Recently we launched the new SkyMiles three tier program on delta.com to improve Award ticket shopping. While this release does not focus specifically on the calendar issues outlined by Drew, we are aggressively investigating ways of eliminating the discrepancy completely.
In yesterday’s world, a domestic coach Awards flight started at 25K miles. Within the low fares, the next level ticket started at 37,500 miles. If low level tickets were sold out for one leg, the next level would start at 50K miles. As of today, the same flight still starts at 25K. However, the next level ticket is 32,500 miles, and if all the low level tickets are sold, the next redemption level starts at 40K miles and upwards. As a result there are three times more options now.
In order to do this, the calendar needed a new interface.
Originally, the design called for the mileage amounts associated with the lowest available level to be displayed on the calendar day. The days with the lowest availability were marked in blue much the same way the lowest fares are marked on the select flights page.
For the calendar, we get data in the form of indicators letting us know the lowest level that might have availability. We built a web service to get the mileage amounts. The interface combined these two pieces to 1- display the amount on the day, based on the indicator and 2- calculate an estimated cost (in miles).
We decided to use a tri-colored calendar with text indicating the lowest mileage level available as “Low, Med or High.”
Several other enhancements will help the page load faster:
• the code to write out the calendar has been optimized
• the code used to re-display the trip duration has been streamlined
• Javascript consolidation means the functions to run the page are in cache and do not need to be downloaded on page load
• square corners and white backgrounds require less memory than the previous layout
Shani Nizan
delta.com
Taxes and fees for award travel are the responsibility of the passenger and must be paid at the time the ticket is booked. Award travel seats are limited and may not be available on all flights or in all markets. All Delta SkyMiles program rules apply. To review the rules, please visit www.delta.com/memberguide.
October 21st, 2008 at 8:08 am
Shani,
Thanks for your efforts to update the award calendar interface and performance. However, I think the issues with the award calendar regarding accuracy and availability are the paramount concern of Delta customers. If I had faith in the tool I would use it more, but right now I feel like its broken and my only “real” option to book an award ticket is to call and pay the $25 fee to talk to a person. Hopefully the issues mentioned in Drew’s earlier blog post can be addressed with some creative solution soon.
Regards, BG-777Flyer
October 21st, 2008 at 12:30 pm
I have been trying to use this new calendar feature for over a week now and cannot get it to work. I have emailed and called customer service for the web but they only tell me to call them. When I call them I get a rep that does not speak english so I am out of luck. When will the right people at Delta understand the web site and calendar do not work like they advertise?
October 22nd, 2008 at 10:44 am
Problem is Delta probably bumped thousands into the design of the Calendar, and the only real way to fix it is to scrap it and start from scratch. Which is painful especially for the developer.
October 28th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
I called into the Medallion desk today to ask about calendar discrepancies - dates I was looking for showed that the ‘low’ redemption level was available yet what was offered was the ‘mid’ level. The person who took my call said the calendar was not reliable.
Also, why does DL no longer allow the (Platinum) Medallion desk team to call the SkyMiles desk to get mileage discrepancies sorted? The e-mail replies are always polite but the mileage never gets posted. Bonus miles are especially problematic and you never know if you’ve registered or not - this should definitely be improved.
December 2nd, 2008 at 11:04 pm
The calendar needs to be able to mix business and coach by flight legs. For example, if I’m flying to Europe and select business, I mainly want business in the international flight…I am flexible on the connections. However, the calendar only shows bwginning flights in the selected section. Had to use the call in several times because of this.