Airline Distribution System (Essay Sample)

Airline Distribution System
Name
Institution
Airline Distribution System
Benefits of Controlling Airline Ticket Distribution
Recently, major United States airlines have taken radical changes in market’s distribution, and one of the changes is controlling airline tickets distribution. The control of ticket distribution has brought about many advantages to major airline companies across the globe such as saving costs and that means coming up with a less expensive internet ticketing websites that bypass global distribution system as well as the associated booking fees (United States General Accounting Office, 2003). Internet ticketing has encouraged many passengers to book via internet websites, as they have perceived it as less expensive means of payment considering the traditional way whereby one had to visit the airline offices. Airlines have been able to trim the commission cost they paid travel agencies. Consumers who booked via the internet websites have benefited by being able to compare and access scheduling information and the price of their tickets independently, as well as access special low fare available on the internet (Paul, 2005). As far as the author is concerned, the strategy of controlling the distribution of airline tickets varies from one airline to the other because of different cultures; for instance, for a data vendor that is not global distribution system processes a booking made through Continental website and, on the other hand, Delta airline normally controls its ticket distribution through its computer reservation system. The strengths of airline distribution system are:
Stress-free and queue-free booking of tickets.
It is easier and quicker to use online booking platform through internet connection.
Many global airlines give incentives to its customers when they book online.
Booking online means that it is easy to track and compare prices.
The weaknesses of airline distribution systems are:
For an online booking system, the website should be well-designed to put in place a direct link to the database, which is an information storage location.
It should be reliable and if the system breaks down for various reasons, then information can be lost.
The initial installation is expensive and depends on how airlines tend to customize it.
In a scenario where the booking is made over the phone, staff must be used to make operations in the system.
A software glitch can cause one buy the same ticket twice and then one has to contact customer care and stress oneself for reversal.
Not all websites include taxes and charges in the costs when one start the booking process.
Initially, the government formulated the CRS rules and regulations that are focused on reducing the market power of airline-owned CRSs to prevent owner airlines from using the CRSs to gain a competitive advantage over non-owner airlines. With the use of CRSs rules, global airlines have come up with the capability of developing innovative ideas on the Internet to limit distribution. The government has also promoted innovation, particularly the growth of the internet and these innovations occurred in the framework of federal regulations (Koenig, 2011). The CRS rules and regulations have been effective in addressing biased pricing as well as getting rid of the need for the CRS rules and those anticompetitive practices enforced through case-by-case antitrust investigations.
Review of Delta Airline Website
Delta Airline website has a navigation bar that allows ease and consistent navigation through the website. It makes the website more user-friendly, for instance, there is distinct category for current flight status. As far as the author is concerned, Delta website pages are optimized, which may be attributed to optimizing images size, file format, avoiding unnecessary plug-in, avoiding text graphics, frequent website updates, avoiding multiple tracking scripts, and removing unnecessary codes and white spaces. Furthermore, the Delta airline search feature is optimized in the sense that when one searches a certain thing of interest, it will accurately respond to what is requested. The effective search feature may be attributed to including plenty of written content in HTML format, leveraging website links, and not using Flash and JavaScript objects on the website. Delta website is updated as all the recent information and breaking news are displayed; however, the site does not include a refresh link as it encourages users to search for updates. The frequent update of the website materials keep visitors coming back to receive news. The author perceives to be a great idea if Delta airline develop an automatic refreshing tool to enhance updated information.
Delta Airline contain an experienced comparison chart that specifies different seating options for passengers to choose, which would be the best for them. Delta Airline product descriptions is accurate, clear, and comprehensive enough to allow customers to make appropriate decisions, and can be attributed to the inclusion of visual images, and textual labeling of the product, for example, the “shop” link contains different hotel images, prices, location among other things. Despite integrating contact techniques such as mobile apps, Facebook and Twitter, the author believes it is not a convincing technique to customers and it may be discriminative to the passengers who do not have a smartphone. Therefore, the author would recommend the inclusion of the mobile phone number on the website homepage that would be convenient for the users in terms of seeking help. The products are not out-of-stock products flagged before the customer proceeds to the checkout process as customer can request for another product after checking out.
Delta Airline is involved in a security flight to enhance the security of domestic and international commercial air travel that requires passengers to provide specific information for many U.S. air travels. Moreover, users are capable of moving through the checkout process with a reasonable amount of time as the required links of the entire processes are included on the website (United States General Accounting Office, 2003). According to the author’s perspective, the payment options offered are not what potential customer desire. For instance, Delta Airline cannot accept some foreign-issued Diners Club cards among others. Most of the Delta Airline tickets are now electronic so passengers receive their receipts through their email address, which would appropriate for non-buyers. Safety is also ensured as long as the Elite Special Member Services line does not mail passengers ticket to another location other than the passengers billing address on record. Finally, ordering instructions are easy to understand as the language used is simple and precise.
Review of JetBlue Airline Website
It is easy to navigate through JetBlue Airline by use of its navigation bar, which contains distinct, consistent, familiar, simple, clear, ordered, styled, and visually separated menus that are easy to find and get users deeper into the site experience as well. The menu buttons on the navigation bar are of high contrast colors and legible text to attract customers’ attention. JetBlue Airline links have speedy response, which encourages passenger momentum of continuous engagement with the website. The JetBlue Airline search feature is more effective in comparison with Delta Airline, as it brings direct information based on a passenger request and it lists them as “Help Solutions” on the web page. Despite the fact that JetBlue Airline has updated information, the author perceives as a critical factor of integrating an automatic refreshing button probably after some time, which will enable users to have accurate transactions. However, the author would recommend having the search feature on the top of the page for ease of usability.
It is easy to compare different products offered on JetBlue Airline website, and when searching different hotels to use, the website displays the hotels available and the price that a customer requires. The display of the prices allows passengers to compare hotels in the number of options, such as price, time for departure or meals. For example, the website displays the top deals each day across various hotels in the US that help passengers to make concrete decisions (Perkins, 2012). The JetBlue airline prod...