Bohemian1

While I think this is good in the long term, I expect there is going to be some serious pain as their agents learn how to use this. A lot of their little 'tricks' will have to be relearned or discarded.

Jasper2009

So true.

I'll miss the following conversations:

me: I'd like to book AC123 followed by LH456 in booking class Q."
agent: There's no availability in booking class Q."
me: I'm pretty sure there is. I'm looking at the availability released by LH."
agent: Ok, let me walk over to the Amadeus computer and double-check."
....
agent: You're right, sorry about that. Let's manually request that space."
(all ticketed within 5min)

Transpacificflyer

I believe part of the answer is in the AC press release;

To support Air Canada's international network, the Altéa Suite will help Air Canada achieve closer integration with its codeshare partners and within the Star Alliance – more than two thirds of which are also Altéa carriers.

The other components are;
- Altea most likely offers the languages and support network AC needs to further its growth in new foreign markets.
- Revenue opportunity- Altea most likely makes it easier to charge and collect additional fees for services and options.

daniellam

Amadeus Altea Departure Control (the check in side of the system) is very easy to use. It has a nice graphical point and click interface.

When CX first started using a few years ago, I was checking in for a HKG-LAX flight on CX and asked the CX agent to check my bag through a LAX-YVR flight on AC.

According to the agent, he had no training on how to do it at all! He somehow was able to easily go through the menus and choose the right options.

Here is a video as to what the system (check-in side) looks like:

daniellam

Here are a couple more videos (promotional videos from Amadeus):

Looks like that Amadeus may have been trying to sell their system to UA as well (since you can see sample flights like SFO-IAH in the promotional video)

They even have a function where several airlines using the same system can be checked in by the same agent. Eg. AC handling check-in for LH and LX departing at the same airport!

YYC009

I still like Sabre more.

yscleo

This last piece caught my eyes. Get ready for more charges and fees.

margarita girl

This is awesome news! I'll now be able to track flight changes on My Flights app, since AC is terrible at letting you know about schedule changes.

My Flights will even notify you about aircraft change, seat change, special meal change, etc. ^ Unfortunately, it only works with Amadeus bookings.

Plumber

I agree this is good news!

Its about time. This should make it easier for us as consumers to have better access to information and hopefully will align better through the Star Alliance network.

sbm12

Nope. Those are mostly business decisions. UA/LH managed to implement electronic upgrade requests across disparate systems because it was good for business.
Nothing.
This is a silly, irrational position for a consumer. The selection of PSS (within the pool of the major players) means so very little to the vast majority of travelers most of the time.

daniellam

I don't think any other *A carrier uses Sabre. With the majority of *A carriers using Amadeus, it makes sense for AC to switch to it as well.

Also, with Air Canada's new frequent flyer program starting in 2020 (Amadeus go live expected in 2019), this would reduce the amount of "phantom" partner award availability issues as the majority of the partners are all under the same system.

In addition, with Amadeus, everything is "under one roof". Amadeus has the concept of a unified PNR (booking reference). For bookings that involve multiple carriers (eg. LH, SQ, BR, NH) that are hosted in Amadeus only ONE Amadeus booking reference is used. Example: If an LH agent put a comment into a PNR that also has BR segments, a BR agent will also see the comment (assuming that viewership to the comment is not restricted by LH). When IRROPs occur, it is much easier to rebook passengers (including missed flights to other carriers also hosted on the same system). Also, in stations where a carrier has limited presence, they can have another carrier (also using Amadeus) handle ground functions such as check-in and boarding for them! All the agents at the other carrier has to do is sign in to Amadeus as they normally do and select the flight for that other carrier (provided access is given by the other carrier).

On the other hand, with Sabre, they have a "multiple sandbox" concept. Each carrier hosted in Sabre has its own sandbox (or partition). This functions as if each carrier has their own individual system. For a booking that involves multiple Sabre carriers (eg. AA, PR, LA, AS), a different PNR in each sandbox is created. For example, in a booking that contains AS and PR segments: AS would have its own PNR in the AS partition, while PR would have another in its partition. Any comments put in by an AS agent will not be viewable by the PR agent even if no viewership restriction is added. This is because they function as separate systems.

drgmobile

Will this system be able to do the following? If so, yay!

1) Remember my credit card number
2) Remember by passport and Nexus information
3) Avoid the need for me to copy and paste my locator numbers within Air Canada's own systems when I am logged in with my Aeroplan/frequent flyer number (i.e. on the mobile app or for upgrades)
4) Allow me to select seats when flying on Star Alliance metal on a code share

canadiancow

1/2/3 are already supported by AC mobile+.

4 will be possible if the other airline uses Amadeus.

Stranger

Not necessarily a good idea. Do you trust them with the information?

aircanada.com already does that, under certain conditions.

Passport and nexus: only for a specific booking but not across bookings. Which is probably a good compromise. Again, not sure I trust them enough to want them to store the information.

Booking reference: it does as long as the booking was made on the web site. It would be nice if this included all bookings on 014 with the aeroplan number. Including Aeroplan and OTAs.


That will be only if the other airline allows seat selection for the fare you purchase.

canadiancow

If you do everything on mobile, it remembers it all, forever.

I never have to type in the information.