New booking system on updated website

Was going to stick this on the thread about the ongoing (saga) of the website update but thought it merited a new thread.

The important bit, for most people is the booking page and it looks like it has been upgraded - but only appears sometimes and on certain browsers.

It seems a little clonky at the moment but that's maybe just a few bugs - you can pick fares on the inbound and then change the outbound day and then the inbound fares disappear ?|

For me, the major inconvenience is that it only displays 1 days fare at a time, but overall, when the bugs are sorted I think it will be progress.

Anyone else had the chance to have a play with it (when the new pages appear ): )

David

Imagine like anything else on the VS site it won't of been sense checked, so imagine they'll be some wacky results in some cases....

you can pick fares on the inbound and then change the outbound day and then the inbound fares disappear

That should happen though should it not? As inbound fares are affected by the class selected for outbound?

Or is this not clear on the website (I know that BA have a "Updating Inbound Prices" thingy so you know what it's doing)

you can pick fares on the inbound and then change the outbound day and then the inbound fares disappear

That should happen though should it not? As inbound fares are affected by the class selected for outbound?

Or is this not clear on the website (I know that BA have a "Updating Inbound Prices" thingy so you know what it's doing)

Yes, have seen that happen on BA but on the new vs system the inbound fare disappears completely and says " sorry no seats available" when seconds ago it was showing availability.

David ?|

[Darren Wheeler]

I'm only seeing the old version,

I'm only seeing the old version,

I can only get it to work with IE and selecting the show all fares instead of upper or premium etc (and then again only sometimes ) at the moment.

David

Oh dear it's very buggy, firstly I entered dates (in Chrome) and they're not displayed:

Then I tried to search and ...

(Noting that it's not my network, I can access every other VS web site page.)

Really VS, why do you do this. I'm frustrated as a customer but surely there's someone in VS management who cares that these issues crop up time and time again. It's appalling really, if I delivered such poor quality to my customers I'd expect to be punished!

[preiffer]

Ironically, people are concerned because *typically* when IT departments are outsourced, the service gets worse.

Given what we've seen over the past 4/5/6 years with VS, PLEASE somebody outsource it. As D-REAM used to say : "things can only get better"...

Is there a "shakes head once again in utter disbelief" emoticon?

Is there a "shakes head once again in utter disbelief" emoticon?

Serious question -- given your strong views on this, held for quite some time (here and elsewhere ), why do you bother with VS at all?

If you think that Virgin booking engine is in need of "a kick up the backside" try using Singapore Airlines site!
Has improved a bit recently but still very hit and miss.
But wait a minute are the two not in a close relationship ?

Is there a "shakes head once again in utter disbelief" emoticon?

Serious question -- given your strong views on this, held for quite some time (here and elsewhere ), why do you bother with VS at all?

Silver Fox, like a lot of us at the moment,lives in hope that things will get better where the IT department is concerned
As another poster said, if I ran my IT department like they seem to at VS you could expect to be out of business by now !

Is there a "shakes head once again in utter disbelief" emoticon?

Serious question -- given your strong views on this, held for quite some time (here and elsewhere ), why do you bother with VS at all?

I am an eternal optimist on the basis it cannot get worse. Then of course it does. And given the fiasco I am having with BA at the moment, whom I was thinking of switching to, I give up. Both are on a race to the bottom.

The new booking page is being released to a (small) certain percentage of people at the moment to iron out any bugs. Once they have been sorted it'll be released to everyone. I can assure you it'll be a massive improvement over the old site.

Oh, and the IT department don't build the website..

The new booking page is being released to a (small) certain percentage of people at the moment to iron out any bugs. Once they have been sorted it'll be released to everyone. I can assure you it'll be a massive improvement over the old site.

y) Good to hear - thanks

David

The new booking page is being released to a (small) certain percentage of people at the moment to iron out any bugs. Once they have been sorted it'll be released to everyone. I can assure you it'll be a massive improvement over the old site.

Oh, and the IT department don't build the website..

Ahh ok, saw it a couple of days ago and now it's back to the old one.. clearly not a consistent small percentage. Shame, but look forward to when it is finished. Thanks for posting the info.

And the IT dept do not build the website.. that is interesting. I wonder why VS are still using this outsource company after the extremely slow rollout. ii) ii) It cannot take this much time to come up with the content, even if it is from scratch.. Unless of course everything has to be approved through legal first :w

[mitchja]

I dont think the VS will ever be finished will it? By the time this phase gets finished (if ever), they will probably be starting on the next phase wont they?

I wholeheartedly agree with others, the VS website is a 100% disgrace.

I dont think the VS will ever be finished will it? By the time this phase gets finished (if ever), they will probably be starting on the next phase wont they?

I wholeheartedly agree with others, the VS website is a 100% disgrace.

I actually don't think it's anywhere near as bad as some people are making out.

The 'slowness' of the update is down to the fact things are massively changing in the background - in fact almost all of the systems that the VAA infrastructure runs on are being changed, upgraded, improved etc. any delay to any of these system upgrades can put back a project on the website by weeks or months.

It may appear to be dis-functional to some but it's for the greater good in the long run.

[mitchja]

Sorry, but the fact you cannot even book something so simple as a mixed cabin reward flight online really says it all for me and the VS website!!

Sorry, but the fact you cannot even book something so simple as a mixed cabin reward flight online really says it all for me and the VS website!!

Click on 'More Options' from the homepage. Works for me.

Also, as you can see from the new update - you'll be able to see all three cabins on the same page shortly.

Sorry, but the fact you cannot even book something so simple as a mixed cabin reward flight online really says it all for me and the VS website!!

Click on 'More Options' from the homepage. Works for me.

Also, as you can see from the new update - you'll be able to see all three cabins on the same page shortly.

Huh... appears to have vanished again, and I also appear to have received the 'oops something is wrong' message n( was it something I said

Mixed cabin reward bookings have never been possible from the website have they??

Seeing all three cabins at once is a marketing tool to steer people towards the premium cabins.... not really a help from my point of view, just like the Ocado pages asking if I have forgotten anything on checkout... No Ocado, I will not buy your own brand rubbish that is selling poorly this week - may just be being a pessimist though B)

Forgive me SRH bad day so far 8D

Note VS has a £25m a year (I think) contract with CSC as the outsourced provider of technology services. I'll guess it is CSC performing this work.

In which case it tells me all I need to know about CSC's approach to testing and release management - ergo, don't consider them!

Still maintain that VS is responsible though as the company that delivers such an appalling user experience to its customers.

Yes, good things happening, but shoddy delivery.

I must be alone in finding the VS user experience perfectly adequate?

I must be alone in finding the VS user experience perfectly adequate?

Yes.

Mixed cabin reward bookings can and always have been able to be booked online.