What's currently broken on new.continental.com

dbaker · 08-01-2002, 06:10 PM

I thought that it was bad enough that this extremely broken web site was released to their best customers, not to mention the general public today.

What's currently broken, you ask?

After reserving an itinerary, you must close your browser and start it back up again to be able to purchase it, or it will force you to re-reserve it when you click to buy.
Cannot assign elite seats, although this used to work.
The description that you assign an itinerary is not reflected on the "My Accounts" page, so all of mine show up as "AUS-IAH," which is not that useful.
List of requirements for qualifying for elite status is broken. It either displays that I need "-14" segments to qualify for silver, or nothing at all other than that I'm currently gold.
It is impossible to delete a reservation, so it's confusing if you have two reservations for the same day, but one is purchased.
You can use your profile credit card and address when reserving a ticket, but if you go to buy, you have to type in all the information again.
Incredibly slow, often 30 seconds to a minute for a page to load.

In terms of the design being a problem:

The "Activity Detail" is using very bloated tables that take pages to scroll through data that could be read in half a screen on the old site
The Seat Selector uses counter-intuitive colors for indicating which seats are taken or available. It's contrary to the old site and every online booking site and airline.

Major lacking features:

The site is unable to detect every PNR booked with your Onepass number. The PDA site and similar are able to do this.
Unable to search for a span of dates when booking reward travel.

This piece of junk is pre-beta. It's so frustrating just trying to give them my money. It's certainly prettier than the old site, but significantly worse. I was foolish to think that the old site was so bad that it couldn't go any further downhill.

I'm not impressed.

Nugget · 08-02-2002, 02:34 AM

Every time I've had the opportunity, I've complained about the lacking of continental's onepass web site. As a former Delta loyalist it boggles me just how far behind the state of the art Continental's site truly was (especially given their illogical wins during each years Fraudie awards).

It's disappointing to see that CO has apparantly taken our criticism to heart and yet managed to change all the irrelevant things from the old site while carrying through all the frustrations of the old site.

My complaints with COs site, old and new, lie in the timeliness and accuracy of the information and the spartan amount of actual data that's available. This doesn't appear to have changed at all with the new site -- all the changes I've seen are merely cosmetic and superficial.

It's really frustrating that the pda site has better and more accurate data and is easier to navigate than their "real site".

While I'm confident that many of the issues you raise are just quirks and oversights, more a matter of a premature debut than anything else, I'm saddened that CO appears to have overlooked or avoided the more fundamental and impactful areas where their site could see improvement.

An optimist would hope that perhaps this new site is just phase one and was a necessary step in creating the foundation upon which they can build more meaningful improvements. Time will tell, in any event.

dbaker · 08-09-2002, 08:41 AM

I just tried to change my EUAed sign seat assignment on an (obviously) purchased and ticket itinerary. When I select my new seat and click "continue," I'm greeted with the "Complete Your Purchase" page that wants me to purchase the reservation.

I wonder what would happen if I purchased it a second time. Double FF miles? Two FC seats?

It's a wonder what the people managing this process are employed. I don't think that it's possible for me to think any less of CO IT, but they always surprise me...

dbaker · 08-19-2002, 11:12 AM

We're sorry, but continental.com was unable to complete your purchase. Please try your purchase later or call 1-800-300-1547 for assistance.

Please take my money, Continental.

dbaker · 08-24-2002, 04:30 AM

Quote:

Current Elite Status: Non-Elite
2002 Elite Mileage: 38,927
2002 Elite Segments/Points: 62

What a piece of junk.

dbaker · 08-25-2002, 11:54 AM

Quote:

Seat Assignments: V10C | 7F | V7D | V10C

new.continental.com adds some variety to my life.

Nugget · 09-11-2002, 10:05 PM

For whatever its worth, I finally had an opportunity to book a flight through "new" dot continental.com (now the primary website) and had absolutely no major difficulties. I booked the flight last Friday and the process was smooth. I see from looking at it now that I've been EUA'd on the first two segments (AUS->IAH->RDU) already although I've not received an EUA email.

Seat Assignments: 4A | 1E | 10F | 9A

The only problem I've found is purely cosmetic: The custom name I've given this itenerary only shows up on the ResMgt "Manage Reservations" page. All other places (my account page and the main site page) still confusingly refer to my Raleigh trip as "AUS to IAH".

dbaker · 09-12-2002, 06:48 AM

I booked on the new site and got an EUA email last night -- and I'm on the same flight as you out of AUS.

The "AUS to IAH" thing is incredibly lame; I agree. Clearly, the guys who wrote this live in IAH.

Nugget · 09-12-2002, 10:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dbaker

Clearly, the guys who wrote this live in IAH.

What? you mean a flight can have more than one segment? Amazing! Tell me more!

Nugget · 09-13-2002, 01:08 AM

Quote:

Seat Assignments: 4A | 1E | 1F | 2E

Yay EUA! (But I still have yet to see a single email...)

Nugget · 09-13-2002, 01:12 AM

D'oh! Silly me. It was disabled.

Nugget · 09-18-2002, 11:37 AM

Well, at some point during the past week they broke the site rendering it impossible to search for flights if you have your regional settings configured to display dates as "18 Sep" instead of "Sep 18".

Date entry forms all (as you might expect) request dates in DD/MM/YYYY format, the date-selector calendar thing returns dates in that format, but the form itself pukes on any date format, even MM/DD/YYYY.

I had to change my regional setting back in order to search for a flight.

dbaker · 09-18-2002, 05:10 PM

The entire site was completely down for about 15 minutes this afternoon. It wouldn't respond to a single HTTP request.

dbaker · 09-18-2002, 09:51 PM

Driving down 610 in Houston today and saw a Continental billboard:

Quote:

All new and improved continental.com
Wwway better

dbaker · 09-22-2002, 05:44 PM

Quote:

2002 Elite Status: Non-Elite
2002 Elite Mileage: 43,878
2002 Elite Segments/Points: 70

Impressive!

dbaker · 10-29-2002, 03:49 PM

In an email I sent to the Continental webmaster earlier in the week:

Quote:

Originally Posted by dbaker

Quote:

Originally Posted by continental.com

! Since the departure of flight 732 is within 30 hours, you can only view your seat assignment(s) at his time.

It took the web site about 90 seconds to pull up this error message when I tried to change my seat assignment. Unfortunately, the flight departs in 40 hours, so it's not even accurate.

Why the 30 hour restriction, anyway? It's possible to change your seat assignment over the phone until a few hours before the flight.

merchanb · 01-26-2003, 06:44 PM

So? At least it sorta worked before . . .

Initiating server query ...
Looking up IP address for domain: www.continental.com
The IP address for the domain is: 66.142.137.214
Connecting to the server on standard HTTP port: 80
[Connected] Requesting the server's default page.
The server's response did not contain the expected 'Server:' header to identify itself. Therefore, server's identity can not be determined.
Query complete.

Initiating server query ...
Looking up the domain name for IP: 66.142.137.214
(The domain name for the specified IP address could not be found.)

In other words, it's even quit trying.

NWgoldelite · 01-26-2003, 11:32 PM

Continental.com has been down since yesterday for me. I still can not access my seat assignments on my upcoming reservation or my e-ticket receipt. (8:30 p.m. PST)

This website really is a joke. They need help from someone who works on the northwest website.

merchanb · 01-26-2003, 11:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NWgoldelite

This website really is a joke. They need help from someone who works on the northwest website.

On the other hand, I just had an email exchange with Northwest within the last hour:

(My #1) I can make an itinerary and save it then, when I go to "My
Trips" right away to look at it again, I get the error message:

"We're sorry, the saved flight you are attempting to purchase is
no longer available for booking. You can find a new flight by
using the flight search tool below."

Hard to believe because I can do it all over again and get the
price for and save the same itinerary.

NW responded:

Thank you for contacting nwa.com.

I apologize for any frustration our website has caused you. The problem
you are describing sounds like a bug we are running into in a few random
markets. In order for us to be able to properly research this issue, we
will need some additional information from you, if possible. Please
reply to this E-mail with the cities you are searching between, the
dates of travel and number of passengers. With this information we will
be able to better diagnose what is malfunctioning and get this
corrected.

(My #2) The itinerary in question was 18143674 NRT-SFO-SEA-NRT $706.26 5/22/03 for one pax. I was planning to do GUM-NRT-GUM by Continental as the connections would be better.

However . . .

Trying again I was unable to even get an itinerary for two pax GUM-MSP 23June, MSP-CHS 13July, CHS-HOU 19July, HOU-GUM 21July

The first try “Search by lowest fare” gave me:

"No Northwest Airlines, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, or codeshare partner flights were found between Guam (All Locations), Guam (GUM) and Minneapolis (All Locations), MN (MSP) that matched your request."

Same search “Search by schedule” came up with NW73/10 and NW20/620 but not NW73/84, which is a better itinerary, or NW6002/6146.

I did get as far as CHS then even “Search by schedule” came up with:

“No Northwest Airlines, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, or codeshare partner flights were found between Charleston International Airport, SC (CHS) and Houston (All Locations), TX (HOU) that matched your request.” According to the timetable, it could have shown NW3599/1831, NW3601/1825, 5816/1827 or NW5871/7789.

Exasperating, yes, but no big deal since there’s plenty of time left to get things scheduled.

Suggestions:

(1) It would be really great to be able to upload an itinerary from the KLM-NWA World Timetable software and get it priced.

(2) It would be very handy if it were possible to control the fare basis as I am interested in the least expensive fare that’s upgradeable.

*****

Ya picks your WEb site and ya takes your chances.

NWgoldelite · 01-26-2003, 11:51 PM

At least nwa.com isn't completely shut down. And I can do a simple thing like select my seats at nwa.com without a hassle. They also have internet check-in. No website will be perfect.

01-26-2003, 11:51 PM	#20
NWgoldelite Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Seattle,WA (SEA) Terminal S, and CO B gates. Posts: 238	At least nwa.com isn't completely shut down. And I can do a simple thing like select my seats at nwa.com without a hassle. They also have internet check-in. No website will be perfect. __________________

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08-01-2002, 06:10 PM	#1
dbaker Senior Member ITYT Captain Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: IAH/HOU Posts: 2,354	What's currently broken on new.continental.com I thought that it was bad enough that this extremely broken web site was released to their best customers, not to mention the general public today. What's currently broken, you ask? After reserving an itinerary, you must close your browser and start it back up again to be able to purchase it, or it will force you to re-reserve it when you click to buy. Cannot assign elite seats, although this used to work. The description that you assign an itinerary is not reflected on the "My Accounts" page, so all of mine show up as "AUS-IAH," which is not that useful. List of requirements for qualifying for elite status is broken. It either displays that I need "-14" segments to qualify for silver, or nothing at all other than that I'm currently gold. It is impossible to delete a reservation, so it's confusing if you have two reservations for the same day, but one is purchased. You can use your profile credit card and address when reserving a ticket, but if you go to buy, you have to type in all the information again. Incredibly slow, often 30 seconds to a minute for a page to load. In terms of the design being a problem: The "Activity Detail" is using very bloated tables that take pages to scroll through data that could be read in half a screen on the old site The Seat Selector uses counter-intuitive colors for indicating which seats are taken or available. It's contrary to the old site and every online booking site and airline. Major lacking features: The site is unable to detect every PNR booked with your Onepass number. The PDA site and similar are able to do this. Unable to search for a span of dates when booking reward travel. This piece of junk is pre-beta. It's so frustrating just trying to give them my money. It's certainly prettier than the old site, but significantly worse. I was foolish to think that the old site was so bad that it couldn't go any further downhill. I'm not impressed. __________________

08-02-2002, 02:34 AM	#2
Nugget Senior Member ITYT Navigator Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: AUS [Austin, TX, USA] Posts: 610	Every time I've had the opportunity, I've complained about the lacking of continental's onepass web site. As a former Delta loyalist it boggles me just how far behind the state of the art Continental's site truly was (especially given their illogical wins during each years Fraudie awards). It's disappointing to see that CO has apparantly taken our criticism to heart and yet managed to change all the irrelevant things from the old site while carrying through all the frustrations of the old site. My complaints with COs site, old and new, lie in the timeliness and accuracy of the information and the spartan amount of actual data that's available. This doesn't appear to have changed at all with the new site -- all the changes I've seen are merely cosmetic and superficial. It's really frustrating that the pda site has better and more accurate data and is easier to navigate than their "real site". While I'm confident that many of the issues you raise are just quirks and oversights, more a matter of a premature debut than anything else, I'm saddened that CO appears to have overlooked or avoided the more fundamental and impactful areas where their site could see improvement. An optimist would hope that perhaps this new site is just phase one and was a necessary step in creating the foundation upon which they can build more meaningful improvements. Time will tell, in any event. __________________

08-09-2002, 08:41 AM	#3
dbaker Senior Member ITYT Captain Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: IAH/HOU Posts: 2,354	I just tried to change my EUAed sign seat assignment on an (obviously) purchased and ticket itinerary. When I select my new seat and click "continue," I'm greeted with the "Complete Your Purchase" page that wants me to purchase the reservation. I wonder what would happen if I purchased it a second time. Double FF miles? Two FC seats? It's a wonder what the people managing this process are employed. I don't think that it's possible for me to think any less of CO IT, but they always surprise me...

08-19-2002, 11:12 AM	#4
dbaker Senior Member ITYT Captain Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: IAH/HOU Posts: 2,354	We're sorry, but continental.com was unable to complete your purchase. Please try your purchase later or call 1-800-300-1547 for assistance. Please take my money, Continental.

09-11-2002, 10:05 PM	#7
Nugget Senior Member ITYT Navigator Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: AUS [Austin, TX, USA] Posts: 610	For whatever its worth, I finally had an opportunity to book a flight through "new" dot continental.com (now the primary website) and had absolutely no major difficulties. I booked the flight last Friday and the process was smooth. I see from looking at it now that I've been EUA'd on the first two segments (AUS->IAH->RDU) already although I've not received an EUA email. Seat Assignments: 4A \| 1E \| 10F \| 9A The only problem I've found is purely cosmetic: The custom name I've given this itenerary only shows up on the ResMgt "Manage Reservations" page. All other places (my account page and the main site page) still confusingly refer to my Raleigh trip as "AUS to IAH".

09-12-2002, 06:48 AM	#8
dbaker Senior Member ITYT Captain Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: IAH/HOU Posts: 2,354	I booked on the new site and got an EUA email last night -- and I'm on the same flight as you out of AUS. The "AUS to IAH" thing is incredibly lame; I agree. Clearly, the guys who wrote this live in IAH.

09-13-2002, 01:12 AM	#11
Nugget Senior Member ITYT Navigator Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: AUS [Austin, TX, USA] Posts: 610	D'oh! Silly me. It was disabled.

09-18-2002, 11:37 AM	#12
Nugget Senior Member ITYT Navigator Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: AUS [Austin, TX, USA] Posts: 610	Well, at some point during the past week they broke the site rendering it impossible to search for flights if you have your regional settings configured to display dates as "18 Sep" instead of "Sep 18". Date entry forms all (as you might expect) request dates in DD/MM/YYYY format, the date-selector calendar thing returns dates in that format, but the form itself pukes on any date format, even MM/DD/YYYY. I had to change my regional setting back in order to search for a flight.

09-18-2002, 05:10 PM	#13
dbaker Senior Member ITYT Captain Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: IAH/HOU Posts: 2,354	The entire site was completely down for about 15 minutes this afternoon. It wouldn't respond to a single HTTP request.

01-26-2003, 06:44 PM	#17
merchanb Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: GUM Posts: 136	So? At least it sorta worked before . . . Initiating server query ... Looking up IP address for domain: www.continental.com The IP address for the domain is: 66.142.137.214 Connecting to the server on standard HTTP port: 80 [Connected] Requesting the server's default page. The server's response did not contain the expected 'Server:' header to identify itself. Therefore, server's identity can not be determined. Query complete. Initiating server query ... Looking up the domain name for IP: 66.142.137.214 (The domain name for the specified IP address could not be found.) In other words, it's even quit trying.

01-26-2003, 11:32 PM	#18
NWgoldelite Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Seattle,WA (SEA) Terminal S, and CO B gates. Posts: 238	Continental.com has been down since yesterday for me. I still can not access my seat assignments on my upcoming reservation or my e-ticket receipt. (8:30 p.m. PST) This website really is a joke. They need help from someone who works on the northwest website.