DLdweeb

Yup, I got a good chuckle out of that as well....

Esltroy

Haaaaa haaaa. You crack me up. Thank you!

StayingHomeIsBetter

This is all the more frustrating since they had previously had middle name and suffix fiascoes that they had finally resolved... and now, they're baaaack.

Navig8R

Get back to me after you've maintained an IT infrastructure one-tenth the size of Delta's. Does everything work 100% of the time at your job? If so, I'm assuming your company's annual profits are greater than Apple and Google combined. Geez

HeadInTheClouds

I have forever had random complications due to this with Delta. Sometimes it's a suffix, sometimes it's attached to my last name, etc. Sometimes I have to manually edit it off my name and add it back as a suffix. Sometimes it tells me my passport doesn't match my name. When using credits or doing exchanges or booking award tickets it sometimes gives me errors and makes me call. And sometimes it's all fine. I've given up trying to figure it out.

I almost want to just remove it entirely, since despite ominous warnings to the contrary this is a total non issue with TSA and with PreCheck (My UA profile doesn't have my suffix anywhere and I've never once had any issue with TSA or PreCheck). Fortunately, no matter what DL does, it has never caused me any issues with PreCheck, otherwise this might bother me more.

SEA-Flyer

Not really wanting to get into a **** measuring competition, but the online services I've run are among the largest in the world, easily dwarfing the size of Delta's IT infrastructure. I've worked on several systems that have more servers than Delta has SEATS on all their aircraft combined.

There are several things that Delta knows how to do quite well. They know how to build a competitive route network. They know how to maintain aircraft, doing an especially good job on maintaining reliability with a large number of older aircraft. They are pretty good at figuring out how to maximize ancillary revenue and attack their main competitors weak spots. Software, IT systems, and online services are not things that I would list among their core competence.

wakkawakka

I work in software so I know these systems are hard, but there do seem to be some issues.

My anecdotes:
- Booked a flight three weeks ago though the web and selected the Upgrade with Miles option because I had SkyPesos to burn and F availability was starting to look sparse. When purchasing I hit the error screen and landed back at the flight search page. Yet I was issued a PNR/reservation/confirmation number but no ticket or email confirmation, and my Amex app lit up saying I had an authorization from Delta for the base fare. I call Delta, reservations says apparently a litany of cancellations due to storms in ATL was at fault for bringing their payment processing system to its knees. They try the payment again and it apparently goes through and I got a email confirmation and ticket number. Here I am, a week after being on that flight, and I would have no idea that I wasn't actually charged for it until I saw I got no mileage credit. Will be interesting to see how this goes when I call in to request credit...

- Booked award travel a month ago via web with no IT issues for travel in two weeks. After the above foible I call yesterday given that I realized I never got an email confirmation for this either. Again I had been issued a PNR and reservation but no ticket. Stranger, they also hadn't deducted the SkyPesos from my account, so they did that, and I got the email confirmation and a ticket number.

Fortunately these are the only two IT payment incidents I've ever had flying DL. The mobile app is super capable and this is coming from someone who writes them for a living. I recall getting a push notification about a 3hr delay after boarding before the flight crew even announced it, and I had re-booked onto another flight before deplaning while nearly everyone else scrambled to the red coats at the help desk.

Esltroy

I really thought your response was tongue-in-cheek. Deltas IT structure is horrible. From charging more for medallion members, to not processing RUC, to the simple thing of not having the opening screen on the website cover up the alerts. It took them two years to change that one. A company with billions of dollars of annual profit, should be held to a higher standard. I won't even get into the horrible awards calendar.

I also think that it is not all of ITs fault. Delta is constantly changing their program...it must drive the IT people crazy.

Navig8R

Just curious, but how do you know that everything you stated in your post are "IT gaffes?" Aside from the pop-up window placements, the rest seem like philosophical moves by Delta. This doesn't make it any better whatsoever, but, as you stated, they are extremely profitable so there really isn't much reason for them to change.

Navig8R

OK, and? Are you telling me that you've never had any IT issues with your online services? Amazon, Google, and Ebay (the three largest online service providers in the world based off of revenue) all have customer service numbers to report IT issues. They happen to the best of the best, not sure why people think Delta should be immune to IT problems.

Sounds like Delta has their priorities in order, with IT being lowest on the totem pole. I think you, as a passenger, would want it that way, right?

SEA-Flyer

Sure, I've experienced bad bugs and outages, and had to respond to them. But there are some problems that will never be fixed. That's why I thought the original remark of "No big deal as Delta has been alerted and will remedy the issue" was funny. Because I have doubts:

• About the quality of the internal processes for taking data regarding problems like this and passing it to the appropriate team to take action on it.
• That this is a big enough problem to make their cut bar given all of the other problems they have.

Not especially. Sure, I'm glad that aircraft maintenance is a higher priority because I don't want things falling out of the sky. But Delta's leadership made a decision many years ago to operate an older fleet and increase investment in their maintenance department to compensate for that rather than purchase new aircraft. They thought that was the best decision for the business. Whether or not it was is debatable. As a passenger, I'm not particularly excited about that decision. And it is not a compelling enough reason for me to become a shareholder, either.

I don't know of any airline that has decided to invest in their IT systems and software to turn it in to an advantage over their competition. But I think there are some huge opportunities in that space.