blug

They simply don't want to invest in their IT.
If they wanted to have things like showing upgrade space on their website, among others, they would've done them. It's not hard.
They want their customers to be as least informed as possible. They are basically saying, just go to our beautiful website, search for your flight, and pay whatever we ask you to pay for it! What else do you want me to tell you?
The fact that they banned upgrade space from showing on ExpertFlyer proves it.

ethernal

Those are two separate things. They could both simultaneously avoid exposing information (e.g. upgrade space) and have good IT. Unfortunately they both decide to restrict information to customers and have bad IT as evidenced by the constant fights folks have with bookings, changes, and things like GUCs/RUCS. But those are separate decisions.

HDQDD

With Covid, it is not just an afterthought. If you don't have a res, you likely won't get in on weekends at many restaurants nationwide (and around the World). Sure you can call and make a res, but it's going to take longer...not so different than DL...

For people that book through agents, DL's web site is probably an afterthought too.

Zorak

Depends. If it is one of the locations that people are flocking to, sure. Reservations at popular Las Vegas restaurants have been hard to come by unless you book far in advance and waiting lists can be long. OTOH in other places that haven't rebounded, that's not the case, e.g. I am fairly confident I could walk into any restaurant in a several-block radius of my hotel here in AUA and be seated immediately pretty much any time any evening right now. (Might've been different during Thanksgiving, dunno, I didn't get here until after)

Fair point; however -- and I have no idea, and would welcome actual data -- my guess would be that, ever since the Internet became a mainstream thing, the fraction of people who do so has dwindled quite a bit.

steveholt

DL's IT is much better than it used to be. It's also way better at some things (notably rebooking/IRROPS and bag tracking) than competitors, although it lags behind the competition in other places.

jrl767

here on FT you’ll find a lot of folks who think DL’s automagic rebooking functionality really doesn’t cut it ... but you have to remember that FTers aren’t really representative of the vast majority of the traveling public

steveholt

I would be surprised to hear that! I think if anyone would be able to take the most advantage of DL's aggressive (and automated during IRROPS) rebooking policy, it's FTers.

ethernal

I don't mind the automatic rebooking. I mind the proactive automatic rebooking.

Courtesy of living in Atlanta I have had to take very few connections with Delta, but I've been blessed in that I've only formally missed one connection - but I have had four instances where VIPR proactively rebooked me because the system decided that I wouldn't be able to make a connection because at some point the flight was scheduled to arrive materially under minimum connection time. Delta's software says "oh, look, ethernal is going to arrive with only 20 minutes to transfer at Atlanta.. let me rebook" or "oh, look, ethernal is trying to clear JFK customs with less than an hour to make the connection.. no way he can make that, let me rebook." Well, Delta underestimates my ability to run through concourses and get through customs (and underestimates a pilot making time back up in the air).

I ended up making every flight VIPR booked me off of - including one flight where I got to the gate before boarding even started on the next flight. I was able to get back on every flight, but not without a fight (including phone calls while in the air which I'm not supposed to do and arguing with a gate agent that they need to unclear standbys that already cleared) - and every time I lost my exit row / C+ / F seat and had to sit in the very back.

The right way to do it would be to protect a passenger on both flights, but Delta loves to proactively rebook folks out of a flight to clear up capacity for the flight they think you'll miss and make gate ops easier/faster. I get it and helps them run cleaner/smoother ops, but I would think they would make an exception for high-statused medallions. Those proactive VIPR rebookings literally reflect the absolute worst of my Delta experiences and I can guarantee you I had a negative NPS for several weeks after each of those incidents.

cmd320

I don't like being automatically rebooked period. I wish there was an option in your profile to uncheck this or something because 95% of the time when I get rebooked in IRROPs I'm put on a flight I don't want to be on and have to go through the hassle of undoing it all.

flyerCO

However the self rebooking tools are great. Find the option you want (including changing airports) and click rebook. You're done. Works for international flights and gives options on partners as well.

RealHJ

How DL does it, though, you need a personal teleportation device. I don't think many FTers have one, or carry it with them when they travel.

DL not infrequently cuts off the first connecting flight in online or automatic rebooking, so say you are flying xxx-ATL-zzz and xxx-ATL is canceled. DL will rebook you on another flight ATL-zzz and silently drop the first segment - they expect you to magically teleport to ATL (what DL clearly believes to be the center of the universe).

Then there's the fact that DeltaMatic has no concept of time (it really is that primitive), so when the front-end wrapper breaks, DL will book you with negative connection times - where your inbound flight arrives after the outbound flight (and sometimes even let you book such tix online). For those connections, you need to make sure to have your portable time-travel machine with you.

MCO Flyer

Usually the app doesn’t make you accept the auto-rebooking option and you can easily change to another flight in the app if you don’t like it.

emma dog

Oh, that’s easy. Marriott is far worse. My sky miles are updated by the time I land, I can make changes to my reservations without issue, and I can select my seat online while knowing where i sit in the upgrade list.

flyerCO

Poster is talking about VIPR. It's separate from the rebooking tools one has available as a passenger. It can reroute with a minute delay one time and not reroute the next despite not landing till after departure of next flight. There's no rhyme or reason to what it does.

GagaPilot

The only Delta IT element I can consistently give a positive review on is their Bag Tracking feature. I have found it to be noticeably better than competitors (and I have flown competitors more this year due to DL's extreme Covid cuts).

The auto-rebooking tool has been mostly negative for me. I have found the self-rebooking tool in the app to be mostly helpful though during IRROPS.

The lack of the ability to cancel/change itineraries online has always been, and continuous to be, unacceptable. If DL hasn't fixed it in all these years, I don't see it happening anytime soon.