09-11-2018
07:09 PM
09-11-2018
07:09 PM
Thanks so much. Like you, I appreciate SW for their great customer service, and for their pricing. I hope to encourage my company and others to switch to SW, but need to avoid any accounting naysayers. I will contact SW directly, as I believe this airline is worth the effort, and as my purpose is purely to help their business by improving receipt format compatibility. Thank you for taking time to reply, and for your effort in helping others.
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09-11-2018
02:56 PM
09-11-2018
02:56 PM
Squirrel mail user / company choice, kinda locked into it. I have tried Firefox/Sea Monkey, Opera, and Chrome, but I avoid IE for security reasons. Yes, it is possible to print the display screen on a PC at the time of purchase, or to perform a screen capture immediately after purchase. That won't work when making a mobile purchase, or if the purchase is made by someone else (who doesn't remember to do the capture). Our company uses Oracle, and when users need to access an online report, the Oracle server simply generates a temporary online PDF which opens in the user's browser and can then be saved as a local PDF document if needed for records. This is done pretty much real-time, and results in uniform printable / emailable reports. It seems such a model should be easy for SW to implement, with the primary challenge being how best to asthetically provide a link to the PDF file from within a user's web account. As mentioned above, the receipt PDF's needn't be stored as PDF files in SW's DB, rather simply generated from SW DB online data on demand when a user clicks on a link, then opened in the user's browser with the option to be saved as a PDF if needed. It's much more green, and some users can even attach the PDF when submitting their reimbursement requests online (though not in my case, due to a "show-me-IN-MY-HAND" accounting model).
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I agree that you have said so before. But the info you've stated it is not universally correct, depending upon the browser/mail client used. My email comes via a webmail based client, Squirrel mail, and I use Google Chrome as a browser, either under Windows 10 or Ubuntu. Under this mail client, the text formatting appears as a right justified column, and the email spans a total of 9 pages. With this formating, important billing information takes about 5+ pages, not 2, so simply printing or making screen captures is not a viable solution. I have also tried copy/paste methods to get and print a more space condensed receipt: 1) I performed a copy/paste of the email contents into MS Word 2016 which results is 9 pages, which appears mostly blank with outlined transparent boxes which I assume to be tables, though they contain no words. Without any content, the resulting pages are clearly not useful. 2) I performed a copy/paste of the email contents into MS Wordpad, hoping that any HTML incompatibility might be avoided. This helped, somewhat. Wordpad shows a count of 8 pages (based on print preview). What's good: The content is there - traveler name, flight number, prices, etc. What's bad: Receipt info spans from pages 2~6 (ttl 5 pages), without any perceivable format (blocks, lines of space, etc.). Does that mean I don't believe you? No, not at all. I believe you are using an email client that reads and formats the text in the email you received to fit into 2 pages, including "...everything you need...", as you say. But, I don't have your email client, and clearly several other people don't, either. The sure solution is to provide a fixed page format which doesn't vary by browser/mail client. Several solutions would work, including various picture formats (PNG, GIF, etc.), text formats (MS Word - with given year/version, RTF, etc.), and of course, standardized portable document files (PDF), as are used for government forms. To ensure everyone's email receipt prints the same, SW could look into various email clients and browsers, and try to understand which HTML tags are incompatible with each mail/browser, and then adhere to a minimal set of common HTML calls to avoid formatting problems. But, what I am suggesting is the simple introduction of downloadable PDF receipts, as these would provide a fixed format document which looks, stores and prints the same for all PDF reader applications on all platforms, equally.
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09-11-2018
11:58 AM
09-11-2018
11:58 AM
Thanks for your reply. Agreed that, for printed webpages, etc. there is the option of adding / omitting header/footer info including URL, date and page info, accessible under one's browser. But what I'm looking for is an PDF file, not a printable webpage. My point was, with an invoice being generated by SW and stored as a downloadable PDF file, it's important that the PDF not include the page markings/indicators/headers/footers (printed inside the PDF) showing Page 1 of x, as any content is not editable by common viewers, and would therefore be printed.
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I recently suggested flying SW in my office, was approved, and then booked the flights, paying for a co-worker to simplify booking. I then received the confirmation email spanning 8 pages with info crowded into a narrow column on the right, wasting lots of paper. So I checked the website for a better receipt, but got only a high level summary which didn't even list the second passenger on screen or in print. Also on the website summary, there appears to be an emphasis on personal RR points gained, which is not so good for a business expense report. SW's previous single page format is far better. I have a copy of a SW Receipt format which took only a single page, sent via FAX circa 7/2017. I would like SW to recreate and reintroduce a downloadable receipt via links in one's RR account, distilled into a standardized PDF file including the SW logo, and with all pertinent passenger and billing data fitted into a single page as a receipt, and optionally have a second and/or third page for any additional terms and legalese. This change is needed not only for business traveler reimbursements, but also to reduce paper waste for those who need a printed copy of receipts for their own records, and it helps keep SW more green. Also, please use common sense - do NOT print "Page 1 of 3" on the first page, as that requires all three pages to be printed when submitting a copy to accounting just so they don't feel they're missing something!!! Why not just use the current lengthy email, or, why not edit the current columns? Business expenses get audited. Turning in slightly different format bills for the same airline purchases looks fishy, and gets flagged. The current format receipt provided in email has billing-irrelevant verbiage in the middle of important passenger, billing, and flight data. A simple copy/paste of the email received into Worpad spans a full 8 pages, with 6 pages required to capture all vital data, plus 2 pages for additional terms. This is a terrible waste of paper for someone needing only a business receipt, and as the data is squeezed into a narrow column, it's also rather difficult to read. Perhaps this format looks better on somebody's special email client or browser, who knows? The one sure solution is to generate a fixed format page, and save the resulting Receipt/Invoice into a PDF file which is downloadable and readable universally on any modern computer/phone, printable as a well formatted and professional single page Receipt (the user can choose to print only the first page, or optionally all pages if ther terms and conditions are also needed).
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