Clacko wrote:
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size="2">ua converted to pars in 1970 or so. there have been some improvements i suspect but they are still plodding. aa uses the same system. pars [programmed airline reservation system] was developed for high cost hardware & consideration was given to thruput and memory usage accordingly rather than users.</font>
Clacko - my recollection was that PARS is actually the name given to the system used by TW and NW (now owned by spun-off Worldspan); UA uses Apollo (owned by Galileo); and AA uses Sabre (owned by, uh. . .Sabre).
The Apollo system that is used by UA check-in agents (I think it's called Focalpoint, like the system used by travel agents) has at least a couple of different systems that can be used by agents, one is a form-driven system that has a less punitive learning curve and requires fewer key strokes, and one is a command line system that is much more flexible, but requires many more key strokes.
Greg