March 3rd, 2012 System Integration Master Thread (PSS)
 

Thanks for the info. Good luck this weekend!

Thanks Shannon! I hope there are no problems!

Also, looking forward to watching the final CO landing on March 3 which begins the new United Era!

Thanks for helping the community out, Shannon.

Probably a simple question in the grand scheme of things but I'm flying Friday and Sunday with a companion. I've split the PNR to get one upgrade tomorrow and will attempt the second at the gate (hurrah the last time I have to play that game) -- assuming they aren't sold in advance as the system doesn't recognize there's an elite companion in the que, but that's besides the point.

What do I do on Sunday with the split reservation? How will it work under the UA system?

Also, I have a UA itinerary on Monday and a mixed metal on Wed of next week. I booked it using my OP number, but am I missing out on upgrade chances in advance by not having my 1k number in there, since the system is technically prioritizing me lower until March 3? Should I bother to call and get it switched?

Here's to hoping it's a smooth conversion for everyone. Best of luck to the entire UA team!

ETA: I'm apparently a glutton for :rolleyes:

Thanks for the consolidated info, Shannon.

any tips on how I can get economy plus for my spouse who is flying Mar 9-12--before the MM status match kicks in....Ideally, I'd like to upgrade her award ticket as the GS status would allow....but would gladly settle to get her in E+ instead of the back of the plane....

Just call the GS/1k desk and ask them to move your spouse. Never had an issue with this before.

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (BlackBerry; U; BlackBerry 9700; en-US) AppleWebKit/534.8+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/6.0.0.706 Mobile Safari/534.8+)

How will flights departing during the outage (e.g. CO 1122, SFO-IAH, 00:31) be handled? Is the hope to bring the system back up in time to process this departure?

From what I have learned the system will not be back up as that is 2am cst. UA are predicting it will take 3-4 hours starting at 1am cst. However I am interested to know how it will be handled. The first Co metal flight with the new UA code is the first flight from LAX-IAH Which departs at 00:30 pst. Flight 1158

Just rolled into my email (flying EWR-GRU on Sunday)
 

Just rolled into my email:


We look forward to welcoming you aboard United for your flight this weekend.

Please note that on March 3, United and Continental will be integrating our reservations systems.

Below are some tips to ensure a smooth travel experience during this period:

- Online check-in will be available until 1am U.S. Central Time on March 3. At that point, there will be a scheduled system outage lasting approximately 3-4 hours, and we will be unable to serve you online or over the phone during that time.

- If you are unable to print your boarding pass in advance, or if you have bags to check, please allow extra time at the airport. Additional staff will be available at the airport to assist you.

- Effective March 3, all flights that were scheduled to operate as Continental Airlines (CO) will be operating as United Airlines (UA). Be sure to check united.com or monitors at the airport for correct terminal and gate information.

For more details, please visit us at unitedhub.com.

Thank you for your patience as we take this important step to deliver you a better travel experience.

Also, will boarding passes for flights on 3/3 from before the conversion (e.g. PMUA OLCI) be honored, or will they need to be reprinted to scan into the new system?

Saw the same on the united hub

Thanks very much for the update. My biggest question/concern is outlined here -- namely that despite linking my accounts several weeks ago, the CO system (as well as the preview site) seem to have no clue about my 1K status. CO phone agents have to call UA to confirm that I indeed have status.

I'm hoping that the computer systems are just catching up and that all will be well after 3/3.

I have to say that having just made the switch from Delta, your involvement and willingness to interact and provide information has been a big selling point for me. UA/CO is lightyears ahead of DL in terms of how they relay news (good and bad) to their customers, as far as I can tell. Keep it up!

Good Luck this weekend!

Let's do this thing!

Unitedbots, roll out :D

+1

Shannon, I've a question for you.

I have never had a CO OnePass account. So, all my currently booked future travel has my UA MileagePlus number.

I know that going forward the OnePass style alpha-numeric frequent flier numbers will be used. I know from your previous posting that our legacy 11 digit MileagePlus numbers will continue to be valid "for some time."

The question is, do I have to call to convert all my future travel itineraries to my new alphanumeric MileagePlus number? Or will that be done automatically?

Thanks!

Thanks Shannon! I hope you have plenty of help on the Insider desk this weekend.

Well, the weekend started early in IAH. 1 March - Several flights overbooked by 10+; many angry customers; gates closed early on #1516, with about six showing up at +12min and gates closed after boarding some of the overbooked.
I took a VDB and have the WORST hotel ever, Park Inn in Houston. Smokey!!

and so it begins......................:o

Perhaps there will be some fare 'errors' or 'accidental' extra awardavailability.

Time to be extra vigilant.

Thanks! ;)
Flying ABQ/DEN/BWI (697/475) Saturday morning.

According to this site, your new MP number will be listed. If you don't know your new MP number, click on the URL listed below and login using your existing MP credentials. Your new MP number should be there.

https://secure.unitedmileageplus.com...tes/index2.jsp

Good Luck
 

Hoping all goes smoothly, especially since I'm traveling the 3rd and 4th.

There are several post-integration policies I've been waiting to hear 'official' word on - lots of speculation on FT. Those that come to mind off the bat are:
1) same day confirmed stand-by policy. CO's, UA's, or some combination of the two? I actually want to change my travel plans this weekend, so anxious to hear the response.
2) companion upgrades. Although I've read on FT that a companion in a separate record will be able to ug at the airport, the 2012 MP program info still makes no mention of this, and in fact clearly states 'a companion on the same record'.
3) REVUP. Will it still exist? What will the fees be? What about DEN and IAD?
4) GG Checkpoint, line 53. Will gate passes for United Club exist?
5) Not so much a question, but a plea... BRING BACK THE PREMIUM SERVICE to Hawaii markets from IAD,DEN,IAH,EWR. Please. Seriously, please :) Actually one question on this matter, now that these routes are TEMPORARILY no longer BF-like, are these specific markets still allowing for UC access officially?
6) For all of the above - can you provide any SHARES GG codes that would help us (and help agents) when we run into problems, and we WILL run into problems.

this was posted ealier
and here

Although we've been told there will be one airline from the passengers' perspective, it looks like there will be separate areas for some time in the airports where the pre-merge airlines were in separate terminals. MCI's site, flykci.com , has posted that UA flights to EWR, CLE, and IAH will use Terminal C, while other UA flights use A. Can we presume it will be similar at BOS?

many cases are covered here Confirming the correct terminal for your flight -- not ever helpful for BOS however other than to say they still will be using Terminal A and B.

Shannon - any harm or advantage to use the mileage tool to move our UA RDM over to CO?

Is this impacting complimentary upgrades on 3/3? Mileage upgrades (domestic)? I have a flight on 3/3 where only 50% of the F cabin is booked, but no one is upgraded (including my waitlisted mileage upgrade).

Flying Sunday afternoon. I'm flying a PMUA flight and my parents are flying a PMCO flight, both ex-EWR.

1. Will we have trouble doing OLCI on Saturday?
2. How much time should we give ourselves in the airport? (I'm flying international; they're flying domestic. We are all checking luggage.)
3. Will we all be able to check-in together at the Premier Access/eliteAccess desk, as everything will have moved over to a single system?

My 2 CPU came through for 3/3, so I'd say no.

Hi belynch, thanks for the well wishes. For your flight Sunday, since your reservation is already split, your companion won’t automatically be recognized. Your best course of action will be to ask that your companion be added to the upgrade standby list when you arrive at the airport. As for your Monday/Wednesday trip, did you link your OnePass and MileagePlus accounts? If yes, I’d recommend leaving your 8-character (i.e. OnePass) number in your reservation. As part of the conversion process, if you change it to your 11-digit number, the process will just change it back when it runs.

Hi 21A, flight 1158 from LAX to IAH, and a handful of others, are in the same boat. Although we’ve said 3 to 4 hours, this time period is to account for all major systems to come back online with the most critical systems returning earlier in the window. When it comes to checking in and boarding for these flights, we have manual procedures in place and our co-workers at these stations are trained and prepared.

Hi 21A, boarding passes issued in Apollo will not be able to be systematically read by the gate readers on the new system. That said, it’s recommended that you continue to check-in at the time you normally would - regardless of which system is issuing the boarding pass. Once at the airport, the situation will be managed at the gate by either issuing new boarding passes or inputting manually. Each gate will be ready to use which ever option best fits the circumstances for the particular flight.

Hi GBadger, thank you for your kind works and we’re happy to have you at United! I wouldn’t worry about the preview site not reflecting your new status. This site is using older test data sources. I’m confident that our agents are seeing your status and advising you correctly and it is indeed taking out systems a while to catch up. But, if your status isn’t reflecting correctly by early next week, please send me a PM and we’ll be happy to check on this.

We’re with you Sulley.

Hi warreng24, you won’t need to take any action. As part of the integration process, we’ll be refreshing all reservations that have 11-digit numbers with the corresponding 8-character numbers. Your right in that you’ll still be able to use your 11-digit number to access information, but, when it’s displayed back to you, it will show your new number. For new reservations, you’ll be able to use your 8-character number from March 3rd forward.

Hi bmvaughn, not necessary (unless you need to do so to redeem an award ticket on March 3rd or 4th and wouldn’t have enough miles without doing so). But, no harm either.

Hi Wx4caster, I’ll have to get more info on a couple of these. But, to start:Hi jonu, systems are still running for complimentary upgrades for March 3rd. If you’d like me to take a look at the specific flight, please PM me the details and we’ll be happy to find out the status for it.

Hi joshwex90, you shouldn’t have any trouble checking in on Saturday since our major systems will be back online by early morning. As for extra time, it will partially be dependent on the airport and time at which you are departing. You will also all be able to check-in together at the Premier Access since, as you mention, everything will now be in the same system.

Flying at 18:13 (parents - domestic) and 18:40 (me - international), both from EWR. Thanks for the response though!

Best of luck dealing with the merger!!

Thanks Shannon! I was going to ask one of the questions that you just answered! Thanks for doing this, and good luck tomorrow!

I know this is a lot to suggest, but why not make online check-in available 48 hours or more available in advance of flights this weekend. I am flying March 3 and hopefully won't have a problem checking in online and getting my boarding pass. However, the real test will be for those flying Sunday or Monday. It seems it would be a good idea that instead of sending them a warning email, like I just received, that instead an email inviting them to check in now would be a better idea.

It's a federal law that prevents the airlines from doing this. OLCI used to be available at T-30 hours but that was changed several years ago.

-RM

What federal law?

I'm flying UA Saturday - there are definitely funky things going on online, but I'm going to get to ORD a bit early and hope for best/prepare for the worst.

As most of us are über frequent flyers, would love to see us set the tone, be patient and gracious to those helping and save your "I'm 1k, DYKWIM" for another time. ( or retire that attitude altogether :).

I'll miss the old CO so much, but change is inevitable so good luck to the new united team this transition weekend!

Too bad we don't have an answer about skykits that have yet to be redeemed.. Shannon, will this functionality still exis on the combined website?

Shannon,

Will the companion of a 1MM with 2012 GS status be matched to GS? Or only 1K?

Hi Shannon,

Thanks for all the helpful info.

I just checked in for my SFO-IAD redeye (3/2) departure, and IAD-BDL connection (3/3) 8:20 am departure. Both BP's were issued by Apollo. SFO-IAD leaves before 11 pm PT, so I imagine there will be no problem w/ the Apollo BP?

Would I need (or would it be helpful) to simply use my iPhone or a kiosk when I land in IAD after 5am ET to "Re-issue" a BP from the SHARES system? Or should I simply keep my Apollo issued BP and head to the gate?

The upgrades for neither of these flights have cleared and I want to make sure I don't lose upgrade priority etc. etc. Will I lose check-in upgrade priority when I re-check on the connector ?(although Y class row 3 on the CR7 is great:) )