Winkdaddy

Delta took a huge step backwards by eliminating the ability to see KE award availability and other Asia based carriers off the website..something NWA was easily able to do. I really hope this a feature that Delta IT is working to restore!

Winkdaddy

Hi SMI since the beginning of May we have seen some topical changes to the award engine on Delta.com. The website states we will see changes through November:

"We are re-engineering the Award Travel booking process and calendar on delta.com to improve the Award redemption experience. We plan to fix the display of Award seats and other issues to provide better online Award Travel booking. For example, we will:

Repair the pricing and availability display of the calendar
Add more search options and display flight amenities
Provide better access to Award Travel reservations from the home page
You will begin to see improvements starting in May continuing through November. "

Now that it is July, can you give any more detailed information as to what changes have been made and what we can expect to change, if anything, for the short-term (July/August)?


Thanks

gatechange

My guess.. come Nov 2010 DL Rev department will notify DL web development that they have not cheated enough people out of enough miles yet with the screwed up FF calendar, etc. so leave it as it is!

Winkdaddy

Bump. ?

StayingHomeIsBetter

I hear... crickets.

florin

Wow... DL must have a giant new "crickets" department. Award charts originating outside the US? Crickets. Award booking engine changes? Crickets. Yet we get badgered with all sorts of AMEX adds.

Sabai

Given the location of DL's HQS, perhaps we're hearing cicadas instead of crickets, but little else is coming out of Georgia.

Bump on the next fix to the award booking engine...

Bump on the award chart...

Or, perhaps since DL's now making so much money, neither of these are thought to be necessary. Got them payments to Amex to think about.

Winkdaddy

Dear SMI/Delta,

Now that it is AUGUST, can you give any more detailed information as to what changes to the award calendar have been made since May and what we can expect to change for the short-term August-Sept?

Thanks!

cfischer

http://online.wsj.com/public/resourc...bDate=20080826

Winkdaddy

Dear SMI/Delta,

I wanted to again follow up on the satement on delta.com saying you are re-engineering the award calendar with improvements through November. Now that it is October 7th, and rapidly approaching November, can you clarify what has been fixed and what is still being fixed? Honestly, I do not see any changes yet:

1. I still get higher mileage sometimes when I click on "LOW" on the calendar..like a BE ticket will cost 150k-200k instead of the normal 100k and all on screwy routings.

2. We still cannot book award tix on partners like Korea Air online (used to on NWA which was great!)

3. Choosing multi-city award tickets still does not show mileage by segment, making it impossible to construct an itinerary with ideal mileage requirements...instead you get the total amount at the very end.

4. There is still no chart for mileage requirements for flights originating and terminating outside the US.

I am sure others have points as well....

Can you give an update to what is going on with this?

Thanks!!


Edit: I do see that delta.com now pushes the fixes to 1st quarter 2011...it would still be nice to know what has been fixed already, and if any of my above points are planning to be addressed, asd they seem to be the main ones everyone is concerned about..

"We are redesigning the Award Travel booking process and calendar on delta.com to improve the Award redemption experience. We plan to continue improving the display of Award seats and other issues to provide better online Award Travel booking. We began making these improvements in May and have completed many of them already. We will continue to improve the online experience on delta.com to offer more functionality to customers through the first quarter of next year.

Through the balance of 2010 and into the first quarter of next year we will:
Continue to redesign the Award Travel booking process and further improve the pricing and availability display of the calendar
Add even more search options and display flight amenities"

Sabai

• Technology Glitches: Due to the technical complexity of launching a program change of this size and scope, we experienced problems with our Online Award Calendar when the system launched, and I apologize for this. We’ve worked to fix these glitches and, as a result, we’ve seen a drastic decrease in customer complaints. I hope you find that your user experience is much improved, and that you’ll continue to let us know when you run into issues.

Jeff Robertson
November 21st, 2008 at 3:11 pm

RealHJ

...and even for flights originating and terminating inside the US (HI).

Winkdaddy

I just wish there was better transparency on how the fixes are coming along...Its been since May when Delta announced this, but no follow up to the specific fixes that have happened (if any!) and ones that they are planning on.

pmaddock

I'm sorry to say that it seems unlikely that we'll get such disclosure but I can only hope that someone forces the issue at the DO. At this point DL seems more interested in throwing a few rhinestones (website cosmetics) on the dress instead of actually fixing the holes.

NWA IS

I would respectfully disagree with that, though I see how you could come to that conclusion.

I hope you can get the kind of disclosure you're looking for from someone authorized to speak in an official capacity.