socrates

I believe Dr. Wise has publically stated her goal is to transition everything over to 1 platform, stabilize that platform (and add a few very much needed enhancements) but once that is accomplished to transition over to a new platform that her team is working on right now - this new platform is being written to be the best of the best however as we all know new IT systems are never easy to write, on time or on budget.....(I thought I had heard the timeline for a transition to this system would '13 or '14 but I'm going off very old memories here)

socrates

this post reminds me of a motto DL non IT staff have for their IT team

"DL IT - bringing you yesterday's technology tomorrow"

socrates

I agree the website is not checking inside availability (this is actually a GDS term) until much later in the transition but dude....that is not how most airline websites work, it leads to frustrated (and pissed off) pax, the reason GDS's at time display availability versus inside availability is due to their design and access/cost to realtime data...airline's shouldn't need to access GDS's though to know what their own inventory is - they should always beaccessing inside availability (somehow expedia, travelocity, us airways, united, continental etc are all able to minimize the number of issues they have with displaying inventory versus inside availability inventory).....this is the type of thinking that gets companies in major trouble with the folks that pay the bills (their customers)...can you image going to the bank and asking to withdraw money to have the teller say sure...start counting out the money...putting it in an envelope but just before handing it to you says, oh I'm sorry you dont have enough in your bank account so you ask for your available balance only to have the teller tell you you have enough available to withdraw the originally requested amount....

davetravels

I have 2 things to say about this:

1) I understand the (possible) theory that, if you're in the supermarket, and you see soup on the shelf for 39 cents, and when you try to grab it, someone else is a split second faster, and they get it - you don't, BUT, why is the 39 cent can of soup that's now, clearly gone, still offered to me 5 minutes later, then again 10 min later, and again 15 minutes later and again, and again??? It's totally NUTS!!!

2) Here's the part that't I'm SURE will stir up some thought - - -

I DID call the DL DM line to book this trip. The agent and I, went over it segment by segment, and she told me they were all available at "LOW" level. At the end, she told me 125,000 miles. I said ok, please put it on hold. No problem.

A minute later, I realized that it didn't sound right. When I checked the award chart, I saw that PIT/BKK should be 40,000 one-way in Y and 60,000 in J for the return = 100,000. I called immediately! The agent told me that the outbound in Y was booked at mid-level for 65,000 miles! So, the EXACT SAME THING apparently happens to the phone agents! She confirmed all low level - but during pricing, IT JUMPED!!! It's TOTAL MADNESS!!!

DLdweeb

Sounds like bait and switch to me, but I'm just a lowly customer, not a high level IT geek who sees this as completely normal and reasonable.......

flying_q

Big surprise. As always, everything is working perfectly within Delta IT. Thanks again for the infinite wisdom, AdamJ.

I assume that you rarely use the Delta website, and almost never fly Delta. It is impossible for anyone who uses their technology to support it to the extents that you do.

You can go ahead and make as many generalizations regarding J seats, flights within Asia, state of Delta at major airports, Delta's employees, SkyTrax ratings etc etc etc....but to argue that the Delta website works well and as is designed - you are way out of your league.

krpjr

flying_q, I agree with you, although we don't agree on much !

adamj023

It does work perfectly fine. The flight was simply sold out and you have to wait till the final screen comes on for availability check.

Different institutions design the systems differently whether it be airline or financial firms or firms which contain inventory and so on and so forth. Would it be nicer if the system was more intuitive to lead to a better customer experience where it would update stale batches of information quicker? Yes.

But again, supposedly Delta has Northwest legacy systems in place and a final cutover needs to be done. So right now the system works fine till a further time when they could possibly improve the system, however the net benefit to the consumer here is nill because you can recheck other flights in the system. With or without more updated information you would still be able to book the same flights.

If it happens where the system is updated, it would happen later in 2012 and not any earlier. However there is nothing wrong with the system right now and anyone can call to speak to an agent at any time should they need anything above and beyond the system offering. I don't see any problems here.

There are plenty of firms who have their systems work in the same manner as Delta with inventory based systems and the like. If I worked for Delta I would know more about the manner in which they coded the application but I don't nor have.

Sorry but some people just expect too much and too soon.

In 2011 Delta even added a tracking mechanism for luggage to the website. They have and will make enhancements to improve the customer experience when they can and when it makes a big impact.

Again, this is Delta specific, if we were talking about other airlines IT the conversation would be company specific.

Has nothing to do with usage or not. I have seen all the airline websites and booking agent websites and comparison engines and am well aware of all of it.

Sure I haven't seen all the machines that airlines now have at the airport for check in since each carrier has different equipment however they really are just dressed up computer terminals and each implement their own feature sets unique to the firm and their own branding and the like.

What an IT department can do is still predictable based on the same set of tools dependent on their infrastructure internally.

And with that I am done here.

flying_q

Made it this far - almost as far as your other ramblings. Again - too much to read.

You further support my conjecture that you have never used the website, booked an award ticket, or flown Delta.

adamj023

You make assumptions which I don't have to respond to and won't. I am through here.

This whole thread has been rediculous in nature from the start of it.

flying_q

Mission accomplished.

davetravels

Well, now it's 24 hours later, and all day long, DL.com has been offering me this same flight for sale at "LOW" level, but when you click on it, it's sold out. It doesn't matter if I search for:

ABC/XYZ - - Available - click - sold out

PIT/ABC/XYZ - - Available - click - sold out

ATL/ABC/XYZ - - Available - click - sold out

If the low level is really sold out, shouldn't the system realize that by now and stop offering it?

I called the DM line again, and the agent told me that ther are 3 ways to look it up. On 1 screen, it was actually showing available, but it wouldn't "sell". So THAT sounds like the same exact thing I've been experiencing online! The agents have told me that they see this ALL THE TIME!

If you really think this is OK for a global airline website to perform this way - - I really just don't know what to say!

adamj023

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done here
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thank you come again
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designflaw

You should have asked him to join FT.

socrates

hate to tell you but PARS was unplugged years ago...DLMatic is the only CRS interacting with customers at DL these days....the fact that other firms have similar IT issues doesn't mean they are customer focused organizations (nor does it mean they are world class)...NWA use to be customer focused, CO is customer focused, Nordstrom's is customer focused, Costco is customer focused...all of these companies view their IT departments as a way to improve their customer's experiences....fortunately Dr. Theresa Wise doesn't agree with your view of IT at DL but fortunately she's in a position to do something about it....she knows it's lacking and is working hard to improve it....it's much much better today than when she took over but she has a long way to go (and knows it)......IT professionals who say "tough, this is the way we designed it, if you don't like it it's not our problem" have a difficult time today....IT Professionals who ensure their systems are customer focused help build world class organizations...Dr. Wise has been a key member of such an organization in the past and I'm certain she'll be one in the future