About 18 months after criticizing SAP Concur's booking tool displays, Delta Air Lines on Wednesday shared what it called a "sneak preview" of the new Concur Travel platform, which it said it helped to redesign.
The carrier displayed the tool Wednesday during a Delta Business Showcase event, moderated by Delta SVP of global sales Bob Somers.
The Concur redesign will be revealed at the upcoming Global Business Travel Association convention in Dallas later this month, Delta managing director of distribution Jeff Lobl said.
Delta in recent years has been critical of Concur's ability to display the full range of the airline's products and offerings. In 2021, Lobl implied that Concur's booking tool needed "modernization" in its display to sufficiently show available fares and bundles.
Lobl showed a Concur Travel screen that "looks a whole lot like a modern airline website," he said. It also displayed "all products that are available across all flights."
At the top of each product box is a description of what each product includes. For example, seat names such as "standard," "extra legroom," "cradle," and "lie-flat" would be standardized across all airlines, Lobl added. "That way, your travelers will understand exactly what they are buying without having to memorize the brand names of each individual carrier," he said.
Policy is "very clearly labeled," he added.
New Meetings & Events Product
Delta is transforming its meetings and events "experience to simplify and streamline our products and to provide innovative self-service tools," Delta managing director of sales innovation and marketing Sara Reid said. Over the next few years, all Delta's M&E products will be consolidated under a single product called Delta Business Meetings & Events.
The first phase of the transition will launch this fall with a new meetings and events application within the Delta Professional portal for agents, Reid said. "Through a series of simple questions, our new meeting request wizard will guide customers and agents to the meeting and events product most appropriate for your meeting."
Once the customer receives the recommended program benefits based on the meeting details provided, the planner will be able to create the meeting and view new on-demand reporting, updated weekly, which will allow for "tracking upcoming meetings, travelers and historic flow tickets," Reid added. The reports also will be downloadable, and Delta will honor either the event pricing or the corporate discount pricing, "whichever is better."
In addition, Reid shared that Delta Professional, released a decade ago, also would be redesigned with a "suite of self-service options."
Digital ID, Free Wi-Fi Expansion
Delta currently offers "digital identity" or facial recognition for screenings in Atlanta and Detroit, and plans to expand the offering to Los Angeles International Airport and LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy International airports in New York by the fourth quarter of this year, said Delta VP of brand experience Mauricio Parise, adding that the move would shave about a minute per person off the screening experience. Travelers will need the Delta app, TSA PreCheck and a passport saved in their profile in order to use the service.
Parise also gave an update on the carrier's free Wi-Fi rollout. It's on 500 airplanes now, and all 700 mainline airplanes will have the new technology by the end of the year, he said. In 2024, the carrier will begin to expand the technology to international and small regional jets.