2012 Software Development Projects
Loyalty Tiers Project
Completed in 6 weeks. Customized Internet booking engine (IBE) to support dynamic elite tier membership (GOLD, SILVER, RED).
Changed first class upgrade purchase window. Gold members able to purchase First Class upgrades on the web 24 hours in advance. Silver members able to purchase 12 hours in advance. Normal NON elite members are able to purchase 6 hours in advance.
Complimentary Baggage Waivers. Up to 3 free bags for Gold and 1 for Silver.
Priority checkin at airport counters, use of priority lanes at TSA security and priority boarding at gates. Enhanced boarding passes to include tier status and boarding status.
Personalized web content associated with tier status on members account page.
Seats for Sale Project
Completed in 4 weeks. Customized Internet booking engine (IBE) to collect a non-refundable seat fee for preferred seats (row 5, 6, 9) within main cabin at time of booking.
Seat fee pricing logic is housed entirely outside Sabre PSS and customized within IBE. Service fee is collected and applied during both booking and change flows.
Waived seat fee for elite tier members.
Support priority boarding during checkin.
This enhancement is estimated to have generated approx. $8 million per year in gross revenue.
Mobile Site Project
Completed in 3 months. Collaborated with partner Usablenet on a new Virgin America mobile website using Usablenet web proxy solution.
Added support for mobile boarding passes in Apple iOS passbook format. We were one of the first airlines to support Apple iOS passbook boarding passes via a mobile website without the need for an Apple mobile app.
Self Service IROP project
Completed in 7 weeks. Allowed guests who find themselves in a situation where their flight has been cancelled or seriously delayed to be able to rebook or cancel their flight directly via the Virgin America website without penalty or additional cost.
This is custom functionality that is housed entirely within the Internet booking engine (IBE) and outside the Sabre PSS. A standalone SSIROP thick client was built for the airport operational control center to search for and tag flights as IROP into a custom database. Additional rules could be set to allow rebook or cancellations within a specific time period or to enforce departure or return to fall within a specific time period. When a flight is IROPed the guest would simply go to the website, pull up their reservation and after executing the rules engine the IBE would waive the rebooking or cancellation fees as part of an involuntary exchange with Sabre.
Known Crewmember project (KCM)
Completed in 5 weeks. Built a Virgin America Crew database along with a full administrative web console to manage crew member status and integrated system with Known Crewmember (KCM ) network and servers.
The KCM is a new screening system that enables Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers to positively verify the identity and employment status of flight crew members. The program expedites crew members access to airport sterile areas, reduces passenger screening-line congestion, enhances security and makes airport checkpoints more efficient for all who depend on air transportation.
Project to improve Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)
Completed throughout 2012. Introduced process improvements and greater adoption of Agile methodology and principles that includes:
Incorporation of iterative fix and test cycles via automated and QA testing.
Defining code checkin policies and daily release schedule.
Enforcement of change control and accountability for each environment i.e. separation and segmentation of access to development, QA and user acceptance servers.
Greater collaboration among developers for transparency and peer review.
Automating regression testing via Selenium for improved software quality
Introduction of Buzilla for bug tracking
Adoption of Junit framework for developer level unit testing
Adoption of Maven and Jenkins for automated builds
Introduction of Git and GitHub for source control