All CP's should have received this within the last hour from Travis Christ:

With the merger of US Airways and America West nearing another milestone, I’d like to give you an update of where we are and of some imminent changes to the new Dividend Miles program and usairways.com.

First, I’d like to thank you for your patience as we’ve begun the process of integrating the airlines. From September 27 through today we’ve accomplished a great deal, and, as you know, there’s a great deal left to do. Our employees around the world have done an incredible job of beginning the integration of some of the most complex business systems in existence, and we’ve found that in the vast majority of cases those systems are working well. If you’ve experienced some struggles along the way, I apologize for that, and I want you to know that we’re aware of the outstanding issues and we’re well on the way to complete and seamless airline integration.
Accomplishments

As we progress, it can be easy to lose sight of the positive work that has been completed so far, so here’s just a small list of our achievements to date related to the Dividend Miles program:
Earlier upgrade windows, the most generous in the industry
More destinations, award redemption options, and upgrade opportunities with our expanded route network
Elimination of the Saturday night stay on award travel
Dozens of new accrual, redemption, and upgrade opportunities
Introduction of the new US Airways World MasterCard
New service to four destinations in Hawaii and three more coming in Europe this summer
Launch of Swiss International Airlines and South African Airways as new Dividend Miles partners
I hope you’ll agree that these benefits alone, made possible due to the merger, have helped make the Dividend Miles program more valuable than ever and have made your travel easier and perhaps more productive.

Up Next

We’ve got two big milestones teed up for the month of May:

Launch of the new Dividend Miles program featuring:

Combination of FlightFund and Dividend Miles accounts into a single Dividend Miles account – no more transferring miles between the two programs
Debut of “auto-upgrades” and upgrade e-mail notification for Preferred members on both route networks
One-way mileage upgrades
Debut of new Platinum Preferred membership status
Improved online redemption options
Additional accrual and redemption options through Virgin Atlantic, Hawaiian Airlines, and other partners
Launch of the new usairways.com, which will be a re-branding of the americawest.com site with its easy-to-use features that allow for:

A single login to manage your Dividend Miles account and book travel
A streamlined booking process that will make it faster and easier to book your travel
Online seat selection on America West-operated flights
Automatic full-fare upgrades at time of purchase for Preferred members, based on availability
Ability to change or cancel most reservations that were booked online
On the Horizon

The final technical hurdle, integrating our reservations systems (full replacement of Sabre with Shares), will not occur until early 2007. This is the one that makes airline mergers hard as these are legacy, mainframe-based systems that are complicated and delicate. Until they’re merged we’ll continue to do our best to ensure that your ability to book and change travel with us is as easy as possible.

We’ll have details to follow for the events in May, but please know that our goal is for you to notice very little change, other than for the better. Please contact us at elitemerger@usairways.com if you have any questions or comments.

Thank you again for choosing to travel with us. We appreciate your business.

All CP's should have received this within the last hour from Travis Christ:


GPs got it, as well ;)

GPs got it, as well ;)

Make that lowly SPs as well too :)

^ :D ^

This is good news.. at least they are communicating the information to us!!
I can not wait to have this done and get a new card.. with one status...

MAY MAY MAY.. should be a good month :)

Anyone have any details about the one way mileage upgrades. Are these processed XX days in advance or at the gate?

This could actually be a bad deal for CP's, if everyone uses miles to upgrade ahead of time and we have to use miles to combat.

i was thinking, after i made the post in the other thread. i would have to assume that we can earn EQMs on HP (as *A). because if not, that would give HP fliers the upper hand since they'd be *A members, they could technically fly HP, US, and any *A partner since they have a US number.

Anyone have any details about the one way mileage upgrades. Are these processed XX days in advance or at the gate?

This could actually be a bad deal for CP's, if everyone uses miles to upgrade ahead of time and we have to use miles to combat.

Ummmm, and this is different from today HOW? :confused: Anyone can upgrade in advance with miles today. Sounds like we will be able to upgrade just one way going forward.

Anyone have any details about the one way mileage upgrades. Are these processed XX days in advance or at the gate?

This could actually be a bad deal for CP's, if everyone uses miles to upgrade ahead of time and we have to use miles to combat.

I would assume they work the same way as round trip upgrade awards, just at 1/2 (or 1/2+) the cost.

Nice spin on a lot of things that took nothing to do. I'm sure the other shoe will be dropping.

Among others, they forgot to add the accomplishment of increasing the FC *A Europe award to 125K. They are the leader in the industry, 25% higher than anyone else.

They are so proud of this, they quickly and quietly butchered the already blurry PDF award chart in the middle of the night.

As we have been feeling the pain, this other list of "accomplishments" has far more impact.

I bet they match AA and UA with 15K miles for a one-way F upgrade. Of course if they match the service.... :mad:

The real news is usually at the end of these little notes

"The final technical hurdle, integrating our reservations systems (full replacement of Sabre with Shares), will not occur until early 2007. This is the one that makes airline mergers hard as these are legacy, mainframe-based systems that are complicated and delicate. Until they’re merged we’ll continue to do our best to ensure that your ability to book and change travel with us is as easy as possible. "

I am not in the industry, but I do fly a bit. Possibly someone on the inside can comment. But this last paragraph seems to negate everything that was mentioned above. Sabre/Shares is the core of the operating system, without that being integrated, how can they do these other things? / do anything? Can someone explain? I'm not convinced.

Nice spin on a lot of things that took nothing to do. I'm sure the other shoe will be dropping.

Among others, they forgot to add the accomplishment of increasing the FC *A Europe award to 125K. They are the leader in the industry, 25% higher than anyone else.

They are so proud of this, they quickly and quietly butchered the already blurry PDF award chart in the middle of the night.

As we have been feeling the pain, this other list of "accomplishments" has far more impact.


Yupp, there is a lot of old news and news not announcing any improvement in that communication. But, I thought I should post it anyway. They are still hyping excessively capacity controlled "7 day upgrades", as an example.

I find it thrilling that no executive at US, although they have surveyed employees frequently during the last couple of months, have never surveyed their CP's, GP's or SP's. They probably don't want to hear facts, like a couple of people on this board who resent such facts.

I would assume they work the same way as round trip upgrade awards, just at 1/2 (or 1/2+) the cost.

Currently on the HP side, 1-way upgrades are 15K for most fares, 10K for higher fare tix.

Also, the number of seats available for upgrade are usually VERY limited...maybe 1 or 2 are ever available. Not fun for most people especially if you're trying to use miles to upgrade a companion.

Sabre/Shares is the core of the operating system, without that being integrated, how can they do these other things? / do anything? [/B] Can someone explain? I'm not convinced.
Just because they are different and not consolidated doesn't mean they can't talk to one another. Often many different functions live on independant systems that just depend to pull their data from the Sabre / Shares source. The new functions are most likely being implemented to conduct business "as is" with a small change in the code required down the road to maintain functionality even though the data source has changed.

Sabre conulting (mainly EDS) has been around for a long time. The knowledge around making a system (even as old as it is) do things is there and very rich. Same goes for Deltamatic, Worldspan, Amadeus, and the other CRS around the world.

...I find it thrilling that no executive at US, although they have surveyed employees frequently during the last couple of months, have never surveyed their CP's, GP's or SP's....

About a week ago, I was asked by US to participate in a survey on the "US in-flight experience", with suggestions for improvement welcome :) And I get 500 bonus miles for my time too!

Now, I'm not sure if any executive at US will ever read the results of the survey, but that's likely. Better late than never, I guess, in finding out what some of your better customers are thinking about the US flying experience.

The real news is usually at the end of these little notes

"The final technical hurdle, integrating our reservations systems (full replacement of Sabre with Shares), will not occur until early 2007. This is the one that makes airline mergers hard as these are legacy, mainframe-based systems that are complicated and delicate. Until they’re merged we’ll continue to do our best to ensure that your ability to book and change travel with us is as easy as possible. "

I am not in the industry, but I do fly a bit. Possibly someone on the inside can comment. But this last paragraph seems to negate everything that was mentioned above. Sabre/Shares is the core of the operating system, without that being integrated, how can they do these other things? / do anything? Can someone explain? I'm not convinced.

As a US (East) res & sales agent I understand and share your concerns. Later this year, the whole US network will move over to the America West system. Sometime before this happens, US East agents will be retrained to run the airline using Shares (the HP system). Until then, the two systems will run concurrently. Despite my initial concerns (and those of my colleagues), this has worked fine so far. For example, if a passenger calls and they have a wholly HP itinerary, I will transfer them immediately to a HP-trained agent who can pull up the reservation. Same in reverse. The merger went through months ago and I've not had a single problem that can't be solved quickly and efficiently.

When we all work on the same system later this year, any minor problems we have experienced will be ironed out. It's a huge task merging the systems of two large airlines but, I have to say, so far so good.

I have to admit I'm not looking forward to starting from scratch learning a whole new system, but I'd rather do that and work for a new airline with a positive future than plod on with the old US system and face the possible decline of the legacy US Airways (and the employment uncertainty that goes along with that..)

On another positive note, US Airways Europe has begun exclusively using the worldwide baggage tracing service 'Worldtracer' to monitor delayed bags. Baggage has been a major problem for US' public image lately, especially as last Christmas' mass walkout in Philly resulted in huge amounts of misplaced bags. As US/HP merge, the entire US network (not just the European stations, where I work), will begin to use this system, and the old US-based baggage tracing system (which worked well, when used properly by agents IMHO) will be closed down. As I also work as a baggage services agent, my gut reaction is that this will provide a much more efficient baggage tracing service (although expect some glitches as US-based employees get used to the new system.)

just a few thoughts from the Res floor!

I am not in the industry, but I do fly a bit. Possibly someone on the inside can comment. But this last paragraph seems to negate everything that was mentioned above. Sabre/Shares is the core of the operating system, without that being integrated, how can they do these other things? / do anything? Can someone explain? I'm not convinced.[/QUOTE]

Recently I was on a 757 SEA-PHX in 5C seated next to an EDS consultant in 5D. He was not involved w/ the US system but had some inside knowledge. He said he had heard that what they are doing is taking the AWA mask (they call it Quick it is a windows based GUI) and putting that on Sabre making the steps any rep does the same and then behind the scene's the Sabre system will interpit that into normal Sabre functionality. Basicly creating one system which I am sure will still have some limitations that will have to wait until a complete merger. All in all I think things are headed in the right direction!

At the top of this thread "Phoenix Flyer" posted Travis Christ's message that was sent to US East Preferreds. Below, is the message that was sent to HP Elites today. Mostly the same message, but with a few differences that address the specific changes on each side of the airline.

Dear xxxx
FlightFund #: xxxx
Elite Level: Chairman's

With the merger of America West and US Airways nearing another milestone, I’d like to give you an update of where we are and of some imminent changes to the new Dividend Miles program and usairways.com.

First, I’d like to thank you for your patience as we’ve begun the process of integrating the airlines. From September 27 through today we’ve accomplished a great deal, and as you know, there’s a great deal left to do. Our employees around the world have done an incredible job of beginning the integration of some of the most complex business systems in existence, and we’ve found that in the vast majority of cases those systems are working well. If you’ve experienced some struggles along the way, I apologize for that, and I want you to know that we’re aware of the outstanding issues and we’re well on the way to complete and seamless airline integration.

Accomplishments

As we progress, it can be easy to lose sight of the positive work that has been completed. Here’s just a small list of our accomplishments to date related to the FlightFund program:

* Earlier upgrade windows, the most generous in the industry
* More destinations, award redemption options, and upgrade opportunities with our expanded route network
* Elimination of award travel blackout dates for Elite members
* Introduction of the new US Airways World MasterCard
* New service to four destinations in Hawaii and three more coming in Europe this summer
* Debut of the new Chairman’s Elite membership status

I hope you’ll agree that these benefits alone, made possible due to the merger, have helped make the FlightFund program more valuable than it was before and have made your travel easier and perhaps more productive.

Up Next

We’ve got two big milestones teed up for the month of May:

Launch of the new Dividend Miles program featuring:
* Combination of FlightFund and Dividend Miles accounts into a single Dividend Miles account – no more transferring miles between the two programs
* Full access to Star Alliance benefits, including Star Alliance Silver or Gold Status, depending on your Preferred level, and mileage and redemption opportunities to over 800 destinations worldwide
* Additional accrual and redemption options through the GoCaribbean network, Bahamas Air, Air One, and other partner airlines
* Preferred flight bonuses when flying on select partner airlines
* Priority standby on all US Airways flights and Star Alliance partner flights

Launch of the new usairways.com, which will incorporate americawest.com’s easy-to-use functionality and will also offer you:
* Expanded international booking capabilities
* Ability to book all US Airways-operated flights
* Enhanced retroactive mileage credit
* Improved site navigation
* Ability to redeem frequent flyer miles on US Airways-operated flights

On the Horizon

The final technical hurdle, integrating our reservations systems (full replacement of Sabre with Shares), will not occur until early 2007. This is the one that makes airline mergers hard as these are legacy, mainframe-based systems that are complicated and delicate. Until they’re merged we’ll continue to do our best to ensure that your ability to book and change travel with us is as easy as possible.

We’ll have details to follow for the events in May, but please know that our goal is for you to notice very little change, other than for the better. Please contact us at elitemerger@americawest.com with any questions or comments.

Thank you again for choosing to travel with us. We appreciate your business.
With Warm Regards,

Travis Christ
Vice President, Sales and Marketing

thanks warbo ^
always appreciated your insight :)

About a week ago, I was asked by US to participate in a survey on the "US in-flight experience", with suggestions for improvement welcome :) And I get 500 bonus miles for my time too!

Now, I'm not sure if any executive at US will ever read the results of the survey, but that's likely. Better late than never, I guess, in finding out what some of your better customers are thinking about the US flying experience.

Thats actually cool and I am glad to hear it. I know that they have surveyed flight attendants on two occasions quite recently.

On another positive note, US Airways Europe has begun exclusively using the worldwide baggage tracing service 'Worldtracer' to monitor delayed bags. Baggage has been a major problem for US' public image lately, especially as last Christmas' mass walkout in Philly resulted in huge amounts of misplaced bags. As US/HP merge, the entire US network (not just the European stations, where I work), will begin to use this system, and the old US-based baggage tracing system (which worked well, when used properly by agents IMHO) will be closed down. As I also work as a baggage services agent, my gut reaction is that this will provide a much more efficient baggage tracing service (although expect some glitches as US-based employees get used to the new system.)
just a few thoughts from the Res floor!

That is great news regarding Europe baggage. Personally, I have never lost a bag on US or HP. But, I hardly ever check bags, even for a one week trip internationally. As an insider, you might want to strongly suggest that US put very significant pressure on the VCE airport regarding their lost baggage handling. It is entirely handled by a third party company, with no airline involvement in terms of actual baggage delivery. There is one little window outside of customs, usually with a very non-caring guy manning it...despite that the line for lost luggage numbers as many as 25 people. I have witnessed several occasions in Venice (with all airlines, not just US) where it takes more than 4 days to get a bag delivered to the traveler after it arrives at VCE on the next flight.

Very Good news...I hate having to tke my earned miles on my HP flights and using points.com to transfer my miles onto my DM account. I also am worried that my elite status will transfer over.

Interestingly as an elite in both programs, I received the US message, but not the HP message.
I technically am HP Silver, US Gold right now. US message arrived at 3:31pm pacific.

BTW, what events are occuring in May - just the new DM program or something else special?? I would love to see another lounge party like they did for the LAX club opening or even something cooler like the UA 1K events...

Interestingly as an elite in both programs, I received the US message, but not the HP message.
I technically am HP Silver, US Gold right now. US message arrived at 3:31pm pacific.

BTW, what events are occuring in May - just the new DM program or something else special?? I would love to see another lounge party like they did for the LAX club opening or even something cooler like the UA 1K events...


I am CP in both programs. The HP message is the same message but it was sent about 5 hours after the Dividend Miles message was sent. I received both.

Nothing new is happening in May except the merging of Dividend Miles and Flight Fund accounts.

. Of course if they match the service.... :mad:


Oh yeah, match it! Heck I would take ANY SERVICE in F! Why did they decide to take a meal out of F unless you fly like 20 hours??? Its b.s. When I hit CP (mid may) im headed to CO!!! Woohoo...meals in COACH, you have to be kidding!!!

Actually there seems to be a nugget or two in there. First (unless I missed this before) they are confirming that Virgin will be a partner for accruel and redemption of miles. Nice for European travel when one wants true biz and 1rst class TA service. I think folks were not sure if this would carryover from HP and it looks like they are confirming this.

Also, the one-way mileage upgrade is a pretty significant benefit for some. I fly one way a lot and can't upgrade since the fts are not RT. Especially on a Transcon redeye for instance I'd use the 15K miles instead of rotting in coach as I am rarely upgraded on these.

I think the automatic notification for upgrades is a nice little improvement for US East folks used to the archaic upgrade multi step process. though aspects of this dysfunctional system will still exist.

Would like to see CP desk extended to Platinum members, though very unlikely to occur (and I am sure current CPs would not be happy).

The reservation system and the frequent flyer system for these large carriers are separate. The Res system (typicall IBM TPF) provides daily feeds into the FFP system for segments flown. The FFP system provides some kind of query for status check and number lookup.

So, they can merge the FFP systems first. The Res system will be interesting. This information is a few years old so I am not sure...The same hardware that runs HP's SHARES system also runs many other carriers' system (I think that is why they called it SHARES). So, I would think HP/US will need its own box to handle the load (CO has its own box).

Then there is the need to convert all the PNRs over. SABRE <-> SHARES conversion has happened from time to time over the years. It is still a big task - what do you do when the conversion is going, for example. Until then, they can handle things just like how they handle other codeshare flights.

Yes, they can use QIK type of front-end on the Res to make the conversion easier for the users.

OK - So if I'm reading this correctly we'll be able to accrue miles on Hawaiian Air as well?

If so - that may work out well as I'll be heading to PPT in March.

-JC

Looks like they are getting close. Here are a few new pages. Looks like they are doing final clean-up steps for the cut-over.
#1 (http://www.usairways.com/dividendmiles/programinfo/acctnmbr.htm)
#2 (http://www.usairways.com/dividendmiles/programinfo/eupgrades.htm)

With the disappearance of 500 mi purchase upgrades after the merger date, are the only methods left to upgrade for non-status members going to be to buy a Full Y fare or use miles? In other words, will it be impossible to purchase an upgrade at less than the full F fare either before the flight or at the airport?

With the disappearance of 500 mi purchase upgrades after the merger date, are the only methods left to upgrade for non-status members going to be to buy a Full Y fare or use miles? In other words, will it be impossible to purchase an upgrade at less than the full F fare either before the flight or at the airport?
It appears that the AmericaWest classic method of selling upgrades gateside for $50 per 500 miles with a $150 limit per segment won out. This feature was very popular with my non-status friends who would do east coast jaunts and pony up the $150 for 1st class. All they are doing is eliminating the advance purchase/application of upgrades - you should still be able to purchase them at the airport and presumably throught OLCI in the future.

It appears that the AmericaWest classic method of selling upgrades gateside for $50 per 500 miles with a $150 limit per segment won out. This feature was very popular with my non-status friends who would do east coast jaunts and pony up the $150 for 1st class. All they are doing is eliminating the advance purchase/application of upgrades - you should still be able to purchase them at the airport and presumably throught OLCI in the future.


In all honesty it is not a bad price point... especially since you buy them when you use them... So $150 max is nice... (of course not including Hawaii and Europe).. but it is a good way for US to make $$$