NOLAnwGOLD

So though the website is still up and you can enter segments (I seem to be the only crazy one doing this still), nothing has happened with the site in Nov 2005 (the date of the last update). Anyone know what is going on? I got a failed delivery in writing them via email.

Good concept with some decent overall stats for a quick comparison.

PS I posted here because I know that there is a strong link with this forum.

iaflyer

I've been still posting my stats, but like you said, no visible support on the site. When you go to enter a segment, you can't choose "2007" as a year - I found it somewhat useful - I was always hoping that the owner of the site would use the data for more than general stats - things like "what is the % of people upgraded on this city pair, etc"

divrdrew

Sorry, it's not dead. The 2007 issue should have been remedied already and will get that fixed asap.

Here's the scoop:

Went through a couple programmers in an attempt to get v2 of the site done. Finally have one that has been a bit lazy, but rapidly approaching the finalization. He's in law school and has been finishing it up on spring break. We should be able to test it soon and roll it out again shortly thereafter. Will definitely be worth the wait.

The details:

Ability to enter and search for airline upgrades

Ability to enter and search for hotel upgrades

Registration will be a part of the site so you can track your own upgrades by logging in

Easier to use entry forms

More professional appearance.

Of course, the search will be based on the number of flight segments entered, so the more we can get entered, the better the data will be.

Sorry for the delays in getting the site re-written and I'll look into the problem with the email link on the site and will get that fixed asap. You can always contact me here at FT.

Drew

WildcatJer

I was just wondering about this site myself. I enjoyed it when it was first rolled out just to see how I stood in comparison to the general population for upgrades. Of course times have changed and I am now a Plat which helps immensely. But, I think the upcoming changes will really make the site come into fruition from its initial design/thought. I will continue to update my stats as I get them.

WildcatJer

divrdrew

Thanks...we're really hoping to get strong support when we get the new site rolled out. We realized that it was very limited when we first did it...kind of rushed to get something out. Then as we thought about it, we wanted to make something really useful for the FT community. Only problem is that everyone has other jobs so it's had to come together as time has permitted, hence the long (and way overdue) delay.

Sorry for all the delays....got the email up and running and should have the date fixed soon...if you are still entering segments, what date are you using instead of 2007??

When we roll out the new site, any comments would be welcome.

THanks for your support.

Drew

NOLAnwGOLD

I left the year blank and it was accepted yesterday for the one segment I had to enter. I got the error message for sending an email directly from my account to info@upg....

Cheers

NOLAnwGOLD

FINALLY!!!

The new & improved upgradesuccess.com is here. Much better and you are able to search the database by flight origin/destination and you can see by elite level percentages of upgrades cleared. Still needs lots more info in the database but great start!

Easier to enter info as well. And a hotel section!!

upgradesuccess.com

PS I'm not involved in the website at all

divrdrew

Thanks. FYI...we are currently experiencing technical problems with the registration / login information (our hosting company has yet to respond), so for now, please don't use that. If anyone has a spreadsheet of their upgrades, please feel free to email it or submit it via the upload function on the web site...will make it so you won't have to enter everything in your spreadsheet.

The more data we can get into the site, the better it will be for everyone! Please support the site...it was designed by FTers for FTers (and other frequent travelers).

ed1

Great new look and when the registration/login issues are resolved it should eliminate some of the repetitive entries.

I did like being able to use the browser back button and then only have to change the Origin, Destination, Flight Number, Departure Time, and sometimes Aircraft Type. While it was easy to reuse the Date (or just change one number), Airline, Fare Class Paid, Upgrade Type, Upgrade Window, Elite Program, Elite Status, most of which stayed the same for at least the trip.

With NW's recent frequent use nonstandard upgrade windows (of a day or two earlier than the standard for that elite level) would it be helpful to have the option of entering that value again? Most of my recent SE UGs were either two days out (majority of my UGs so far) or BF, with only one or two at the "standard" one day out.

divrdrew

Thanks for the suggestions. All are welcome. Login function is now fixed and you can do an 'express' entry from your account once you register. You can choose the segment to repeat and have it re-enter much of the data for you.

Please let me know if you have any other suggestions!

Drew

ed1

Thanks, I was able to register. You should explain any requirements on the registration page (like 5 character usernames and minimum password length). I kept getting an HTTP error page using Firefox when attempting to register using ed1, instead of an error on the registration page (only found the problem when I hit the browser back button).

divrdrew

Thanks for the comments. Will look into your error. Shouldn't be a problem with the browser. We'll be sure to put any minimums on the site.

THanks again for the feedback. These tweaks are the only way we're going to make the site more useful for all. We tried to cover most of them, but obviously missed a few.

ed1

Just the growing pains of any new design, they have to be expected. At least the problems are minor compared to the mess nwa.com turned into for about five days!

BTW, on IE7 (I did a test later), the registration error went back to the registration page with the error explained in in red. It's just on Ff that it went past that page to the http error and I didn't see it until I finally tried the back key to attempt to register again.

Once again, it looks really great, and I'm sure once I have some more segments to enter the XPRESS entry will be great.

weolmd

Great site. It would be great to search specific flight number, day of week, etc.

Another nice feature would be a drill down on the search results page. For example, if I search a city pair, I would like to click on the results to find out which flight numbers offered the best upgrade success.

divrdrew

Thanks to all for their suggestions. I hope that the registration error that you got is now resolved. We had a problem with our hosting company that is now fixed.

Registration is optional but strongly encouraged. By registering (only email, username and password is required) you can track your data and use the express fuctionality to re-enter segment data.

Express entry is also live (have to be a registered user), but we're in the process of tweaking it a bit to make it a little more useful...right now, each segment shows as two rows and we're dropping that to one row with a 'hover' function to see more details of the segment.

We'll keep monitoring this thread for comments / suggestions and will put together a 'to do' list based on the suggestions here.

I like the suggestions, but the only problems that I see with the flight numbers / days of the week / time of day suggestions (all good ones) are twofold:

1 - those are not required fields so what do we do with the segment data that doesn't have those fields (other than making them required); and

2 - airlines change flight times / flight numbers / etc with a pretty regular frequency so I'm not sure that flight numbers would be that valuable say six to eight months out. With a good data set, that data will be valuable in the short-term, but not necessarily over the long-term.

Let me get with my partners and tech support people and see what we can put together for our next round of updates. I like the suggestions that I see so far...thanks a million for them! As we developed the site, we tried to focus on some core functionality and we'll keep tweaking it as necessary to be more useful. We came a long way from our first attempt but there can always be improvements!

Again, feel free to use the 'upload' function if you already have your data in a spreadsheet so you won't have to re-enter it into the database. It's not an automatic process (yet) so it may take a couple days to get the segments into the database.

Thanks again for all the comments and suggestions and keep them coming! And as always...Thank you for your support!