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March 3, 2012 - integration day for SHARES res. system.

March 3, 2012 - integration day for SHARES res. system.

Old Nov 7, 2011, 11:00 pm
  #61  
 
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Let us be totally clear the ONLY reason we are getting SHARES is because that is what CO uses and as we seen so many times in this merger of equals - almost all of the systems that survive are the CO ones. Now - I've become increasingly concerned about this migration as I've seen and experienced how bad shares is because of its complexity. Iprops or upgrades appear to fool the system and can lead to legs being left on that are then unflown - leading to the remainder of the itinerary being cancelled - UA would be better off stayingmwithnfast air till fast shares is ready
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Old Nov 7, 2011, 11:41 pm
  #62  
 
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Originally Posted by Dr_Adventure
Let us be totally clear the ONLY reason we are getting SHARES is because that is what CO uses and as we seen so many times in this merger of equals - almost all of the systems that survive are the CO ones.
Not completely true. The two most visible systems (SHARES and co.com) are, but many of the other operational systems are using UA systems. I also think the .com enhancements look good as does the new mobile site.
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Old Nov 8, 2011, 12:28 am
  #63  
 
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Originally Posted by 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?
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Yes.....I don't know if I'm at liberty to explain.

Originally Posted by njcommodore
Such as?? There's a reason they call UA's website .bomb . You'll never see references to that in the PMCO side.
-------------------
But we're not talking about the UA website .... www.ual.com .... !! ---
We are talking about the Continental SHARES computer system that CSRs will be using - it's a whole different animal than the website or even the kiosks you use at the airport.
Let the chips fall where they may, I am reluctant to to give my true opinion, however, I have heard that SHARES originated with Eastern Airlines -- remember Eastern Airlines ?

Last edited by iluv2fly; Nov 8, 2011 at 3:59 am Reason: merge
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Old Nov 8, 2011, 6:16 am
  #64  
 
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I flew out of HKG in February, right after United agents took over the CO flights... It took three of them to figure out how to put a gentleman into the extra leg room seat, haha! Not sure if they even figured it out. I'm assuming they are now fine, but CO better be placing people all over the system in March!
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Old Nov 8, 2011, 6:25 am
  #65  
 
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Originally Posted by halls120
. You know, more keystrokes per transaction equals longer transaction time.
And a longer transaction time means more labor costs, which is why I don't get how SHARES could possibly be cheaper.

If this is anything like the US Airways cutover to SHARES, expect long, long, lines at the airport on integration day.
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Old Nov 8, 2011, 6:27 am
  #66  
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Originally Posted by PSU Mudder
And a longer transaction time means more labor costs, which is why I don't get how SHARES could possibly be cheaper.
It's only more labor costs if the same amount of output is expected from the worker pool.

If you eliminate some of the work through inferior customer service (i.e., the CO "No" culture), then some of the work goes away.

The question is whether that will work with the UA customer base who is used to being accommodated in accordance with Star Alliance rules.
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Old Nov 8, 2011, 6:31 am
  #67  
 
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Originally Posted by ual787
I flew out of HKG in February, right after United agents took over the CO flights... It took three of them to figure out how to put a gentleman into the extra leg room seat, haha! Not sure if they even figured it out. I'm assuming they are now fine, but CO better be placing people all over the system in March!
About March of last year I was passing through HKG with a fellow FTer and had an issue with my reward ticket that required agent assistance and CO RES told me to see the UA agent in HKG.

At the time a very nice UA agent did her best to fix our reservation in CO's computer and it was not easy. She was on the phone with a help desk who did their best to talk her through SHARES but it was a fairly herculean challenge.

Both the fellow FTer and myself were very appreciative for the agents hard work and were impressed with her diligence.

I have zero way of knowing if Apollo/FastAir would have made the transaction any easier, but I can say that SHARES did seem to require a ton of work to fix the situation.

Dan
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Old Nov 8, 2011, 8:24 am
  #68  
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Originally Posted by channa
How is that a proper comparison?
If someone is going to say that Apollo is better than SHARES then they should be talking about Apollo, not FastAir. That's how.

Originally Posted by channa
From a customer experience standpoint, the functionality and usability of FastAir to SHARES is going to be the proper comparison.
For the few months before FastSHARES (or whatever they decide to call it) is deployed, yes. But that's not what was being suggested in the post I was replying to.

While waiting the 30 minutes at the ticket counter last week for the GS rep (arguably some of the best trained/most competent) to fix my revenue ticket due to a likely misconnect in IAD she noted that she had just come back from training on SHARES and that she was having to "remember how to do it on this one" (meaning the UA system) as she worked to fix it. I asked about the training and just how awful SHARES was. She didn't seem too worried, other than that it is different.
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Old Nov 8, 2011, 8:28 am
  #69  
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Originally Posted by sbm12
For the few months before FastSHARES (or whatever they decide to call it) is deployed, yes. But that's not what was being suggested in the post I was replying to.
If it's just a few months, then why not wait it out and keep Apollo/FastAir for a few months longer.

I have a feeling this will take longer than just a few months...


Originally Posted by sbm12
she noted that she had just come back from training on SHARES and that she was having to "remember how to do it on this one" (meaning the UA system) as she worked to fix it. I asked about the training and just how awful SHARES was. She didn't seem too worried, other than that it is different.
Different is not the issue. It's the nature of the difference.

I can use DOS WordPerfect and get many of the same results as in Word. It'd just take me longer to do it due to the radically different nature of the interface.
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Old Nov 8, 2011, 9:00 am
  #70  
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Originally Posted by FlyingNone
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Yes.....I don't know if I'm at liberty to explain.
Thanks - I understand why you probably can't share the rationale.

If it takes more keystrokes to accomplish similar tasks, is UACO going to provide more CSR's, or are we going to have to live with longer lines at the service counters?
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Old Nov 8, 2011, 9:08 am
  #71  
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Originally Posted by channa
If it's just a few months, then why not wait it out and keep Apollo/FastAir for a few months longer.
Because the contract was up and they thought they'd be done with the other work earlier and the contract was not renewed.

Originally Posted by channa
I have a feeling this will take longer than just a few months...
We'll find out soon enough.

Originally Posted by channa
Different is not the issue. It's the nature of the difference.
And the agent said she didn't think it was going to be an issue. Maybe she's the only one, but that's the direct feedback I received.
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Old Nov 8, 2011, 9:14 am
  #72  
 
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Originally Posted by halls120
Thanks - I understand why you probably can't share the rationale.

If it takes more keystrokes to accomplish similar tasks, is UACO going to provide more CSR's, or are we going to have to live with longer lines at the service counters?
Furloughed PMUA employees have been called back to work.
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Old Nov 8, 2011, 10:48 am
  #73  
 
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I'm leaving SIN on Mar 3, hopefully they'll be going by Hawaiian time before they implement it, lol, whatever I'm via Tokyo, so if I misconnect to IAD they can pay to put me up in a hotel for the night.
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Old Nov 8, 2011, 2:17 pm
  #74  
 
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Originally Posted by 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. ^^
Likewise I've had conversations with several UA agents over the past few weeks and the message from each of them was clear: "avoid flying us the first few weeks of March if you can." These are all agents I've seen weekly for the past several years and I trust their opinions to be more than just complaining about yet another change. All of these agents have already gone through the classroom time for SHARES training and are now getting 2 or 4 hours each week at the gates to learn the system before March 2012 - they've all said it's not enough practical experience time.

After hearing several of the examples cited by them, I"ll be flying AA in March 2012. I've already gone through the conversion of CO employees trying to learn the UA system at a line station where CO has taken over the ground handling (it had been outsourced) -- after seeing the debacle that was for the first month whenever there were ANY issues with delays/cancellations/etc, I don't want to think about it on a systemwide basis with UA employees transitioning to SCARES.
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Old Nov 8, 2011, 2:41 pm
  #75  
 
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As to OP CSR comment, I agree it might be good advice. Today I asked a CSR rep if anything was likely to impact customers this weekend with a Single Operating Certificate, i.e. should I reschedule, not check bags, etc. I was told not to expect anything different this weekend, that the big change would likely be early March when everything went onto SHARES.

As to the actual IT systems, it sounds like contract talks with the UA vendor forced UACO into changing over early. It is also my understanding that SHARES is "More robust but slower, and somewhat more complex" (Same can be said of most command line vs GUI systems). Hopefully they prep as much as possible to mitigate in the short term. In the long term UACO may end up with a system that is both better architecturally, the same useability, and much cheaper.

If they have fully merged CSR operations by then it might make things smoother as well.
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