Non-transparent technology

Tomorrow I am going out of town, on a Delta flight that is a Northwest code share. In other words, I made the reservation through Delta, and the flight has a Delta flight number, but the actual flight is operated by Northwest. I had purchased the ticket about two weeks ago, and received my e-mail receipt.

This morning, I signed onto the Delta site, brought up my itinerary, and tried to check in. No way, because the "check in" command button was greyed out.

I called Delta, and after about twenty minutes on hold, reached a live person, who of course said she couldn't find my reservation. After more searching, she finally did find it. However, she apologized and said even she couldn't check me in. Rather, I had to have my NORTHWEST confirmation number (which is different from my Delta confirmation number) and I had to check in at the Northwest web site.

I then visited the Northwest site and checked in. However, the experience left me puzzled and got me to think. Here was an example of where technology failed to mirror business processes. In order to have code sharing, Northwest and Delta had to have gotten together to negotiate the arrangements. There had to be communications between them and between their reservations systems. However, that communications and transparency didn't carry over to the Delta web site. If it had, that web site should have provided at least a link to the Northwest web site, and provided the Northwest confirmation number. In fact, to take transparency to its greatest level, I simply should have been able to check in at Delta.

Keep this incident in mind if you're developing a system. Make sure it mirrors the business process you're supporting. Make the technology as transparent as possible.