itsaboutthejourney

It's been just over 3 years since nwa.com switched over to delta.com. DL's ecommerce team took over and has had ample time to work things out.

In your opinion, are things better or worse? What are your Likes & dislikes?
(continue to report bugs in the appropriate thread.)

I'll go first.

No. Things are not better, and its been a frustrating 3 years.

Likes:
- Site is visually improved, tied into the overall Delta brand.
- The MyDelta, MyWallet, MyProfile sections are attempts to be intuitive and have potential.
- I like the symbols for products offered on each aircraft, and its great to filter out flights without say power outlets.
- It seems more thought has gone into seat maps, and that goes hand in hand with the selling of EC.

Dislikes:
- DL staff promised we'd have PerkChoice back by 2011, that didn't happen.
- Despite saying improvements have been made, the award calendar is still awful, miles behind AA and UA's search engine.
- You have to start over to switch between an award search and a paid flight search, no side-by-side comparison that nwa.com offered.
- Flights/routings are simply missing. delta.com has said there are no direct flights between LAX-AMS, same with options between LAX-BOS.
- The user experience isn't the same quality as we expect from our onboard or airport experience.
- The presentation given by Bob Kupbens at the ATL Do in 2010 hasn't been followed by much action or improvement on issues we brought up. He took time to apologize for the award calendar, yet nothing.

I look forward to the day I don't refer to Delta's website as delta.dumb



MODS: I'd love a poll:

Your opinion of Delta's website performance in the past 3 years:
1 - Better
2 - Same
3 - Worse
4 - Terrible

rylan

Isn't this a rhetorical question?

james318

In the "worse" category for a functional standpoint. While some partner award search has come online, it's not as seamless as nwa.com was three + years ago.

The same can be said for functionality when attempting to upgrade a ticket, miles or dollars.

Visually, it's nice looking, but slow to load a prone to errors in navigation. I miss the clean, simple nwa.com (which now surely would look highly dated and we'd complain how old it looks!)

dilbertsdaddy

It's a 4. Unless there is a lower score that is.

It just flat out does not work.

Locks up all the time. Slow.

Everyone complains about the award calender, and I agree. But the entire booking engine does not work properly, and I am assuming this is all tied together.

With the latest "enhancements, you can't even access your itineraries and change seats easily. At least that worked for the most part before the redesign.

It looks good and has really good info sections, but when the main booking engine does not work, the website sucks. Period.

It's really a shame, the airline runs well but the distribution channel does not work properly. What?

MSPeconomist

I don't want form over function. The pretty stuff just slows down the speed and gets in the way when I'm trying to spend money on delta.dumb. I need to try too many tricks to force it to show me the routings and fares I want, which is a big waste of my time. It's sad that so many of us either search using OLTAs like kayak or pay for EF or KVS to get information that should be provided by DL.

The latest version is horrible on an ipad. Logging in usually requires several attempts: I don't need help, I just want to cbe able to click and enter my PIN. I shouldn't have to mess around with expanding and compressing information to see what's behind the black horizontal bar. In particular, when I need to enter dates in my search, it's ridiculous that the bar covers the part of the calendar I need so that I'm forced to manually type the date "blind" and hope it works.

The survey needs more adjectives that are worse than terrible so that people can respond with an accurate choice.

Fuzzytoo

Well put, MSPEconomist. My sentiments exactly. The "new and improved" site is hopeless -- typical bloated software designed by people who spend all their time at their umpteen million quadrillion megabytes/sec computers with 27 inch monitors, and never have to travel or use a mobile device in an attempt to do business with the company that hired them. More than a slight annoyance. Really unforgivable. Management really does NOT understand what the customer needs, and doesn't seem to care.
My opinion = 4 (but 5 or 6 would be better choices)

RealHJ

As others here have said... generally things are worse.
worse web site, far less self service functionality than there used to be, major decline in service and food quality and variety in flight (esp. in BE), decline in CS quality and responsiveness speed, ...and the list goes on.

StayingHomeIsBetter

I'd like to respond in more detail, but I am about to start the 20 minute process of printing my itinerary e-mail.

rwoman

Worse, even than the previous iteration of dl.com.

- What used to take 1-2 clicks, now seems to take 3 or more...KISS should apply.
- Often very slow on my iPhone...I often try to use the desktop version since the mobile app does not like international flights. It can be a real nightmare to get it to load.

X3Skier

+1000

If you would rank every eCommerce site in the known universe, including government sites, Delta.Dumb would be last.

Cheers

davetravels

Why should they care how it looks on an iPad? Nobody really uses them, right?

DLdweeb

I agree, things are generally worse, and during a time when profits are up. I suspect there is a relationship there.

The website is a disaster. The iPhone ad iPad apps are, shall we say, disappointing. Stop sending me notifications for flights that are over. Award calendar, well, lets not even go there.

Hard product is in a slow but visible decline. Service from phone reps has taken a hit, except for the Iron Range folks, who remain great.

And here's some free advice.....stop trying figure out how much I make, what my home is worth, and what my personality is like, and start developing and instituting consistent policy throughout the system.

I give the current entity a 3, and that's only because I'm in a good mood.

funflier

This could turn into a DL bashing thread quickly, so I will answer the PRO and con question...

Pros:
First/BE product is generally better. On the international side, I love the flatbeds! Just returned from AMS yesterday and forgot how impossible it is to sleep on your stomach in the WBC seats.
SDC. Better than standby by a longshot. Play your cards right and you can save a lot of $ booking less expensive flights and flying when you want to anyway.
Flat panel info at gate. Remember asking the WorldClub agent every time you entered where you were on the list? Do I have a shot?
IFE. No description needed. NW took out TVs eons ago.
Newer fleet.
Pleather. Those fabric covered seats were gross. At least we can wipe down the new ones.


Cons:
Customer service. MSP does not equal ALT. Chisolm.
Plat companion UG.
Elite inflation. I hate to say it, but miss the day when EQM meant you flew, that year--Not last year or you are in bed with AmEx. I was #44 on UG list ATL>LAX on a 777 recently. Really?
IT. Don't need to repeat above. Booking engine is unusable. Awards unfindable. Miss shop by "fare and schedule" -- dl.com slaps you with ridiculous fares when you search by schedule and can't see inventory/prices.
Self serve bar. Still annoys me to feel obligated to tip. I do, but I can serve myself and make the drink the way I want it without making special requests. Still walk to the C club at MSP if I can. F/G club along with others slowly going full service.
BLUE. There's more blue in the SkyClub than on KL metal. Feels like a sci-fi movie in there.
Fire places. x-WCs still have them but they won't survive the BLUE monster.
JFK/ATL connections. With the massive congestion in NYC airspace, quick connections are rare and dangerous—misconnects common. Let me go to DTW!
DCA/LGA slot swap with US. Lost all our BOS/MIA/MCO/TPA and many others. I had to defect in the FL market—I was loosing too much time connecting…
747. This isn’t a con, but remember they were all red once. DL plasters them on promos like it’s the star of the fleet (and always has been...).

indufan

Have you ever been the Hilton website?

james318

This thread as about delta.com vs nwa.com, not what the fleet and the hard/soft product offer.

But while we are talking about SDC, you could change your flight on nwa.com anytime during the day, to a later or an earlier flight using the website nwa.com. You were not barred with the three hour rule that Delta has, and can't do on the website.

With nwa.com, as long as it was the same day, you could 'sdc' or whatever they called it, as long as the same fare class was available. Granted, Delta allows any seat in the same cabin, but you can't do it on the website, and the three hour rule makes it tough for later flights. You roll the dice that there will be no irops before the 3 hour rule that diminishes availability.