FAQ - FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
~DAILY SCHEDULE CHANGE EMAILS
ARE THE WEEKLY UPDATES GOING AWAY, BEING REPLACED?
WHY DO AIRLINE CHANGES SPREAD OVER MULTIPLE DAYS?
WHAT IS THE SOURCE OF THE DATA?
WHY IS IT AN IMAGE AND NOT TEXT?
WHY IS PAYMENT REQUIRED BEFORE EMAILS BEGIN?
HOW DO I SIGN UP FOR EMAILS?
Upgrade to PLUS TIER or above. If you are a new subscriber to the site you will need to wait until a payment has processed to prevent spam email sign-ups. Another option is to Paypal $5 to enilria@gmail.com if you are a new subscriber and want emails immediately.
ARE THE WEEKLY UPDATES GOING AWAY, BEING REPLACED?
This does not replace the weekly schedule updates and you do not need to increase tier in order to keep the weekly updates. This is an added feature for people who want more frequent updates. The intent is never to get rid of the weekly updates on all tiers unless it is beyond my control or I lose access to that data at some point. There is no expectation of that happening at this time, so enjoy the weekly updates.
ARE THEY DAILY?
They are intended to be daily, but from time to time they will be gaps and outages that will cause days to be missed. For example, if I am traveling and the process 'breaks' there may be several days to fix it. Also, the source website may change formats causing a delay until it can be reprogrammed. Every effort will be made to make emails as frequent as possible with a goal of daily. There will also be days with no changes.
WHAT TIME ARE THEY DELIVERED?
I will attempt to optimize the timing to get changes as quickly as possible after they are filed. Originally the plan was for the email to be generated around 6am Eastern, but now it looks like 7pm Eastern generates better result. It will continue to evolve as it is based on when airline employees hit UPDATE on their side and that is not on a schedule.
I DID'T RECEIVE ONE TODAY?
They are intended to be daily, but from time to time they will be gaps and outages that will cause days to be missed. For example, if I am traveling and the process 'breaks' there may be several days to fix it. A lot of things could break. Internet outage at my location, account lockout from too many queries, email spam block, etc. Also, the source website may change formats causing a delay until it can be reprogrammed. Every effort will be made to make emails as frequent as possible with a goal of daily. There will also be days with no changes. This is very common during mid-week. If more than one day passes without an email, please message me inside Patreon to alert me, but there may be days that are skipped for the reasons I listed. Do not reply to the schedule change email as that address is not monitored.
HOW DO I READ IT?
There is a limit to the number of schedule queries I can do. As a result there are limits on the data. For example, it only shows added or dropped routes on the target days I am checking. That limits me to checking 3 days in the future which are seasonal peaks and valleys where routes are typically added or dropped. Those dates roll through a Friday in January, March, July, and October based on the current date. It only includes what is loaded into GDS, so it may not include all carriers. G4 is unlikely to appear. International routes and carriers are included from the USA. It may also pick up code shares sometimes unfortunately, but intended not to. Because of the query limit I can only check large hubs, so a route like IND-SRQ would not get captured, but any route to/from a large hub would get captured like ATL-HSV. ATL AUS BOS CLT DCA DEN DFW DTW EWR FLL IAD IAH JFK LAS LAX LGA MCO MIA MSP ORD PDX PHL PHX RDU SEA SLC SFO TPA are the hubs I capture, and some may not be captured every day due to the query limit. ADD means the route did not appear as operating on that target day when data was last retrieved for that target date. This may be caused by a change in days of operation. DROP means the route did appear as operating on that target day when the data was last retrieved for that target date. This may be caused by a change in days of operation.
WHY NOT MORE TARGET DAYS?
There is a limit on the number of queries I can do per day and we are close to the limit presently.
WHY DO AIRLINE CHANGES SPREAD OVER MULTIPLE DAYS?
Because not every airport is checked every day to stay under the query limit large schedule changes and schedule extensions may take several days to fully appear. Not all airports are checked, only large hubs as the origin point to any destination.
WHAT IS THE SOURCE OF THE DATA?
This data is being retrieved from GDS similar to a travel agent reservations system.
THERE IS STILL SOME TIME LAG?
Flights do not seem to appear instantaneously. Based on early use it appears there can be a 1 or 2 day lag before a flights appears after a press release. I do not know what that happens or if it is intentional by the airline.
WHY IS IT AN IMAGE AND NOT TEXT?
This is done to minimize data harvesting and reuse, while keeping the website's branding for others who might see the email.
WHY IS IT SPONSORED?
The GDS access fee is significant and a sponsor covers more of the cost than the simple $5 addon charge.
WHY IS PAYMENT REQUIRED BEFORE EMAILS BEGIN?
We have had a lot of 'churn' by Patrons who appear and disappear before payment is taken. For this service to minimize account list maintenance you must have been a previous Patron or made one payment before emails start.
I REPLIED TO THE EMAIL AND GOT NO RESPONSE?
The schedule changes email cannot be replied to. If you need to contact me use the messages function in Patreon.
AFTER SUBSCRIBING WHAT DO I NEED TO DO?
Inside Patreon send Enilria a message with the email address you wish to use. If you are an existing Patron upgrading to PLUS Tier, that is all you need to do. If you are a new Patron AND signing up for the email service you may need to paypal $5 to enilria@gmail.com to commence the service. This is to prevent email spam abuse. Otherwise the service will begin at the next Patreon billing cycle.