With the next version of AA DealFinder likely just AAround the corner, along with the fact that we haven't talked DealFinder in a while, I felt that there needed to be a discussion on what AA needs to do on the desktop application side.

That said, here's my list of my top 10 DealFinder gripes (with a bit of happy news thrown in):

1) Mac Support. I'm a Mac user and AAdvantage member, and I was mad when DealFinder launched only for Windows... in 2007. Fast forward to 2011... still no Mac support at a time when AA gate areas and Admirals Clubs are being filled with MacBook Pro-toting travelers. Part of this, IMO, was due to Skinkers (the developer of DealFinder) being 10% owned by Microsoft (a share that has since been divested). There is good news, though. The next version of DealFinder that will be out shortly will have Mac support.

2) A Less-Clunky Interface. The DealFinder user interface is pretty bad. It may have looked good in Windows XP, but it looks out of place in the streamlined Windows 7. Plus it doesn't match the new AA.com graphics, either. And if they ported DealFinder in its current form to Mac OS X, I can confidently say that it would not pass Apple's Human Interface Guidelines.

3) First & Business Class Fare Searches. Not all bargain hunters want to fly Y class.

4) One-Way Fare Searches. If AA can allow for one-way AAdvantage awards, surely they can let DealFinder book one-way tickets.

5) AA iPhone, iPad, Android, and (soon) BlackBerry App Integration. Not everyone is at their computer when the latest deals pop up. In theory, if DealFinder is registered on a computer, one could link their iPhones and Droids to get the alerts. Sadly, that is not currently the case. (Disclaimer: I have AA's iPhone and iPad apps and love them.)

6) SMS Text Message Fare and Offer Alerts. AA and Skinkers could have implemented this in DealFinder 1.0. The technology was there in 2007, and it's still there (and better than ever) in 2011.

7) Work Well in Windows 7. Even when Mac support is added, Windows users shouldn't be forgotten. Though it works (with glitches), Windows 7 isn't one of the supported Windows flavors on the DealFinder homepage. It might be good to drop support for Windows 2000 Professional altogether to focus on XP/Vista/Windows 7 (and server derivatives Windows Server 2003/2008/2011). But if the new DealFinder is built on Adobe AIR (Skinkers has been developing AIR-based products recently for UPS and others), Windows 2000 support will have to go out the door.

8) Support For 3-4 Fare Searches. DealFinder currently only supports two fare searches. All fine and good, except if you're an AAdvantage Executive Platinum member that plans four trips at once.

9) Deals That Pop Up In Your Default Browser. Currently, even if your default browser is, say, Chrome, many (but not all) DealFinder deals pop up in Internet Explorer. To be fair, Internet Explorer has gotten significantly better than it was during the IE6 days, and IE9 on Windows 7 is pretty darn good. But aside from clicking on the deal and copying/pasting it from IE to your non-Microsoft default browser, there isn't a way to force DealFinder to use your default browser. Also, with Mac support on the way, this quirk may have to be changed, as IE hasn't been available for the Mac in years. In addition to Safari, Mac users can choose Firefox, Chrome, or Opera like their Windows brothers and sisters.

10) Ditch The Ticker. It's annoying, intrusive, and even ugly in Windows 7. And if the current version of DealFinder was ported to Mac OS X, there wouldn't be room for a ticker: the menus are always on the top of a Mac screen and not in the window, even though the application Dock is normally on the bottom like the Windows Taskbar.

Agree or disagree? Any other ideAAs?