Devastated by Devaluations?  Get a Refund on Expert Flyer Membership

First off, let me say that I am a big fan of Expert Flyer and am sad to write this post.  But this is strictly business, not personal.

Late Friday night (November 8, 2013), Expert Flyer sent out the following email:

Not having access to Star Alliance award space is a big hit to Expert Flyer and its users.  On Sunday afternoon (November 10, 2013), I sent Expert Flyer the following email:

Good afternoon, I received your email from a few days ago about Star Alliance award searches being unavailable. Without that feature, Expert Flyer is not worth the cost of the membership. I realize that United is causing the problem, but feel the subscription fee I paid just doesn’t make sense. Are you able to cancel my membership and return my payment? Thank you for your help and have a great day.

Later that day, I received the following email response:

Thank you for your email Grant. We have issued a pro-rated refund.

With regard to United Award and Upgrade inventory, that information is currently unavailable at the request of United. ExpertFlyer is attempting to negotiate an agreement with UAL. So far, UAL has made not made any offer, or counter offer, of their own. However, we continue to discuss the matter with UAL in hopes of reaching a mutually agreeable conclusion. More information about the change and how to send feedback to United about it can be found here: http://www.expertflyer.com/page.jsp?page=ua_changes.html

There are still several Star Alliance airlines supported for Award searching and alerting on ExpertFlyer. You’ll find the list here: http://www.expertflyer.com/sessionlessClassList.do

ExpertFlyer still has 9 Star Alliance airlines for Awards and Flight Alerts:
Air Canada
Air China
Air New Zealand
AVIANCA
Brussels Airlines
COPA
Shenzhen Airlines
SWISS
Turkish Airlines

All our other services (Flight Availability, Fares, Seat Maps, Seat Alerts, etc.) are unaffected by this change.

Thank you,
The ExpertFlyer.com Team

I also received a pro-rated refund on the price I paid for my annual fee (credited back to my credit card).

Here is my billing history:

If/when Star Alliance access is restored, I plan on renewing my Expert Flyer membership.  I hope the problem is a quick fix and doesn’t take months/years like some Award Wallet partnerships.  What are you planning on doing with your Expert Flyer membership?