I haven't seen much noise here about how rubbish the Velocity website is, so perhaps it is just me, but I lost almost two hours of my life last night trying to book a redemption on Delta Airlines.

It all started so well... I logged in, clicked book a redemption flight, found the exact flights I wanted were available, and then it all went downhill...

After selecting the flights, I was asked to log in again. Despite entering my velocity number and correct password several times, the page just went round and round in circles telling me the username and password were incorrect. Finally, I clicked modify search which took me back to the flight selection page and magically I was logged in.

I then managed to get as far as the payment page with the option to pay 39,000 points (including tax) or 35,500 + $20.70. I wanted to do the latter but, as I later found out, the "slider" to make that selection was missing and there was no option to enter my credit card details for the $20.70. So, every time I clicked complete payment I was told that I hadn't entered my payment details even though there was nowhere to enter them.

All of the above was in Google Chrome on my MacBook. So then I tried Safari - same. Then I tried Chrome on a Windows laptop - same. Finally Internet Explorer - same.

Ok, let's try the mobile app. Nope! The app would let me enter JFK as my origin, but DEN was nowhere to be seen - only Denpasar!

Call the contact centre. Wait...

Sure, we can book that for you with a $70 booking fee. The agent was very polite and helpful, but I had to endure going through the whole booking process above one more time to prove that "the slider" wasn't there. And then a few minutes on hold for her to get approval to waive the $70 fee.

30 minutes of international call (UK to Australia) later, I finally have a booking. Hurrah for small mercies!

Rant over