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.

The Award Ticket calendar is somewhat close to me because I was involved with the initial project to add the functionality to Award Ticket Shopping. Passions and tensions on the topic run extremely high. The biggest complaint (outside of availability) is that the calendar shows availability that “disappears” when selecting flights. Why does that happen? Frankly, its a difference in how the data is collected. Hold on to your seats, there’s some math ahead!

At a high level, for any date pair searched, the resulting calendars show up to 961 (31×31) date combinations (such as a departure in July returning in August) per cabin combination. For comparison, if you are searching dates within the same month there are up to 496 possible date combinations (31 options on the 1st, plus 30 on the 2nd, plus 29 on the 3rd, etc). This is under the assumption there is only one possible flight option per day. What if there are more? What if there were 5 flights or more available per day?

To use a real example, if you are searching for flights from Atlanta, GA to New York-La Guardia, NY departing on Monday Dec 29th and returning Saturday January 3rd how many options are there? Well if you look at the schedule there are 17 flights to LGA on 12/29 and 9 flights back on 1/3. Using those for each day of the week results in (31×17) x (31×9) options. Oh sorry, that’s 147,033 options. That’s using just LGA. If your final destination is NYC then what if we include options to JFK and EWR? You could include HPN (White Plains) as well.

It doesn’t take long to realize that the number of options available is growing beyond control. The problem is not in retrieving all the information, its that auditing each of those options takes time. If we use 1ms as the time required to check each itinerary’s validity as an option, using the example above of 24,025 itineraries would require just under 25 SECONDS. Fortunately there are more than 5 available routes per day for most searches. It’s also rare that there is one person searching at a time. At this point you have to start looking at the computers doing all that work in a different light.

At the end of the day a decision had to be made regarding the methodology used for searching that balances accuracy, response time, and investment (both in development time and hardware costs). These are often the hardest choices because all those factors play into your experience. The end decision was to use one type of search for the calendar and a different one for the available flights. They are different, but both 100% accurate. What does that mean to YOU when you search?

Behind the scenes, the calendar builds the schedule of flights for each given day (non-stop, direct, one-stop, and multi-stop). Then each flight is reviewed to see if the number of SkySaver seats are available in the cabin you searched. Once it finds a match, it stops searching that day, and moves to the next. When you move on to look at the flight options for your selected days, its a much more intensive look that validates all the business rules. After you’ve selected your flights, the itinerary is again audited and priced. If you started the search without logging in, before you provide the passenger information, we price it again to make sure you get the lowest possible price.

To be frank, the calendar might be improved by just taking the “just throw more servers at it” methodology. The intrinsic problem with that approach is the number of servers required and the cost incurred to get them. More servers by default will only support more capacity (the number of people using the site at the same time), not necessarily more speed. To improve speed requires one or more things to happen:

• faster processors
• more efficient algorithms
• farming/distributive computing (often used in the production of 3D animation and rendering)
• less complex rules

So while there are differences between the response on the calendar, the flight results, and the final pricing, the award ticket calendar provides a much faster way to search for availability. As a developer, it both inspires and challenges me. At the end of the day, I want the end product to be a success as judged by the user. The numbers show that 75% of all Award Tickets are booked on delta.com.

So there you have it: the award ticket calendar demystified.

drew
delta.com GUI Developer

When you travel as much as I do, and I am sure some of those reading this, you never expect to receive a pat on the back for doing your job. Well call me very pleasantly surprised, even call me blown away. Getting the call from Delta to throw out the first pitch at Fenway Park before my beloved Red Sox trampled the Tampa Bay Rays was amazing. Definitely one of the moments I will always remember.

Again, part of my job for Akorri, a software vendor of performance and utilization management software, is traveling to different regions of the country and occasionally the world to set up sales teams and get regions off the ground. Knowing this includes a “healthy” amount of travel I try to make sure I get where I need to go in an economical yet timely manner … trying to minimize wear and tear. Delta has been there for me.

Been loyal for a reason

I guess being relatively loyal paid off, flying Delta 200,000+ miles out of some 300,000+ miles flown last year. As it stands, as I write this on a flight tonight, I have flown over 75,000 miles on Delta this year already. Again, service is a big component of why I fly Delta, but so is going to the places I need to go too. So being selected to represent all “road warriors” that fly Delta was an honor. It also put a bit of stress into my usually cool demeanor (so I am told).

The Call

Got the call from Delta while on vacation and the family had flown Delta to visit the kids grandparents and Uncle in Florida. When ever I get a call from the 404 area code could be two things; a buddy who lives there or I start to think there may be a travel issue with my flights. To my very pleasant surprise it was Delta asking me to throw out the first pitch, there was no hesitation. So now the pressure starts to build.

The Plan

My goal was to practice my pitch prior to the May 3rd game … well things did not quite work out for me in this part of my plan. I flew home from the west coast on Thursday night red-eye out of LA. Got in and after spend a few hours with my kids left before a day full of meetings. Got home later that night, spent quality time with my wife which did not include any pitching side work. Saturday was just the next day, and had little time to practice, besides it was raining.

Plan B … relax

So had to go to plan “B” aka try and relax. Not so easy when you keep thinking about the fact that 25,000 plus plus fans would likely be in their seats. In my job I am up in front of people speaking constantly, groups of all sizes, this was very different.

You get to Fenway Park at 6pm and they walk you down on to the field where you can watch the remainder of batting practice from the field, see the players come up to stretch and loosen up for the game. Note that the people I picked to go with me, my Wife Kristen, neighbors Kurt and Tara. Kurt who is a road warrior, Chairman’s Club on US Airways, and has been for a long time, remarked after taking the video from the field that there are a lot of positives being with Delta based on our comparisons of the two companies loyalty perks. Oh yeah he also did his best to make me even more nervous leading up to the pitch – thanks Kurt!

Now my nerves are in hyper drive for 45 minutes leading up to the pitch. One by one the guys you watch from the stands come out past you, Big Papi, Manny, Pedroia, Ellsbury, Beckett and Youkilis … given they are the reining World Series Champions it is quite amazing. Talk about feeling out of shape. Plan B consisted of me throwing the ball from the mound and neither bouncing it in front of home plate or sailing it into the backstop.

The Pitch

Pictures are better than words…

As you can see in the video mission accomplished but I am still getting grief about the fact that I was low down towards the grass – was told to stay away from the rubber by the Red Sox folks. I have to thank Buffi from Delta for make sure myself and the others that were invited to the box had a great time. Truly memories that I will treasure for ever.

Want to become a SkyMiles member? Earn 1,000 extra bonus miles from this link if you sign up now. Learn more about program benefits here.

Rob Strechay

SkyMiles Medallion Member

Delta is proud to be the Official Airline of the Boston Red Sox and the Tampa Bay Rays.