It pains me to run across a comment after a product launch questioning whether we’ve thought of the customer at all. So I want to open the hood a bit around the customer role at delta.com. Right now I’m just focusing on what we do in building a product.
The design team starts with questions about who’s the target customer(s) then defines typical customer tasks. For example: Bob is a road warrior who’s making his monthly trip to headquarters and needs to “XYZ”. We may also gather info from surveys, focus groups, or live product observations…say watching folks check in at the kiosk.
When we get to the pretty picture part we take sample screens to customers about what they see/don’t see; what they like/don’t like, etc. We may do this multiple times.
For big projects we build a working prototype and test how easy it is to use in a lab setting…sometimes visiting multiple cities in case there are regional differences.
We’re investing more with each product. Thank you for your voice that helps delta.com get better and better.
Laura Hunnicutt
General Manager
delta.com & self-service
September 10th, 2007 at 6:04 pm
Many people share your pain. In the airline business much like in corporate America, many people believe that the “Customer is always right”. Well, Ms. Hunnicutt, please keep on keeping on! Delta has yet to steer me wrong or the thousands of other loyal customers.
September 10th, 2007 at 9:48 pm
Delta to me is an awesome airline. Never once have I had a problem with Delta and I believe I never will. Very punctual, very efficient, very kind. All in all, you are what every airline should be.
September 11th, 2007 at 11:08 pm
We’re still suffering out here in New Mexico from Delta’s decision to cut way back on flights through CVG. We now have to go through Atlanta to get to DCA, Boston or LGA, which is way out of the way and through the busiest airport in the country. Someday, Delta, you will keep travelers’ interests foremost in mind when making such changes…
September 12th, 2007 at 10:29 am
Laura - thanks so much for beginning a dialogue on product launch and the effort you expend on developing and implementing the product with customer focus in mind. I would be interested in the degree to which you consider the customer after the target launch. For example, a friend recently responded to a promotion (fly a certain number of miles, get a choice of awards), selected his option, flew the miles and received the wrong award. His efforts to get this corrected have been extremely frustrating. I am positive that the product was not created to frustrate a customer and it did target him correctly, but what a frustrating negative result for him in the end. What is your advice is such a situation? Keep up the good work.
September 14th, 2007 at 8:59 am
Hi Ralph,
You certainly describe a frustrating experience. I can say that the majority of customer feedback that is sent through the Email Us form on delta.com (http://www.delta.com/emailus/servlet/EmailUs?cmd=go) does make it to the business areas for response or to populate our maintenance lists.
I know the group that is responsible for our marketing promotions does work to fix promotions problems as quick as possible…but each promo has its nuances.
For SkyMiles promotions specifically, the SkyMiles Service Center should have details on all offers send to customers and be able to provide the help needed. If your friend pursued this route and felt like things weren’t corrected, I’m concerned there may be much more to the issue. Let me know and we can figure out how to chat about next steps.
September 14th, 2007 at 11:11 am
Hi, Laura. Thanks so much for the speedy reply. I have flown on Delta since the 70’s, so I have lots of loyalty to Delta, and have introduced many people to the Delta experience, including people at my workplace. The promotion mentioned (#9072) was a targeted promotion to receive MQM’s or bonus miles for flying a certain number of miles within a certain period of time. Although he requested bonus miles, he received MQM’s and has been unable to get the award changed to what he originally requested. I suspect that it may be a technical problem, but although Delta admits their error to him, it has not been corrected. I would be happy to supply more details either to you or to someone you think might be able to help. Many times, knowing who to contact is 90 percent of the effort. Thanks for your willingness to help. He was looking forward to using the bonus miles on a future trip and bought a business class ticket to Europe to earn the award.
September 19th, 2007 at 2:05 pm
Hi Laura,
I’ve been using delta.com since it was launched, and compared to other industry sites it fares very well. I’m glad to see that y’all are finally addressing some of the functionality issues, but I’m still often exasperated by technical issues and erroneous information.
You note in your original post that you “build a working prototype and test how easy it is to use in a lab setting.” Do you have knowledgeable customer/user groups that can report real-world issues directly to your tech team for immediate action? (Not just the “feedback” function – I’m sure you get lots of partial and inaccurate info from that.) Do you and your team use the site in the same manner a customer would, like trying to book redemption seats or change flights?
For example, my “issue of the moment” is the calendar function that is supposed to show SkySaver availability. I’ve recently starting running into instances where the calendar shows SkySaver availability on a particular day only to find nothing but SkyChoice options. It might be nice to be able to send screen shots to the right people to help troubleshoot the problem, if I knew my submission would be taken seriously.
I applaud your efforts to improve the site and the use of this blog to exchange ideas, and am sure you will continue to improve the customer experience.
September 21st, 2007 at 2:12 pm
Why does delta.com reset the “Return” date when I change the “Leave” date on the “Select an Outbound Flight” page when using “Revise Your Search” at the bottom of the page? It is very frustrating. For example, I just searched for flights leaving October 11 and returning October 15, then changed the leave date to October 12, without touching anything the leave date reset itself to October 19. Not nice.
I also do not understand why the Contact Us / Email Us form is not a secure page / https: site as it has all of my personal information from name, home phone, address, etc. Kind of scary having all of that out there given today’s privacy concerns.
One additional comment as it is happening more and more frequently lately. Sometimes when I search for flights, delta.com will return only connecting flights and no nonstop flights, which is obviously incorrect for LAX to ATL. I have to restart my search to see the nonstop flights. Shouldn’t happen and it isn’t consistent. Strange… but I know it is nothing I am doing!
September 22nd, 2007 at 5:26 pm
I am not going to rave and say Delta or Delta.com is perfect and that I have never had any problems with either. Anyone that says they have been a loyal customer and has not seen the quality or customer service erode at Delta my have flown only every five years.
I have been taking Delta since they competed with Eastern Airlines in the NYC area.
This is my problem with the Delta.com site. I have had problems with the dates resetting now it may be my browser as I am using Firefox.
Also it would be nice if the fees for medillion members were noted in the news section.
I had to use some miles for a emergency about 2 weeks ago and nowhere was it noted that the charge went from 50usd to 75usd to use miles within 2 days.
I have no problem with the fees just inform the customers that have been loyal to the company over the years.
It is nice to see that Delta is trying to reach out with the blog.
At times in the past if you complain or send a email you would get seems to me like a form answer in return.
September 23rd, 2007 at 7:19 am
Since purchasing a ticket on Delta.com in July for a flight in November of this year. I have had repeated changes to the schedule which are then reflected online. Although I have signed up for the online notice, I have yet to receive an email notifiying me of any of these changes, and my itinerary online does not reflect my seat assignment on the changed flights. I have had to make repeated calls to customer service with long onhold times to get this updated each time a schedule change of even a few minutes is made. I am blocked from viewing seats for the flights that have changed.
Why can’t this be done updated online automatically when the changes are made to the flights?
I even emailed delta.com customer service about the problem and got the canned response that my flight had changed and I would have to call reservations at the 800# to have my flight information updated on the site.
This is a time consuming process and could be handle much quickly online. Please work to resolve this one for your customers.
September 24th, 2007 at 6:01 pm
Hey there,
Sorry this reply wasn’t as “speedy” as the previous one. I’m actually new to the whole blogging thing.
Ralph, I’ll ask our marketing group about #9072 and see what they say about the award change. If you could put an “attention to Laura Hunnicutt” in your “Contact Us” email, it has a chance of making it to me.
Li88FE, Regarding real-time post launch feedback: We get data from various sources. There is a weekly report from our the Customer Service desk that supports the website (e.g., when you get an error message that says to call the online customer service desk or when you select the “website” option of the Email Us form). We also get a monthly call report from Reservations.
I will say there is often data that is missing that would help us better troubleshoot problems (so screen shots of what you are seeing through the award path would be great through this avenue). Too many times we are unable to recreate the problem ourselves. Personally I’m not satisfied with the quality of data we get internally but we are exploring a technology that may help us in that area for next year.
Margo, You raise some great questions. We really need to rethink the whole date management issue on flight searching. Based on what I’m reading from you, it feels like a site bug. I’ve put both this issue and the https for the email form on our maintenance list. Regarding LAX to ATL nonstop flight issue…if you are starting with the default search off the home page it is searching for the lowest price possible across lots of flight combinations. Amazing as it may sound, the nonstop may not be the lowest. Sounds like you are having to switch over to the schedule priced path to see the non-stop. Just in case I’ll have our booking team look at that city pair and see if we have something strange going on.
Eagle, I appreciate your mention of the fees change. We definitely could have done a better job communicating the information. I apologize for that.
Janky, Regarding the seat change, you’re right, it seems like it should be done automatically but it gets tricky like for example when there is a change to a different size aircraft so the seats don’t match. Know your issue with schedule changes and the associated customer impact is getting a lot of critical attention at the leadership level throughout the company.
September 28th, 2007 at 1:09 am
This may not be a delta.com website issue per se, but why do recently attained status fliers have to wait until midnight Saturday for our status (FO, GM, PM) to post? Our Skymiles get posted immediately so why can’t our status?
Case in point, this week I turn PM, but will not be higher in the upgrade list for my return flight as the system still thinks I’m GM. I want to ride the front of the bus
Thank you!
September 29th, 2007 at 5:04 am
Recently I booked two flights on delta.com and ran into some unique (to me) errors. I have been using delta.com since it was delta-air.com, but when I booked these flights this past week, I received a quote for a flight, then when I went to book the flight I was told the fare had just sold out and was kicked back to the start screen. I then tried to rebook the same flights (ironically at the same fare) and was again kicked back. I then exited my browser, reloaded the page, rebooked the same flights at the same fare and was able to book the flight. Why was I unable to book the flights at the fare the first two times? The second flight I booked was a similar story - this time I wised up after the first kick back and reset my browser. Then when I booked the flight, it told me that the fare had changed and was lower than I originally booked - a nice surprise, except after entering billing information, I was told the fare had sold out yet again. Alas, the reboot the same fare change message and I was able to book.
I am hoping these are growing pains that are being worked on, but I wanted to bring them to your attention so I won’t run into them again in a few weeks when I book my next trip on Delta.
October 6th, 2007 at 8:32 am
I would like to make a suggestion for improvement within delta.com for individual skymiles members profiles. Under the saved trip panel it only gives the option to save frequent round trips. Why not consider adding the option of saving frquent multi-city trips. Some of us would be able to use this option to save time and speed booking. Thanks for making my life easier and being my airline of choice!
October 7th, 2007 at 7:57 pm
Earlier today one of my friends on Facebook sent me a link to an application on facebook showing all the places you have visited… What if delta made its own facebook application? Could be some good advertising/PR for delta with college age people.
October 8th, 2007 at 5:44 pm
Ms. Hunnicut, ref Janky comment on Sept 23 and your reply Sep 24. This problem is really a pain. When I have booked seats, and your schedule time or aircraft or flight number changes, I cannot get a new seat assigned to me on delta.com ( I may have a seat assigned but it now does not show on web site) I have to call someone at Delta to help. Yes it is difficult to fix, but not impossible. Like Janky I do not get an email from you all the time when this happens letting me know that my seat has changed or is now no longer reflected on delta.com. If you sent out an email (to those who have requested it, the problem would most likely be solved. When you change seats that arae already booked, give us any seat, then email us what has happened, then let us go to delta.com, and change our seat if we do not like the new seat you gave us. Changing seats without telling us is so very frustrating especially when you are traveling with other people who you want to sit near. Hope your people can find a fix to this problem. From Luv2tvl
October 8th, 2007 at 5:49 pm
Hey there,
I had to research a few of the items before responding. Here goes….
TinFlyer: This is one of the many jobs that get run in the SkyMiles program world. It was evaluated last year but due to cost and timing of other jobs it was decided once again to keep it at the once a week run. While I know it stinks that you can’t get the upgrade at least we retroactively give the associated points for your trip. This decision will be re-evaluated, along with all the other program jobs, again next year.
Cameo: Just reading your comments exhausted me. I can only imagine what you were feeling.
I have our booking maintenance team looking into it and I don’t have a response as of yet.
Holylife: Saving multi-city trips is a great suggestion…especially for the business traveller. I’ll submit a write-up to our project committee. And what do you think about saving your last search?
scotl453: Your idea is right up Jacob Morris’ alley. Definitely check out his blog to meet him. He’s our Product Manager of Emerging Content Technologies. I’ll ask him to check it out.
Question to you all.
Background: We just completed a usability test on a new capability and we received interesting comments on another unrelated item. I’d like to hear a few more comments.
When you go through the book a flight process and get to the Trip Summary screen (end of Step 2), what are your thoughts around the “Continue with Flights” Button? Does it give you what you need to click there in order to move to the next step without adding other items like hotels, cars, etc.? Any suggestions?
October 10th, 2007 at 11:11 am
13 Cameo - I did find out that unfortunately you are not alone in your booking experience. Others have reported the same thing and our tech guys are looking into it. It shouldn’t be long before it’s fully resolved.
October 11th, 2007 at 12:54 pm
Laura,
Let me begin by saying that I love flying Delta but there are two things that really bug me.
First is the issue that has already been discussed above with the dates
resetting and automatically setting a return flight in seven days.
This has caused me to book two trips with errors. This really needs to be fixed.
Second there needs to be a feature to generate an Outlook Calendar for your flight. I have to manually input all of that info. A lot of other airlines, rental cars and hotels use these features. It would really help.
Thanks
Rusty
October 14th, 2007 at 12:10 pm
I agree with the comments on reset dates etc…we need that changed…but I have one feature that I would LOVE to see…PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE create an iCal entry so I can automatically add my flight info to my calendar like Northwest and others already do…….this would be a BOG help for me…update my calendar which is synched to my phone.
Thanks
October 19th, 2007 at 3:12 pm
We’re definitely giving the booking issue our highest attention. Keep the pressure on.
And I’m glad to share the good news that the send to calendar feature is in the works and should be out in the next few months.
October 22nd, 2007 at 10:53 am
Hi Laura. As a multi-year medallion member, I’m obviously a fan. However, as part of the rapidly-growing Mac computer user segment, it concerns me that Delta doesn’t seem to design for optimal usability on Safari browsers (which is the primary browser for most Mac users, I believe). Example: nonfunctioning drop-downs in the top nav of the main site.
On another note (possibly not related to browsers), it’s frustrating to book an exit row seat, with “request upgrade” selected, only to have the seat changed/rejected once the order is processed. This happens every time I book. Would it be possible to have an “allow upgrade” option when reserving exit row seats that enables booking engine to accept exit row seat requests even when “request upgrade” has been selected?