ckpeter

I have received multiple questions about the Route Builder. It seems like people are confused about what it is. I have revised the explanation text multiple times, but the question still seem to be coming.

I have a overhaul of the site in the planning. I am going to rework the entire interface to make Route Builder more self-explanatory. Part of that work will also include some kind of knowledge base that will include what you suggested (UA starnet blocking, feeding flights to agent, etc.)

Thanks for the feedback.

zlc

Just noticed an annoy behavior, when the first search is done, I clicked on the "Modify Search" link to search on a different dates, which send me back to the segment page, however, the two segments I had there were reversed on that page. Seems like the page was loading the saved data backwards.

Rom Sac

As one of the first people to be confused by the route builder, here is a UI suggestion. It's only to cover a subset of what the route builder does, but I think it's a useful subset. What about allowing either the source or destination to cover multiple airlines using the same basic interface? So one could say FROM: JFK/BOS/IAD TO:FRA, and this would build the queries JFK-FRA, BOS-FRA, IAD-FRA. Or similarly FROM:IAD TO:FRA/CDG/LHR.

This has the advantage that it is very intuitive (all you need to do is describe an example).

RufussCkingston

So how's my Kitchen Sink results view coming!!

ckpeter

The order is supposed to be chronological, but you caught me using a lazy shortcut in the sort code. I fixed it. Please check it again.

An immediate issue is that the layout of the page is already very tight for space, and does not lend itself to a big FROM or TO field. There are also some semantics issue with having the search page both build and execute a search.

I am contemplating a number of ways of making people aware of the power of the Route Builder.

It's coming. My current focus is on boring but necessarily backend work. Once that's done, interface improvement, including the "Kitchen Sink" view, will be my next focus.

johndeere19

This would be useful functionality..."Build Itinerary..."

After you search and find flights, you click a date and your flight options come up. You select one and that is frozen as "flight 1" and you can move on to the next segment of your itinerary. This is especially helpful for some of the complicated multi-segment routings that we all love to put together. Information I believe would be helpful in the saved/frozen flight are flight number (inc airline), flight times, booking class, and plane type (maybe seats too if multiple seats).

ckpeter

Interesting. Are you suggesting something like a shopping cart interface, where a flight can be added to the cart and the related segment hidden as it is shopped?

P.S. Thanks for your comments on sign up.

johndeere19

I think you've got the gist of it. I'll throw together some mock-ups of what I envision it as. Basically, I think it'd be great if I were searching for a trip from say JFK-BKK and wanted to stop in Europe. I do a search from JFK-ZRH(stop)-BKK(dest) and find an F ticket for the JFK-ZRH leg, but nada for the ZRH-BKK leg. I "freeze" the JFK-ZRH leg I found and search for ZRH-FRA(J)-BKK(F) and can build the itinerary like that. Once I freeze those trips, I can work on the return.

Theoretically, you could use this feature and build multiple itineraries. A few things to consider though:
1. Would need to be able to "refresh" frozen segments as availability changes
2. Would need to be able to add/delete segments wherever necessary (i.e. I find JFK-ZRH and FRA-BKK, but can't find ZRH-FRA at the moment)

ckpeter

I misunderstood. I thought you were talking about additional controls in the calendar that allows you to pick flights into a shopping cart.

What you are talking about seems to be a trip organizer, outside of the calendar view, with the ability to set up segments and shop on them as needed.

Incidentally, a trip organizer is something that I have been looking at for a while. It is still some time away, but my current vision of it is very similar to what you described, where you can set up individual segments, update status (monitored, held, ticketed, etc), explore connection points, plus other functions.

I would love to look at any mock up that you come up with. In addition (perhaps more so), instead of a description of how ANX should work, tell me how you usually work on finding awards, and I will try to incorporate your needs that into the design.

L4ibsch

My most common usage pattern is to look for certain legs individually about 3-6 months out. I monitor availability for a window of about 2-4 weeks on the most critical leg. Therefore, it would be wonderful if ANX had the ability to mail me an alert when somebody else found a match for what I'm looking for (push vs. pull model).

ckpeter

I doubt that an alert can be sent based on someone else's search results. The problem is that you cannot rely on someone to be searching on the same route for similar dates.

I do see the need for some kind of scheduled search that will save you from having to persistently monitor availability yourself. There are some technical and non-technical obstacles, but as I mentioned earlier, it is a feature that I am looking to add soon, even if not in the immediate future.

zlc

It's still happening if both segments are for the same day.

eg.

1. TPE -> SFO on 10/6
2. SFO -> DFW on 10/6

After click on "Modify Search", the two segments are reversed.

ckpeter

Unfortunately, for the same date, the segment store order is arbitrary at this point, so there is no easy way to restore the order as you originally submitted. Sorry.

doubled79

I tried running new searches today and the calendar would not load - I just see a blank screen.

I then tried to run queries from the recently run queries section, but those did not appear as well.

Has the site been down today?

ckpeter

There were some internal updates to the calendar, but I am not aware of any issues. Can you reload the page to make sure that you have the latest version of all the page components?

If it still doesn't work, let me know what browser you are using and I will take a look.