AndyPatterson

With the merger, which booking interface -- AA or US -- will take over?

As someone who flies US Airways almost entirely for the DCA-BOS shuttle, I really like the US interface, as it shows the flights in chronological order, and gives the prices in all 4 categories (non-refundable coach, refundable coach, ditto for FC).

The AA interface, for the same route, is much less easy to use. The flights aren't in chronological order (can't figure out what order, if any, it is in), and the booking classes/fares don't show up on the main screen. When I log in, sometimes it kicks me to the AA website, and it takes some effort to get the "classic" US website. Am I doing something wrong with searches on the AA website to get these poor results? Thanks.

JDiver

Later this year, HP SHARES data will move to Sabre. Going on, Sabre will be the combined airline's PSS of choice.

Prior to bankruptcy, AA had a contract with HP to develop a new PSS, Jetstream, which one imagines would have been more Shares-like, or perhaps actually more like the current product they are selling, SHARES' replacement, called HP PSS; the Agilaire monicker seems to be less prominent on their reworked Pegasus RezView NG. In any case, under bankruptcy, AA and HP broke off the agreement.

But the new boss decided to go with Sabre.

aa.com does allow some sorting (price, number of flights, time, iirc). The sort order is shown in the horizontal header box on the left side when flights are presented.

dtremit

The AA interface does particularly poorly for codeshare flights like the US shuttle flights. Of course, after they move to one res system, those flights will no longer be codeshares.

I suggest you take a look at an AA operated route with similar frequency (say, LGA-ORD) to get a feel for how it works. Take special note of the tabs at the top that let you switch between views of the lowest fares in Y and F, refundable fares in Y and F, and F fares (refundable and not). Within those tabs, you can choose sort order pretty easily. Also note that unlike US, the AA system doesn't ignore the time of day you enter in your search.

I don't believe AA has made any long term decision to use Sabre -- they just decided not to develop their own system, and not to implement any new system until the merger is complete. When they cancelled the Jetstream contract, they said they expected to evaluate off the shelf solutions from multiple vendors.

JDiver

I'm implying nothing about long term PSS selection. They have HP PSS, Amadeus Altéa, Galileo, etc. to select from if they choose.

Bits of irony, given HP used QIK / SHARES, the U.S. HP merger went from Sabre as used by US to HP's system (a bit of hybrid remaining due to the continued use of DECS and now to Sabre.

We'll just have to see where this voyage takes us.

dtremit

Yeah. I am hopeful they will eventually end up with something better than either airline has today. I have fond memories of NW's Worldspan system, which was miles better than anything the legacies have kept. Still think DL made a huge mistake abandoning it.

JDiver

A PSS that can book 355 days out (including awards) would be nice - we could see those scarce awards on airlines like QF as they release them, not having to dig for leftovers.

I remember even with Sabre and we had access to EAAsy Sabre.