channa

As we're only a couple months away from that ominous day in March 2012, I thought it would be good to compile a list of features and functions that we'll lose when United customers move to CO's systems -- all in one place to better help our United flyers understand what features and functions we may be losing as part of United's move to SHARES. This way, many of our fellow UA travellers who aren't familiar with CO will understand what items they may be accustomed to that may not be possible going forward with the CO system.

Please feel free to chime in -- if you have anything to add, or if I'm incorrect about something, please post or PM me, and I'll keep updating this post to maintain it as a comprehensive list.


UPGRADES

• Reduced Upgrade Visibility/Transparency -- no more "Upgrade: Pending," "Upgrade: Waitlisted," or "Upgrade: Confirmed" to display upgrade status. Phone agents also have no visibility into the upgrade system to help troubleshoot if there is a problem.
• Elite Upgrades with Ticket Issues -- CO's systems will not upgrade a passenger with an out-of sync ticket. UA's systems will upgrade irrespective of a ticket sync. So on CO, if there's a ticket issue you're not aware of or has to be dealt with at the airport, it will adversely impact your upgrades from clearing.
• UDU Waitlisting -- CO uses a sweep methodology to process upgrades, while UA waitlists when you're within your window. This means that with CO's sytems, when upgrade space is available, it is not immediately allocated inside the window (must wait until the next upgrade sweep).
• Reliable Waitlist Clearing of Instrument or Mileage Upgrades -- While CO's systems will waitlist upgrade requests for instruments and mileage, waitlists do not always immediately clear when upgrade space becomes available. It may be advisable to monitor the space yourself or use a third-party tool to call in and jump the waitlist should the space become available, but CO's systems fail to clear you.
• Authoritative Upgrade List within a Cutoff -- United stops clearing upgrades at about 4 hours out, creating a single, authoritative gate upgrade list that is followed and cleared at the gate. CO runs upgrades up until checkin cutoff, which means that the gate can be open, and there are two (2) competing upgrade mechanisms using different upgrade ordering priorities -- the EUA ordering scheme and the airport upgrade list (e.g., #7 got upgraded before #1 because EUA did it not the gate, and #7 was really #1 with the EUA system, even though he was #7 on the gate display and PDA site).
• Systemwide or Regional Upgrade Requests at the Airport or Gate -- CO does not have the ability to pull miles or instruments at the airport. All upgrades must be requested ahead of time over the phone or the web, 24+ hours out.
• Upgrade Instrument History/Tracking/Auditing/Detail -- CO's systems provide only the date the upgrade was redeemed and type of upgrade instrument used (e.g., Regional Upgrade debited on 12/21/2011), whereas UA provides the specifics about the upgrades used (flight number(s), flight date, pax name, etc.).

RESERVATIONS & TICKETING

• Instant Ticketing -- United tickets reservations instantly, whereas CO queues them for minutes to an hour (sometimes more).
• Multiple Unused Tickets Against a New PNR -- UA can exchange up to three (3) unused tickets against a new ticket on a new PNR. CO's systems require that the ticket remain against the existing PNR, so if you have multiple unused tickets, they cannot be combined into a new, larger ticket.
• Failure to Show -- CO's systems will immediately delete all remaining flights if you fail to be loaded on a flight. So if an agent forgets to or incorrectly boards you on your flight, you will lose your connecting, downline, or return flights. This is not the case on UA, as UA reconciles it later, so if you make the connection, you'll still be okay.
• Change Fees -- CO's systems charge change fees as new money, whereas UA debits change fees from the ticket value (e.g., a $500 ticket on UA with a $150 change fee changed to a $350 ticket will be $0 out of pocket; on CO it would be $150 out of pocket and leave you with a $150 residual voucher).
• Award Tickets -- CO's system will not allow award ticketing at the airport or ticket counter.

MULTI-PAX PNRs

• Airport "Battlefield" Upgrades -- CO's system requires that passengers be on their own PNR when listing for an upgrade at the airport. UA can list pax without splitting the record and upgrade any or all of them without a split.
• Award Tickets -- CO's systems cannot pull miles from separate accounts for separate travellers on the same PNR. CO must generate the a PNR for each mileage account you pull from.
• Upgrade Instruments -- CO's system requires that all pax in the travel direction be upgraded by instruments out of the same account.

GATE AGENT FUNCTIONS

• Automated Ticket Reissues (to other routes/other carriers) -- CO agents have to enter far more lengthy commands to rebook a customer and reissue a ticket, often involving the helpdesk; UA has a wizard to void the affected segments and reissue them.
• Electronic VDB Lists -- While CO has an electronic VDB list, many (if not most) agents find it cumbersome to use, and as such ignore it and simply collect paper BPs and manage the oversale the old-fashioned way.
• History -- CO's systems do not provide gate agents with detailed history on various aspects such as seat or schedule changes.
• Seat Change Requests -- UA's systems have an electronic list to request a different type of seat (e.g., E+ if it's full, aisle, window, family sit together) that the GA processes in status order if able. CO's systems have no such functionality, and GAs have to stack paper BPs on the counter and process seat requests the old-fashioned way.

CLUB

• BP Scanning when Entering a Club -- UA scans your BP and if you're a club member or *G with int'l flight, they enter you that way. CO must swipe your card and manually enter flight details if applicable.

FUNCTIONALITY IMPROVEMENTS

• Electronic VDB Certs -- CO's systems can generate electronic VDB certs as opposed to paper certs on UA.
• OAL Itins in Reservations -- CO's systems will display award reservations wholly on other carriers in your manage reservations list. UA's system requires that at least one segment be UA to display.
• Post-Check-In Upgrades -- CO's systems do not require an uncheck/recheck to process an upgrade received after checkin. The checkin is transferred, and if you don't claim it before boarding, the gate reader will print it.
• EUA on Codeshare Itins -- CO's systems will process complimentary upgrades on codeshare itins, while UA's systems will not.

Jace

Sounds like a good start to the 2012 UACO IT enhancement list to SHARES system. Now it needs to be prioritized and split into projects.

EsquireFlyer

Very informative and detailed list. Thanks for the tips.

DCEsquire

...and so why did they decide to go with CO/SHARES then....

mduell

Almost everywhere it says "CO's system" it should say SHARES. It's already established in the opening paragraph that SHARES is a CO legacy system.

I think Timely is a better word to use than Reliable.

Cost.

UAL1200

In addition to knowing about the quirks of SHARES, it may also be useful to know a few basic SHARES commands. The CO FAQ has a decent list.

This is for the off chance we need to help the PMUA GA's and/or hop over the counter to add ourselves in as GS pax. The latter most likely to end tackled to the floor and spending the night in jail.

If anyone has a more complete tutorial, please post.

UAPremierGuy

Soo typical of the "new" UA. AA is looking better and better based on the above

UA-NYC

Great list. Downgrade is even more apparent now. Gonna be ugly. I've talked to a bunch of RCC agents who all say they won't be able to provide the level of service previously given due to systems limitations.

Now we need to have an equivalent thread of SHARES benefits over UA's systems

(Crickets chirping...)

halls120

This is why I was warned by a PMUA employee to avoid flying if possible during the changeover.

I get the cost issue, but why management is willing to choose cost over customer service is a mystery. They must believe most of us won't bail for AA and DL.

mduell

There are plans to deal with some of the limitations, like the FastSHARES interface in development for airport agents to expedite common processes. But the various sweep based processes have no development announced for conversion to triggers so far.

chitownflyer

Sounds like we are loosing features on the website and with ticketing, upgrading, and at the airport. The SHARES system obviously needs to be further developed. The problem with United's website is that it does not always work properly, but they at least try and develop the features.

joel67

A number of my travel agents in the past have themselves used Apollo, which allowed them to set up a reservation and queue it over to United without losing any details (like my seat assignments and upgrade types) or encountering synching problems. In fact, even if United did the ticketing for whatever reason, they often still had access to the record to make certain changes if necessary.

The thing I liked the most about this was that it was easy to select the exact flights and booking codes I wanted in a complex itinerary without having to fight a web interface designed to "simplify" the process.

Out of curiosity, does anyone have a similar access method into CO SHARES or is it strictly an internal system that must be accessed through a limited public gateway?

SeattleFlyerGuy

Wow. That's sad to see. So what are the benefits? Are there any?

star_world

channa - are you are aware of the difference between a "system" and a "policy of one of the legacy airlines"? Your post above is full of scary-sounding hyperbole, which you are presenting as fact while completely neglecting to point out that you have absolutely no clue about whether these items will continue in the new airline or will be changed (and if so, which ones).

Unless you have access to some inside information that I'm pretty sure you don't have access to, this is just another scaremongering post that isn't grounded in fact. Are there some points above that are related to a limitation of a specific system? Sure. Does this apply to all, or even most of them? Absolutely not. New members to this forum who aren't aware of your vendetta would be well advised to use caution before treating this as gospel.

mherdeg

Can someone explain in a little more detail the idea that UA agents enforce fare and ticketing rules carefully, with lots of human intervention; while CO agents enforce fare and ticketing rules by punching it into the computer and seeing whether it takes?

We see this with, e.g., booking award tickets.