I have recently discovered, that skyteam has put a few flash animations on its web http://www.skyteam.com/ .... not much of new functionality unfortunately

Yup, looks like they just dressed it up to look shnazzier. But nothing new.

Hahahaha....

I heard about some of the conversations that went on in the development of that new site and there was a pretty extreme division between the flash and non-flash camps. Looks like we lost.

I'm also pretty sure that the company that did the new site is no longer engaged by SkyTeam, for what that's worth.

Consistent with SkyTeam's "Caring More About You" philosophy, today the airline alliance launched a redesigned version of its Web site, www.skyteam.com. The new customer-centered Web design aims to create an intuitive user experience that quickly delivers visitors the content they need from SkyTeam. With a fresh new look and clearer navigational features, the new Web site reinforces the excitement of global travel. (...)

New features to the site, which launched today in English and will be available in April 2009 in 10 additional languages: Chinese, Czech, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Russian and Spanish, include:


-- New structure with more emphasis on customer needs and preferences.
-- "Get ready to Go" section that compiles helpful destination
information in one place.
-- Revamped travel tools that include convenient, time-saving itinerary
displays.
-- Rich graphics and a more modern design.

One of the most significant changes to skyteam.com is the structure. The new passenger-centric interface includes organizational tools designed to deliver quick and direct access to the information customers need most. Clear and concise navigation bars help increase efficiency and provide users immediate access to SkyTeam customer benefits, details about airport lounges, connection information and in-flight amenities. Icon-tagged buttons with simple travel planning choices make it easy to find answers to passengers' most commonly asked questions right on the homepage.

With a focus on user-friendliness, the site has been updated with rotating channels that bring the most engaging information straight to the homepage. With this tool, online visitors receive the latest information from SkyTeam without even clicking a button. A search function has also been added to help users locate specific information using a keyword search.

The "Get ready to Go" section contains visual links to city and airport guides for SkyTeam's 60 most popular destinations. Users can now review terminal maps and download lounge locations from the same page they access dining and sightseeing information. By compiling all of the planning resources into one Web site, visitors can spend less time searching for information and more time learning about the destinations they plan to visit.

As part of the Web site upgrade, the travel tools were significantly enhanced. The flight search tool has been simplified with a visual calendar that provides an easier way to enter trip information, and a new sidebar enables customers to build and save personalized itineraries from their flight search results. Users can update these itineraries with the simple click of a button. This feature will help save time and reduce stress for those travellers planning multi-destination trips.

Rich graphics and visual representation of SkyTeam's most popular destinations infuse more modern design to the Web site.

I've tried this new feature out. It sucks. They do NOT have lounge information available for all the airports. Nothing about EWR or LHR. C'mon...that's just pathetic. The details on the terminals are vague and in some cases just plain wrong (there are no moving sidewalks between terminals at EWR, for example). They have included a link for the NYC Taxi commission on the EWR page even though NYC's TLC doesn't regulate cabs departing EWR. And they have a link to one of several black car services but none of the others. Why just that one??

The maps that they have are basically useless (ATL and JFK, DTW and IAH are a few I checked).

I find it amazing that companies will pay to develop new sites like this and then not bother to populate them with useful content.

So the old website was pretty useless and not that great to use....the new website is EVEN WORSE!!! My 3rd grade nephew could actually design a better website. ST should get their money back. Well, soon ST will be 2 or 3 fewer airlines, bye bye CO and NW will be absorbed by DL, only God knows what will happen to AZ.

It still is my biggest issue that there isn't a booking engine on the site. I would love to be able to search all Skyteam airlines to my destinations without having to go to Kayak or another more general site.

None of the alliances offer booking engines. That is not what they're in business for.

The new site is very badly implemented. It loads extremely slowly, navigation is confusing and concealed (I didn't get any dropdown menus, I'd have to explore different sections to find what the contained), and it froze up several times.

I couldn't find the downloadable travel timetables through navigation, I had to use the search tool to find them.

A textbook example of bad web design; all glitz and no logic or usability. I will avoid return visits.

I know they don't have them but doesn't mean it wouldn't be nice if they did I'm a big fan of the one stop shop when it comes to pricing flights and Skyteam airlines appear only sporadically on itasoftware.com and Kayak pricing is way out.

Not sure why you say that; I always get them when I am looking on routes that they operate. You can also use the advanced syntax to force ITA to only price the SkyTeam airlines, but I rarely find that necessary.

Was pricing a TA DUB-ORD with further stops including LAX and one other city last week an itasoftware was ONLY showing United. Last time I used it before then Delta wasn't showing as an option either but Continental was.