My perspective on Day one was pretty much as I suspected. Somewhat of a non-event until the computers "froze/went down" for about 15 minutes. I'm not sure why, maybe some kind of overload ? The passengers were all very understanding when we explained this as Day one with the transition to SHARES. Some were alittle impatient but we got through it.

What surprised me most was what the CO agents do not know about their own system/ formats/ policies, etc. I will cut them some slack....it is SHARES after all. But this is an issue that I feel should be addressed in briefings - basically the variance between what/ how they do things versus what/ how UA agents do things and where/ if we meet in the middle ?

One passenger asked me about purchasing an award ticket with miles. All I could do was refer him to PMCO's One Pass phone number. Even if I knew how to ticket such a thing (which I did know in FASTAIR), no one has told us (UA agents) what the codes are for Award and mileage tickets. I actually found that information (the booking codes) here on FlyerTalk !!

At this point it would be safe to say that many United agents (myself included) are winging it and trying to find out what formats and commands are most useful on a daily basis. When I asked a PMCO agent what phone number would I refer a person for Award tickets, he did not know -- "Oh, they changed the number recently, I don't know".

I think if I got that question even once (if I were him), I would have tried to find out what the NEW phone number was. This is their take on it - are we supposed to follow suit or should we be pro-active and try to find all these things out ? I know what I'm going to do.