field above. (On AA, examples include C [the booking class for award upgrades to business class], T [economy awards], X [e-upgrades], and R.)
  • Resolution: Specify the specific fare code desired, or call airline for assistance.
• Letters where the inventory data belongs.
  • The letters A, C, L, and X may sometimes appear where inventory data (i.e. the number of seats in a given fare bucket) ordinarily appears. These letters should be interpreted as follows:
    • A: Available. Some seats are available, but Galileo cannot or will not report exactly how many.
    • L: No seats are available, but passenger may ask to be added to the waitlist.
    • C: The waitlist is closed.
    • X: The waitlist is "really closed" -- closed even to "priority passengers."
• Accuracy.
  • Details: System may not always give perfect up-to-the-minute data for all airlines, particularly for upgrade inventory. See this thread for details.
  • Resolution: Use this system as a guide, but don't place absolute faiths in its guidance. Call airline for final confirmation.
• Need help interpreting fare codes? Check out these links to handy references:
  • American Airlines fare codes (typically also applicable to Oneworld partners)
    • Notwithstanding information in the link above, some users report that "T" fares may fail to properly report AA Economy PlanAhead availability. Please send confirmation or other updates to the author.
  • British Airways fare codes
  • Continental Airlines fare codes
  • Delta Airlines fare codes
  • Northwest Airlines fare codes
  • United Airlines award fare codes (also applicable to Star Alliance partners)

Beginning on October 31, 2003 and continuing for an unknown period, this site was unoperational because Aeroplan.de disabled the primary Galileo system accessed by this site. Available alternatives for use as backups:

• flyaow.com - provides access only to selected fare buckets, without information about upgrades or award seats
• optimalmove.com - provides access only to selected fare buckets, one fare bucket at a time, without information about upgrades or award seats
• itn.net - provides access to selected fare buckets, without information about upgrades or award seats; requires registration (then choose Expert Mode in My Account - Display Preferences)

I offer this page as a service to the interested Internet travel community. If a representative of Aeroplan notifies me that they consider this page to be unauthorized, I will promptly reconsider my posting of this page.

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