TILTS: Online airline reservation changes

I can’t remember the last time I booked a plane ticket by talking to an agent on the phone. I’ve been booking my tickets online since the days when Preview Travel was the only [online] game in town.

But somewhere along the line in the conversion to booking reservations online, something was missed. And that is the ability to change your reservations online. This is today’s Technology I’d Like to See.

Based on experience

I experienced this yesterday when I was flying back home to Indianapolis from Dallas. My flight was supposed to take me to Philadelphia where I would make my connection to Indianapolis. 20+ inches of snow changed those plans quickly.

In fact, my flight was already canceled when I checked the status early Sunday morning.

Now wouldn’t you think I should have been able to jump back on Expedia or, at the very least, the US Airways web site to choose my own alternate flight arrangements? Nope. My only option was to call US Airways’ 800 #.

I did that and after several disconnections was placed on hold… for three hours… and still no one answered.

So I did the next best thing and went to the airport to take my chances with a counter agent. That actually worked and I was re-routed to an American flight, nonstop straight to Indianapolis.

Yes, it worked out to my advantage in the end. But I still had to wait on the phone for 3 hours and take a chance that my family would have to pick me back up at the airport if I couldn’t get an alternate flight. Would have been much nicer to do all of this from home with my laptop.

It doesn’t have to be a human, really

And I know what someone of you might think. The agents are the only ones empowered to switch you to another airline. But c’mon. If a human can do it, so can a computer. I’m reasonably sure a developer could program a system to try all possible same-day connections on the same airline and then use a budget pool pre-determined by the airline to see if you are allowed to switch to another airline.

Heck, since it’s a computer, multiple things could easily be factored in, like how often you choose the airline, or how many frequent flier miles you’ve banked. I could even envision an auction-style system that allows you to bid on how much you would be willing to pony up yourself to get a new flight. I’m betting a LOT of people yesterday would have paid a few out-of-pocket dollars to get to their destination the same day.

So what do you think? Does anyone else like my FULL SERVICE online reservations system?

Disclaimer: Technologies presented in the Technology I’d Like To See (TILTS) series are based on my original (and sometimes delirious) thoughts. I present them here to the public only because I can not afford to implement any of them myself. If you steal borrow one of my ideas and end up filthy rich because of it, please remember where you got the idea and throw a little love my way. Something like a BMW or a big fat check would do just fine.