At delta.com, we try to anticipate the tools and functionality you’ll need to make your travel as easy and smooth as it can be—barring any long wait lines in security.
When you’re on the go with your mobile or blackberry, we assume you know how to complete mobile check-in, that you know you can buy last minute from your device, and how to check the latest status of your flight. You’re oh so savvy, you.
We know you send your flight itinerary to your phone with one click off your booking confirmation page. And we know you get flight notifications on every flight sent straight to your mobile device. You’re oh so hip, you.
Did you also know you can check our flight schedules from your mobile – to get on an earlier flight after that business meeting. Or maybe your meeting ran late (hope not!) and you need to know if you can grab a bite before that next flight.
Research question from me to you: What travel-related content do you wish you had in the palm of your hand and on your phone from delta.com? What do you need to have at-a-glance from us when you’re traveling?
Jen Miller
Manager, Content & Marketing
Delta.com
October 27th, 2008 at 10:36 am
A great service that could be provided is airport maps. I know the Sky magazine has those blue outline maps of a few airports but it would be great if we could pull up something better on our phones.
Things that should be included are gate number, bathrooms and locations of food and stores. I have flown in and out of ATL so many times but I still can’t remember which concourse has the Chik-Filet and which one has the Nathan’s. Being able to pull up information about the airport I am flying into would just be a great help and a great customer service point that isn’t being offered by any other airline.
Feel free to hire me to help you put this together.
October 27th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
Don’t forget about offline use. At present, the Delta schedule is available as a searchable application for download to Palm and Pocket PC, but the only format that can be put on the iPhone or iPod touch is the PDF version.
Even with Wi-Fi becoming more prevalent in airports (and even airplanes, over time) it’s still more convenient to be able to download a local copy, especially if you have an iPod touch and don’t want to pay for a day of Wi-Fi at the airport just to check the schedule.
The iPhone OS X version could even do its own checking for new versions over the Internet, rather than requiring a desktop conduit as the Palm version does. It could also have small banner ads for promotions, a direct link to delta.com, and more; just look at what some other companies (Audi, for example) are doing with free iPhone apps as promotional tools.
IndyJoe’s airport maps are a great suggestion (and could be a useful part of a Delta iPhone application as well as the website).
October 27th, 2008 at 8:44 pm
One of my new favorite functions was pioneered by Continental - the ability to see the real-time upgrade list for a given flight, including priority and, if within the upgrade window, who has already been upgraded.
It’s a great functionality for cities that don’t have GIDS, and would probably reduce the number of questions deluging GAs.
October 28th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
Thanks for asking. I cannot make seating changes from the mobile Delta screen on my iPhone. Please add that feature or let me know if I am missing the link somewhere.
November 2nd, 2008 at 12:20 am
I’d like to second the nominations for for both the real-time upgrade list and the ability to change seats from your phone. I would also like to be able to schedule notifications from the phone. Yes, you can look up the current flight statuses, but if you forgot to set up notifications it is annoying to have to keep hitting refresh on the device.
November 4th, 2008 at 10:37 am
Thanks everyone for these great comments. We’ve been trying to see how to provide airport maps. I can understand why you all want the upgrade information and seat functionality too. We’ll keep you updated.
November 6th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
You recently started putting recommendations of places to visit online when you print your boarding pass from the Internet. It would be nice to have access to those places on the mobile.