New Three-Tier System/Award Calendar In Effect
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: GNV
Programs: DL DM/MM, SC, AA Plat, AC, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 613
New Three-Tier System/Award Calendar In Effect
Went on to delta.com the last two nights and dealt with the messed up calendar and goofy codes trying to book Business/First Skysavers to Europe. Lost one the night before, but succeeded last night to secure BE seats (with a 4 leg routing) to Germany and back. They were at the old cost of 90K miles for those skysavers to Europe.
Work up this morning and unfortunately, or fortunately, the calendar is updated. We knew it would be coming, as well as the three-tier system. Fine, but...
The negatives--there are way too many medium mile options on the calendar. There are some high price mile blocks and some low.
Next, there were no flights available for every selection I made. The calendar still does not reflect accurate availability
Net effect--new paint job with the same under the hood performance. It seems to me that "how it runs" should trump "how it looks."
Work up this morning and unfortunately, or fortunately, the calendar is updated. We knew it would be coming, as well as the three-tier system. Fine, but...
The negatives--there are way too many medium mile options on the calendar. There are some high price mile blocks and some low.
Next, there were no flights available for every selection I made. The calendar still does not reflect accurate availability
Net effect--new paint job with the same under the hood performance. It seems to me that "how it runs" should trump "how it looks."
Last edited by Luggage Tag; Sep 24, 2008 at 7:49 pm
#2
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Auckland, NZ/New York, NY/ATL
Programs: DL DM MM, BIS 2.4MM, EK Gold, SQ Gold, Marriott Gold, HH Gold,
Posts: 5,222
You beat me to it! Been tooling around with it for a little while now. Reminds me a bit of the CO look.
#3
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: The best state in the USA - Florida!
Programs: Marriott Titanium/LT Plat, AS MVP75K, AA PlatPro, UA Premier, Disney AP
Posts: 14,497
It is a little strange seeing 32,500 miles for a domestic ticket as an option - at least it beats 37.5k miles. (Did just manage to land a 25k ticket for more or less the exact flights I wanted; getting flights into GNV is rather limited...)
#4
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Orlando
Programs: DL 4MM/PM, UA 1MM/Gold, AA Paper
Posts: 1,386
Tried the new calendar with Firefox this morning, and the first thing I noticed is that it displays the calendar on the left the screen, which was always a problem up to now. However, there are some other bugs, at least with Firefox, such as trying to display one way business class from Europe to the USA which comes up with no miles displayed.
I think the OPs comment about a paint job with the same engine under the hood pretty much says it all.
I think the OPs comment about a paint job with the same engine under the hood pretty much says it all.
#5
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: BOS
Programs: DL DM 2MM, Marriott LT Titanium, Hertz PC, Avis PC
Posts: 15,198
And just as we suspected... Delta is sticking it to us with the mileage. I just did some various searches and almost everything came up with the Medium level with a couple High scattered in.
#6
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Atlanta
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold, Marriott Silver, Starwood Platinum
Posts: 3,656
I was reading up on the new three teir system and have to say what a joke. We'll see how it goes though.....
#7
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: BZN
Programs: AA:LT Platinum DL:LT Gold UA:1P MAR:LT Titanium
Posts: 8,291
MY SCORECARD
Look: Superb. Clean, professional.
Ease of use: Superb.
Speed: Very good. Seems a hair faster, but could be my imagination.
Availability: Despite what others say, on a whole variety of routes I search frequently, I still see plenty of the "low mile" awards. You often need to have a bit of flexibility to fully utilize them, but it has always been this way. AA and UA tend to be a bit better in this respect, in my experience, but DL award availability is just fine in my book.
Accuracy: The one major downside... the same issues as before. Cases where "low" shows up in the calendar but then are not available to book are well documented, but in addition to those, I am finding lots of cases where a higher mile value shows as you begin to book and then the final tally drops lower. Fix these issues and DL will be on par with AA's calendar and award booking.
Look: Superb. Clean, professional.
Ease of use: Superb.
Speed: Very good. Seems a hair faster, but could be my imagination.
Availability: Despite what others say, on a whole variety of routes I search frequently, I still see plenty of the "low mile" awards. You often need to have a bit of flexibility to fully utilize them, but it has always been this way. AA and UA tend to be a bit better in this respect, in my experience, but DL award availability is just fine in my book.
Accuracy: The one major downside... the same issues as before. Cases where "low" shows up in the calendar but then are not available to book are well documented, but in addition to those, I am finding lots of cases where a higher mile value shows as you begin to book and then the final tally drops lower. Fix these issues and DL will be on par with AA's calendar and award booking.
#8
Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 494
i asked one of the members on my team to do a post on the delta blog on the topic because i figured the above comments would be here. its available as of now for those interested in reading it: Third Awards Tier Improves Calendar Performance
i'm pushing to time posts on the delta blog with updates like this to the site as i feel its important to provide information in a timely manner. as a result i'll have to thank my co-worker for dropping everything to make sure that the post was done in time.
happy reading. i will look into the alignment issue that is mentioned to see why it's still happening.
i'm pushing to time posts on the delta blog with updates like this to the site as i feel its important to provide information in a timely manner. as a result i'll have to thank my co-worker for dropping everything to make sure that the post was done in time.
happy reading. i will look into the alignment issue that is mentioned to see why it's still happening.
#9
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: BHM, MAN (blue not red)(city not united)
Programs: Delta PM, HH, CRC
Posts: 1,014
Absolute CRAP... 50,000sm yesterday, same trip today, same flights... 87,500sm..
#10
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Hopefully on a plane...
Posts: 6,580
Too bad it's down right now...
Let´s Try That Again
We´re having some trouble completing your request right now. Give it another chance and start over.
If that doesn´t work, contact us for help.
Message # 7000
We´re having some trouble completing your request right now. Give it another chance and start over.
If that doesn´t work, contact us for help.
Message # 7000
#11
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: BHM, MAN (blue not red)(city not united)
Programs: Delta PM, HH, CRC
Posts: 1,014
I'm so annoyed.. was planning on getting married in Rome, just the two of us.. now the dates I need (or the month I need) that was 50,000 ... now 125,000 lowest.. not sure what happened to the 87,500... spent 1/2 an hour with a very helpful cust srv rep who couldnt do anything but make the price go up.. ???
when i click "view search results", now the calendar says:
Let´s Try That Again
We´re having some trouble completing your request right now. Give it another chance and start over.
If the problem continues, contact us for help.
Message # 7005
man am I peeved...!!!!
when i click "view search results", now the calendar says:
Let´s Try That Again
We´re having some trouble completing your request right now. Give it another chance and start over.
If the problem continues, contact us for help.
Message # 7005
man am I peeved...!!!!
#12
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Washington, DC
Programs: AA Gold, AMEX MR, BA, DL, SPG, UA, US, Hyatt Platinum
Posts: 461
Delta.com award reservation problem with non DL flights
The award reservation system will not accept any of the non DL destinations, i.e, BKK, SIN, MNL.
Any thoughts?
Any thoughts?
#14
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: BHM, MAN (blue not red)(city not united)
Programs: Delta PM, HH, CRC
Posts: 1,014
#15
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: BHM, MAN (blue not red)(city not united)
Programs: Delta PM, HH, CRC
Posts: 1,014
just long enough for me to get one last 50k