zsmith2

I haven't seen this posted yet but if it has I apoligize. Just recieved this e-mail:

After months of planning, the merger of US Airways and America West is almost upon us, and if all goes as planned our companies will formally merge within the next two weeks. We couldn’t be more excited about this important milestone in aviation history and I want to take a moment to communicate a couple of things for you to know as we prepare for day one of the merged airlines.

First, I want to pass along the sincere gratitude of our 28,000 employees at US Airways and US Airways Express. You meet some of these fantastic people every time you fly with us, and I am honored to be a colleague of some of the finest aviation professionals in the business. All of us recognize that you are part of a distinctive group of travelers that make up the heart and soul of US Airways. Quite simply, Preferred members fly more frequently and generate a significant portion of our revenue. We value the business you bring us, and we thank you for putting your trust in us to help you succeed in your own business. Thank you for working with us for so many years.

The second reason I’m writing to you is to ask for your continued support as we implement the merger. You’ve undoubtedly heard the line in our recent communications that “merging two airlines is a complex task.” Well, it’s true. Our number one marketing priority has been to create a seamless transition for our Preferred members, from day one. To meet this goal, we’ve had literally hundreds of people from numerous companies working tirelessly since June on integrating our systems. We’re confident that we will be successful, and that you will be able to complete almost all required transactions on day one as easily as you do today.

However, as with any integration that involves complex information technology work and systems integration, we ask that you “pardon our dust” if, in fact, you do encounter a slightly more rudimentary process than you might be used to. We would rather be upfront with you about what we can deliver on day one, and while it is our goal to provide “one face” to the customer immediately, we know there will be bumps along the road (or perhaps “minor turbulence along the flight path”). More important than everything working perfectly on day one will be our attitude and response to any mishaps, and you have my personal commitment that we are ready to respond to any issues quickly and handle them appropriately so you can be on your way.

To that end we are taking the following steps to ensure our cutover goes smoothly on day one of the merger:

Our Chairman’s Preferred Liaisons and other Preferred Desk staff are trained and ready to assist you when you call, starting on day one;
For the first few months, we will still have two web sites, usairways.com and americawest.com. Eventually, we will have a single web site, but in the short term, continue to use usairways.com as you have always done. If you want to seek out new flight options not available at usairways.com, then move to americawest.com.
Once we announce complete details on the new benefits and services of the merger as early as next week, we will begin to respond to your e-mails.
We’ve built manual back-up plans for things like upgrades, in case our systems are unable to automatically process certain transactions.
From you, we ask for three things:

First, please read and save the e-mails we’ll send you over the next several weeks. They will have important information to help make your travel and planning work smoothly and will answer almost any question you have about the new airline.
Second, look for a specific and very detailed communication regarding our combined company’s frequent flyer program, including information for Preferred members.
Finally, continue to fly with us and look forward to a significantly expanded route network system and the same extraordinary benefits you’ve always enjoyed with US Airways.
Thank you again for flying with us so regularly, for being our best customers, and for your patience as we create the only airline you’ll ever need for business and leisure travel worldwide.