pdp8coder

I'll be an early tester of the merged system - must fly CLE to BWI on March 3rd and return March 4th. I'm booking as UAL to use a Type B voucher from UAL, but the flights are operated by ExpressJet (dba CO Express) and Colgan Air (dba CO Connection.)

Renard

Oh Joy...flying UA March 4th

lensman

What's the SHARES system? Does it relate to reservations or operations?

Does the date indicate anything about the merger of OnePass and MileagePlus? I will likely not make 2P this year but will make MM when lifetime miles are merged so I'm trying to figure out whether I'm going to have to fly as zero at some point in the first quarter.

dls25

Aargh...I already have a trip planned with a return on 3/3. I might look into rescheduling if this date holds. I flew US LGA-BUF on its first day using SHARES a few years ago and it was a mess. Do not want a repeat.

WineCountryUA

SHARES is the internal system CO uses to manage reservations. It is used by reservation agents, gate agents, ....


The issue is UA has middleware that provides an improved UI over the command line approach in the CO implementation.

fastair

There are other differences as well, some of them reasonably significant from a user (res/cs agent) perspective. Apollo (with or without the fastair shell on top of it) was (is) a more robust system that seems to me, at least to provide better real time responces when booking non UA/CO flights, some etkt functions when not flying on original ticketed flight, and gate management systems.

Something that doesn't apply to most of you, but when NRSA traveling, Apollo uses date of hire, while shares uses completed years of service....while it may seem like not a biggie to a customer, to an employee who is senior by under a year to another employee, getting on a flight (which is curruntly on UA dones by senority, down to the day) sorted by year instead of year/month/date, it is a biggie 15.99 years is different than 15.00 years. Lots of little things where the power and completeness of apollo are being replaced (IMHO again, others may differ) by a less powerful, slower, less robust tool.

It is, what it is though...will there be bugs? Most likely. Have they (and do they continue to) beta tested it? Of course. Will they be fully staffed on and around the cutover date, I have heard they will be staffed like an apple store on the date of a new iphone release.

Google says that airline GDS fees are over $7 billlion worldwide/yr, and looking at UA's 10k, they break "distribution costs" (GDS fees, credit card fees and commissions) at $912 million for 2010, of which, I think GDS fees account for the majority of that, if a significant portion of that can be reduced by using CO's system, there can be some big savings. I mean other airlines have "gone to war" over GDS fees (AA and Sabre) with the courts having to step in. ANy real savings without reducing distribution channels has got some positive impact to the bottom line.

halls120

The CSR had indeed started SHARES training, and isn't hopeful about the transition being all that smooth. Given how poorly COdbaUA rolled out the "new and improved" boarding process, I don't see how people can honestly expect this change to go any better.

As far as the "unprofessional" comments go, to each their own. I appreciated the heads up, and will not book any flights in early March. I realize a certain percentage of CO defenders will regard this agent's advice as treasonous, but I regard it as just the opposite. I appreciate the heads up, and this makes it just a bit more likely that I'll stay with UA, as I appreciate honesty more than I do "rah, rah, we're the best" cheerleading. ^^

mikel51

Its all good

emcampbe

It's November 6, 2011 right now, so my guess is any current "target" date for the transition to SHARES for March 2012 (almost 4 months from now) changes at least once by then, and maybe twice or more before the switch actually takes place.

MarkXS

It's not the website. Too many FTers seem to think Airline IT=Airline Website, when in reality any airline's website is just a very limited-functionality view into a very limited subset of all the things that have to go on behind the scenes.

Just like Charles Schwab's online brokerage website is NOT Charles Schwab's brokerage system.

LarkSFO

Let's start a game...

My guess: July 23, 2012

FlyingNone

=================
You would have to be standing on our side of the counter to "test" it. Your knowing and using the UA or CO website is entirely different than the computer system we will be using (SHARES). Training has started - two weeks for agents that work lobby and gates and one week for agents who do not work the gates.
Keep in mind we are learning a new "language". CO formats in SHARES has some similarities to Apollo but there are also many differences.
I have not yet gone to training. Feedback from coworkers who have gone through training is mixed. They all seem to agree that we will learn it (especially anyone who was originally trained on United's Apollo); obviously we have to; we have no choice. Let me just say that what we can currently do in 2-3 keystrokes in Fastair will now be, literally, much longer formats and entries in "sentence" form. This will be everything from booking and ticketing reservations, exchanging tickets, pricing, seat changes,... everything. Like anything else, there will be those who adapt quickly and efficiently and those that will be "stumbling around" for awhile. We will, however, not be left without help. Our helpers will be current CO employees who will be working with us and assisting us as one team at our counters and gates. I wish all of my UA coworkers well with their training. I don't think we can really guess how the transition will actually go until it happens in early March 2012.

halls120

Flyingnone - has the rationale for adopting a system that is not as efficient than the one it is replacing been explained to the PMUA employees?

colmc

SHARES is cheaper.

schley

I don't know the specifics about the differences and don't really care, unless it helps me clear the WL quicker.Tthey won't change it based on anyone's post on FT. Let the training begin and we shall see what happens come spring.

I really enjoy talking to CSR agents, but I hope this system doesn't cause us more phone calls.