dcpatti

IF kvs would see upgrade inventory, I'd probably be OK with this. There is something to my advantage, to have a tool and the knowledge to use it, that the general public does not have (much like how I'd really NOT like *A awards to be bookable or even searchable online, so that I only have to compete with other FT'ers and similar customers, and not EVERY customer, for the nice itineraries). But as it is, KVS doesn't see the upgrade bucket, only the award bucket, and it's the same for EF.

At any rate, my take on this, having not seen the email (as the only tatl I have booked, I've already gotten the upgrade for), is that it's a new program, rolled out quietly, and its only reason for being there is to cut down on how many calls are coming in about tatl upgrades. I still don't like it--- as others have pointed out, you still have to call, it's not truly automated, and there's no way for a member of any level of status to request the upgrade in advance; there's no attempt to help ensure that higher status members are upgraded before anyone else. If you call on the right day, a non-status passenger can upgrade with miles before a status passenger can use miles or CP cert. Which is pretty much how it's always been. So don't tell me you're doing me a favor when you're really not. It's a pretty lame attempt to solve a very real problem.

SS255

The early bird doesn't get the worm......the persistent bird does.

This so-called "patch" for fixing the problem really leaves me scratching my head. Why, in 2012, can't US figure out how to implement an automatic waitlist?

intub8r

Which is the J inventory exactly? Envoy upgrades? Envoy awards (and low or high)?

dcpatti

I really don't think it's a case of "can't figure it out." I think it's a case of "won't fund the manpower to do it."

Assuming that the customer records, flight records and etc are all stored in some sort of relational database (if they weren't, it would mean everything is in flat files and even something as simple as asking a CSR for a seat assignment would take a very long time), a good DBA should be able to knock out a truly automated routine without too much work. Without knowing their database vendor or structure I can't guess about how much work that really means, but in the grand scheme of things, databases are wonderfully logical things, and creating action-based workflows against them is far easier than many other IT-related tasks. It's also not terribly hard to design a customer-facing webpage that lets the customer change some of these values-- we already do change that database every time we make a ticket purchase online, so an automated upgrade request is just building on the existing technology.

But some manager has to have ultimate authority over the project and if they're not given the staff to support these kinds of requests, they have to attach a dollar value to the task, and lobby for the extra staff budget. If you only have X employees looking after the databases and they have a full workload already, then requests like this never make it to the top of the to-do list without either adding staff or paying overtime. My guess is that the person controlling the IT worklist will not or can not justify the resources needed to do this right. I'm also guessing that some clever DBA has already done half the work, by automating these alleged "available upgrade" emails.

However it's set up on the back end, someone had to program that, and it's just a shame that they were not allowed to take it through to a fully functioning self-service portal, or that perhaps there are some database structure obstacles that they could not see their way around. For example if the existing database cannot support an "Upgrade Requested" and "Upgrade Instrument" column, you can either see that as a show-stopper and kluge together a workaround, or you can stand up a new database or table that populates passenger details from the existing DB and performs the upgrade queuing there.

And on the off-chance that their DBA's truly cannot figure out how to do this, then their DBA's are hacks and need to be replaced. I've got two or three potential workflows all blueprinted in my head, without even seeing their database or knowing the relationships, and only having thought about it for a few minutes. While my database skills are pretty decent, I don't consider myself an "expert DBA" and have many customers whose DBA leads are able to do in 10 minutes what takes me a week to sort out. If I can figure out the logic this quickly, a skilled DBA should be able to design and implement this fairly quickly (i.e. days/weeks of work, not months).

apeortdz

dcpatti, I wish US would hire you...I know you'd have our best interests in mind all the time.

dcpatti

It's funny you say that, because US actually uses the software that I support (it's got nothing at all to do with reservations, account management, or upgrades so I don't have any insider juju unfortunately) and every so often, the sales guys go pitch them in hopes they will buy one of our top-tier support contracts. And when they do, I wonder if it'd be worth trying to poach the account from the west coast guys. I absolutely LOVE going to customer datacenters and seeing how they run their shops. It never gets old, and given that I'm really interested in the airline industry as a whole, and US in particular, it'd probably be a hoot to go see what's behind the scenes. Even if it is just a datacenter and not anything cool like a flight simulator. It will be a lot more fun than going to work with my Big Pharma customer (they have gas masks in the hallways near the R&D labs "just in case", and no windows anywhere, so it kinda creeps me out).

Then my existing customers all go to crazytown at once and I decide I don't really want another account all that badly

Doesn't matter anyway, as US hasn't pulled the trigger on a contract yet. There's only so many companies big enough to justify the spend on one of our top-tier contracts, and the sales guys get an awful lot of no's (the ones that do sign tend to re-sign year after year 'cause we keep them happy).

But it would be fun to have a real peek at their IT department

Superguy

I'm sure you could give the interns running the show some pointers.

geo1005

J inventory is Envoy upgrade.

Low Envoy awards come from a different fare bucket so the existence of a Low award does not mean an Upgrade seat is available. I've seen Low awards open and zero Upgrade availability and the opposite (upgraded to Envoy when no Low award was showing).

intub8r

Thanks for the clarification. And if I am reading the thread correctly, none of the GDS tools show that bucket (expertflyer, kvs, etc) - is that right?

Hence the daily phone calls... I'm one month in to my begging for an upgrade and it's starting to leave a bitter taste in my mouth. At least with UA you can waitlist .... < opens can of worms on UA vs US... Hahaha>

DCAorBust

Mostly correct. For some reason, however, the J bucket is shown for the PHL>TLV route. Otherwise it is hidden.

rvolkcpa

It would be nice if your company introduced a mid-tier product that US could afford.

dcpatti

We actually do (and they actually are an existing customer for that mid-range support contract). But my team only supports the top-tier customers; there's other teams looking after the mid-tier and entry-level contracts. Anyway, our software isn't anything airline-specific or airline-industry-specific; we do data protection, disaster recovery, data warehousing and stuff like that. We don't get into what you do with your data; we just make sure the data is where it needs to be, or can be recreated in a disaster. It's up to US to do stuff with that data, either by way of in-house staff or through a consultant/contractor specializing in that.

KVS

The KVS Tool supports Regular & Award Availability on US:
http://Help.KVSTool.com/#Classes

Unfortunately, US does not currently make its Upgrade Availability accessible via any Tool or service whatsoever.

However, US Upgrade Availability (Booking Class J) generally 'fits' somewhere between the lowest Regular Business Booking Class (Z) and before or after the Award Availability. In other words, while you cannot know for certain when J Upgrade Availability is available, the Regular Availability can help you to determine when the Upgrade Availability is unlikely to be available (and there is no point in calling-in to check Upgrade Availability).

IADCAflyer

IIRC, low envoy inventory is pulled from "I" class.