okrogius

This isn't the relevant argument (as is the case in many other portions of this thread). Fastair is a keyboard driven overlay (yes, there is a GUI, but not all GUI systems are used with a mouse), it just automates common tasks reducing the amount of keystrokes required by a couple orders of magnitude.

UA-NYC

Yes, because there is a treasure trove of glowing reviews of dealing with CO agents on IRROPS issues and other flight-related tasks, and they're of course known for their great efficiency and speed, due to their amazing proficiency with a 1980s-style command line system (with shortcuts!) that makes it so easy on them.



Feel free to live in your own reality.

sxf24

I have never used Fastair, so thank you for your first hand (and objective) feedback. A keyboard driven GUI that automates common tasks would certainly be a valuable component of an airline reservation system.

Do you have first hand experience in regularly dealing with CO agents during IRROPS or are you basing your opinion on others' perspectives?

Dr_Adventure

I can only guess you have been living under a rock form 30 years - the primary purpose of software is to make tasks easier for elope and therefore give them more control

While there are a few people who like command lines - ONLY diehard computer geeks would argue in this day and age that command line is how you would build a system for a major industry with 1000's who must be trained.

fastair

Yes keyboard driven, where all menus are gotten to with a combo of shift/alt/ctrl and a function key, with another function key required after for many transactions. Not near as fast as typing exactly what you want from a command line. Highlighting various hot buttons per screen using alt+another key after navigating to a menu sure saves time over just typing the command (sarcasm.)

Now there are those that never learn the commands well, and for them, a slow crutch GUI is faster than calling for help or pulling out a reference book and experimenting. For me, native apollo is/was faster than fastair for most things.

This is not a defense of shares, as I have seen to many limitations of its functionality that I am used to be able doing, but for the proficient and intelligent, fastair was more of a box limiting our skills than a tool used to speed us up

okrogius

Out of curiosity, what things do you find it saving you time with?

And yes, agreed that those keys are likely not optimal. Keystroke comparison may be a tad exaggerated, and there are more metrics than keystrokes such as speed of the total transaction (which varies on your experience/training), error-proneness, total amount of "thinking" required to accomplish the task (e.g. there's a common usability "heuristic" of 3 clicks to get to whatever -- at least IMHO that's not useful as much as how easy those clicks are). Whether or not it's fast or at least should be faster, likely depends on a ton of factors including who you are, what training you had, and what you're trying to do.

However, at least in principle, the goal of such an overlay is two-fold of better efficiency and reduced training costs. Hopefully fastshares delivers on that reasonably ok. But UACO's decision process is somewhat hard to discuss without knowing the relevant cost figures (apollo licensing, training, whatever perceived productivity/service difference, fastshares development, etc).

Bonehead

We know the answer to this. As I have posted repeatedly in this forum, in my 10 years as a CO Plat CO agents have never let me down during IRROPs and issues have been handled expeditiously. Again, just because one or two posters repeat a certain mantra ad nauseum it doesn't make said mantra factual.

channa

That's good to hear that CO has done right by one customer. There are many other customers who have had IRROPS experiences with CO that were sub-par, and many customers with dual or multiple statuses who have the baseline which with to compare CO's treatment to another carrier's with like status.

Just because you repeat that ad nauseum dosn't make it factual.

That said, very good attempt at trying to distract from one of the core issues in that the SHARES system will likely be slower than Fastair for rebookings/reaccommodation. Fortunately, after seeing Fastair, even CO realizes this, and is working on a replacement for Fastair.

HeathrowGuy

The idea that SHARES is inferior for re-accomodation is quite misleading. In fact, CO's added functionality to SHARES often makes it more customer-friendly in the event of schedule changes and IRROPS to complex itineraries, as CO agents can reissue tickets on the spot while UA agents have to queue complex bookings for manual reissue, a process that can take anywhere from hours to months to complete.

sxf24

Yes, software makes tasks easier, but that does not mean employees are empowered.

Empowerment is correlated to corporate culture and employee attitude, not how easy it is different tools with the same capability.

To avoid the appearance that you're intention is to inflame, rather than contribute, to the discussion, could you please tell us the dates and circumstances when you had sub-par IRROPS experiences with CO and explain how UA accommodated you better under similar circumstances. In addition, it would be helpful for you to share an objective source that confirms native Shares will be slower than Fastair for agents who are equally competent in both systems.

Bonehead

That poster has, by his own admission, barely flown CO of late and so has little or no recent (at least) firsthand knowledge of that which he comments on.

fastair

???
I reissue them on the spot as well (PMUA CSR).

As to the question posed earlier as to what takes me longer on fastair than native apollo, anything that requires me to hit a modifier key (shift/ctrl/alt) plus a function key (f1-f12) then f3 again for next menus, select a choice on the next menu, before I can input my command. Sometimes the command will requires multiple selections of radio buttons as well (wither tab tab tab space, or another combination of alt+key.) There is no question that the GUI helps in many tasks, preventing invalid commands (each incurring GDS fees) from being sent to Apollo, and some of the drop down menus, like if I forgot the city code for a particular airport, I don't need to look it up in a profile, I can just use the f2 menu to show me a list of the pre-programmed options.

I guess I consider myself an artist, and like the ability to be an artist. Making an artist use a GUI instead of native tools to directly interact with the base system is like wearing generic condems...it kinda takes the feeling and fun out of the art.

One think I will like is the multiple application windows back again with Shares. Fastair has them as well, but they are software driven, where they can be covered up by the GUI overlay (or error messages) or the responce is directed by the software to a particular window, not always the one you want it to be directed to. (examples of when this would be handy is when building pricing records, unpricable tickets, or any form where one needs to copy something from another screen without it being covered up or written over.) Oh, and "S*" profiles. The fastair GUI cannot handle tab stops, so it goes from a gui interface into the native responce, then when you scroll down enough that a tab stop isn't activly displayed on the screen, it switches back to gui mode. On a 200 line profile (or an agency reservation,) displaying only 20 or so at a time with numerous tab stops, the constant automatic switching between native display and GUI is a BIG pain in the butt.

21A

Really? I believe AA still uses command-line SABRE with no GUI overlay, and if you get an experienced agent, they can move mountains for you very quickly (especially if you're an elite). Now, of course, PMUA agents won't be experienced with SHARES in the first few months, but that was inevitable one way or the other (PMCO staff would have had the same problem if the migration had been done in the other direction, and everyone would have had a learning curve if they had decided to go with the consolidated Star Alliance Altea).

entropy

I think you have that the opposite way...

Dr_Adventure

Yes ua is a simple process -CO IS COMPLEX