IT Questions

[LCC_#1]

I have both a pc desktop and a Mac powerbook G4 laptop. I am finding that if I need to go onto usairways.com with my mac, I just have to give up. It is error messages unending. It also takes 11 seconds to actually connect when using Safari and 6 seconds with Foxfire or Netscape. IE is too old a version and mac and IE have severed ties with no more versions. My pc pulls up usairways.com in 3 seconds and pulls up fairs/schedules in about 5 seconds...no problems...just a bit slower than the websites at AA, UA, DAL, and SWA. BTW, the web pages opened up in 1 second on the AA, UA, and DAL websites and 2 sec on SWAs.

IT questions:

1. Why in 2007 and a growing mac presence does it take 11 times longer to view the opening page and next to impossible to book on Apple computers?

2.Why in general does it take 6 times longer on even a pc to see the opening page for usairways.com?

Thanks!

 

[Fly4Free]

This IMO defies logic and good business sense. MAC users have a better demographic than the PC user. More income, higher level of education etc. You would THINK that would be a desired customer base and US would make every effort to make a MAC work as well as the PC does.

you are totally bogus.. BOGUS

Every fortune 500 company in the USA practically runs off of M$ OS, and it's not just US Airways. Move on.

 

[BoeingBoy]

you are totally bogus.. BOGUS

Every fortune 500 company in the USA practically runs off of M$ OS, and it's not just US Airways. Move on.

You totally miss the point.....

Sure, most companies use MS internally. That's beside the point, since the customer could care less whether the company uses Apple IIE's or supercomputers internally. All the potential customer cares about is whether they can use their computer/browser to purchase a product on-line. Making that hard - or impossible - is just plain dumb.

Why? Because preventing a portion of the public from purchasing your product thru the least expensive distribution channel available is stupid. You either drive those potential customers to the competition (who'll be more than happy to provide access with Mac's, Opera, Firefox, etc) or you drive them to a more expensive distribution channel (costing the company money un-necessarily).

Jim

 

[LCC_#1]

You totally miss the point.....

Sure, most companies use MS internally. That's beside the point, since the customer could care less whether the company uses Apple IIE's or supercomputers internally. All the potential customer cares about is whether they can use their computer/browser to purchase a product on-line. Making that hard - or impossible - is just plain dumb.

Why? Because preventing a portion of the public from purchasing your product thru the least expensive distribution channel available is stupid. You either drive those potential customers to the competition (who'll be more than happy to provide access with Mac's, Opera, Firefox, etc) or you drive them to a more expensive distribution channel (costing the company money un-necessarily).

Jim

and Jim, if i were not an employee of US, I would never book with US Airways as my laptop is my primary computer and it's a MAC.

It is predicted that Apple will have close to a 50% share of the computer market by the end of the decade. somebody in Tempe better wake up! Thats alot of lost revenue. Customers will just go to another airline website.

 

[sfb]

you are totally bogus.. BOGUS

Every fortune 500 company in the USA practically runs off of M$ OS, and it's not just US Airways. Move on.

Frankly, that's largely irrelevant. Many Fortune 500 companies require their employees to book their travel through dedicated travel websites/portals and frown upon (or prohibit outright) direct bookings through airline websites.

Apple currently has roughly 5% market share in the U.S. for new computers sold -- but Mac users typically keep their systems longer, giving Apple an installed base which is somewhat larger than their market share might indicate. Moreover, Mac users are a relatively attractive demographic given higher levels of disposable income.

Of course, folks who buy Macs typically have chosen to eschew bottom-of-the-barrel products at cut-rate prices and rather are purchasing a higher-quality product from which they expect to gain more value. Maybe they're not US Airways' target market after all.

 

[philly rocks]

The system S-cks and thats all we have to say. WE are the ones that use it day in and day out. Could care less about the overlay , MAC etc. it just doesn't work for our needs. Its time consuming , it is an injustice to our customers and we are not given the right "tool" to perform our jobs. Cheap bas-ards ! End of story.

BBS

 

[DrBeth]

Let's face it--the website is most "unfriendly" in general and especially to Macs. As a customer, all I am asking is that I be able to access my Dividend Miles account, book tickets, and make necessary changes, etc., no matter what computer, browser, or OS I am using. The site should work, period.

 

[Fly4Free]

You totally miss the point.....

Sure, most companies use MS internally. That's beside the point, since the customer could care less whether the company uses Apple IIE's or supercomputers internally. All the potential customer cares about is whether they can use their computer/browser to purchase a product on-line. Making that hard - or impossible - is just plain dumb.

Internally it's a Microsoft environment. Did you notice externally it is too? ASP programming language etc? If US Airways was truly wanting to be open to all OSs and browsers, it would be in PHP or another NON-SYSTEM specific programming language. ASP is server-side, so of course it's going to be limited to what the server's OS can do.

I think it's rediculous to expect software / html / ASP written for use on one system should be 1) even ran 2) expected to run on non-intended systems. Our site works like crap on IE7, let alone IE6.

And it's bogus that we should "support mac" .. let's go further and fix what we have in the first place. I hate ASP.

 

[FOForevere]

I have IE 7 with Vista and most features on the website do not work even with all security settings reduced to lowest level. Can't check flight info.

Very frustrating.

PS. Don't get Vista if you don't have to. Give it a year as it doesn't work with most old programs (like U's website).

 

[Fly4Free]

Like so many others aspects of US Airways the website is yet another example of Knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing.

That's true.

Don't misunstand where I'm coming from, I'm all about open-platform support.. but it doesn't even work for the intended platform!!

 

[LCC_#1]

That's true.

Don't misunstand where I'm coming from, I'm all about open-platform support.. but it doesn't even work for the intended platform!!

For a company this big it should work for ALL platforms. Apple users should not be discriminated against because Apple has only a 5% market share which I think you highly underestimated.

Just put this on the list of more stupid decisions from this management team.

 

[ussnark]

I have both a pc desktop and a Mac powerbook G4 laptop. I am finding that if I need to go onto usairways.com with my mac, I just have to give up. It is error messages unending. It also takes 11 seconds to actually connect when using Safari and 6 seconds with Foxfire or Netscape. IE is too old a version and mac and IE have severed ties with no more versions. My pc pulls up usairways.com in 3 seconds and pulls up fairs/schedules in about 5 seconds...no problems...just a bit slower than the websites at AA, UA, DAL, and SWA. BTW, the web pages opened up in 1 second on the AA, UA, and DAL websites and 2 sec on SWAs.

IT questions:

1. Why in 2007 and a growing mac presence does it take 11 times longer to view the opening page and next to impossible to book on Apple computers?

2.Why in general does it take 6 times longer on even a pc to see the opening page for usairways.com?

Thanks!

I see a lot of discussion about the US IT department, much of which I agree with.

You did not give any parameters that you might be using so I will assume 10.4.9 and Java J2SE 5.0 I presume also that your desktop is direct wired to the modem and your laptop is wireless?

I offer the below making a lot of assumptions.

If every input were the same, the website should open as fast with windows as the Mac. Some versions of Safari wait until it can toss everything on the screen, windows tend to toss whatever it gets, as it gets it, on the screen, giving the impression it is faster. It is not.

The Mac with Java does a lot of error checking in order to maintain the separation of Java imbedded within Mac. That methodology renders many viri/worms moot. Windows just opens everything up, "come on down" to everything coming down the "tube", viri and all.

The use of .asp by windows is problematic. It is fast, just rarely secure. The Mac works around it, but it does take longer.

I rarely have a problem booking. If you think it is a problem for you, let me know.

There truly are many problems with US IT in Tempe. I have a picture in my mind of a dude who got his Micro$oft certification and only learned .asp I was gratified to see them experimenting with redirects a week ago, but see they have reverted. I have provided free help, been profusely thanked, yet problems remain. I hesitate to offer anything but remedial help, unless there is big money involved.

Can you get a screen shot of the error messages or describe them to me, IM? Also, during a session, open the console in Utilities and open the appropriate log (likely Safari), copy and send me.

Maybe I can help.

 

[jcw]

actually this is just a small portion w/ the IT direction of US Airways. First, the website compared to USAirways old site is a disaster. I have people complaining all the time about the "new" us site. the new us site is a 1995 or 2000 website design and navigation. The MAC question is a joke. If you use the right development and deployment environment it would work on MAC. I do use a MAC to book on US however I use firefox not safari to book on US.

There are complex issues with how IT is run and simple issues. For example, look at the new boarding pass who compared the US Boarding pass (large print, everything labeled, information printed once) compared to the new one (most things unlabeled, small print, information printed more than once). Who said WOW - this new boarding pass rocks!

Who did not think that fixing the ability to check luggage in at the airport via a kiosk was if you checked in on-line at home was an important fix. US was stressing to check in on-line only to get to the airport and have to stand in line to check luggage because you could not use a kiosk.

Many, many issues with IT at US. I firmly believe its not SHARES issue - its what you do with it. I buy alot of software and if I don't use in right in the business world my p/l suffers.

 

[Singleflyer]

Just another example of why it is HARD to do business with US. As Boeing Boy pointed out this is the least expenseive method of selling tickets, so they should make it the easiest for all computer owners to use.

Just another example of why people are going to other airlines, its easy to spend money on other sites.

 

[Fly4Free]

Does anyone agree with me that they should get the site working for at least the intended platform?