SmisekEra1K

Indeed it is.

FlyWorld

Not for upgrades.

grahampros

Yes, essentially. It was one of the assets transferred to CO in the Frank era.

FlyingNone

============
If you can find the fast area, please let me know.

wpr8e

Not sure if this has been posted before.

http://i.imgur.com/tLdouMy.jpg


Full presentation here

http://media.corporate-ir.net/media_...esentation.pdf

unavaca

Is Aero just a Flex app running in a web browser? Maybe a standalone Air app? Looks like it from the screen shot.

flavorflav

Not that there's any genuine expectation of privacy in modern air travel, but some UA PowerPoint Warrior probably shouldn't put actual passenger names and flight information on a presentation that may end up on the web.

mgcsinc

I assumed the names were made up.

asphaltman

Sorry if previously posted, I couldn't find a thread.

Anyways, I was wondering the latest on updates to Shares? Was at LAX yesterday on the old CO side and was waiting for the gate agent on another issue, but a few things I noticed while waiting. One, both her and her co-worker at the counter had an amazingly amount of typing to do to clear standbys and finish up the boarding flight. I think we've all heard all the extra steps needed with Shares, but this was crazy and seemed so inefficient . Also the co-worker mentioned something about "Arrow" as some recently released buggy new system?? He talked like it was replacing Shares, but from my readings here, I though they were improving the interface not the base system. I just hadn't heard of arrow before. Any UA folks know of promising times ahead with the system?

Starblazer

Aero is a new front end and they are trying to do too much with it, IMHO. It used to be a simple Departure Manager replacement, now it's evolving into a "does everything and the kitchen sink"... and I'm not a fan of it in that aspect. As a GA, I love the fact I can see everyones connections and updates in real time, including gate and scheduled/on-time/late/departed indicators. There is still alot that you have to do in SHARES, but baby steps are better than giant leaps into the unknown.

And for all those SHARES haters.... I've used Deltamatic and SHARES.... as of today.... I'd have SHARES anyday than Deltamatic. IRROP booking is so much easier and intelligent on SHARES... Deltamatic IROP booking makes it painfully obvious that Delta doesn't want to give out money. Each system has their pro's and their con's (I've fixed Delta itineraries by pushing it over to SHARES, fixing them, and then pushing them back over)... but all in all... give me SHARES or give me something that beats both Deltamatic and SHARES... like possibly SABRE?

cerealmarketer

Thanks for the objective info. Interesting comparison with Delta.

RobOnLI

SHARES is still available to the agents. They are not forced to use AERO or FastAir or any other GUI-based app that I'm aware of. If they are more comfortable using SHARES and are well versed in the commands to do things like process standby and upgrade lists then by all means I'm for it. It means things happen quickly and efficiently and the GA is happy

-RM

username

I had an interesting conversation with an agent yesterday. She is from the CO side and works at a UA hub now. She said that she had learned SHARES entries over the years and has compiled a notebook of the commands to use. She said many of them have their own. It does its job and is much cheaper.

She said that she had no problem explaining the SHARES commands to the older agents from the UA side. All these systems worked the same way - just different entries (commands) - so the older UA agents had no problem getting used to SHARES. She said the problem really occurred with younger agents who relied on the GUI. She said FastAir was really really simple and no wonder the agents who relied on it had problem adjusting. She said 3 years (?) after going to SHARES, there should be no excuse for people not able to do their jobs on SHARES.

I asked her about the rebooking process. She said the main difference is that SHARES cares about accounting for the fare differences while with FastAir, anything goes. She said "sure, it is convenient but UA did not even know how much money was lost as the result of the lack of control on this front".

On the subject of rebooking, it sounds like they still have a lot of flexibility - it is still about getting the passengers there. This is the main reason US is a no-go for me. She said that the new system (CARS?) works super fast but only rebooks the same booking class, which can be days later. However, they still can book on other carriers. Within Star Alliance, there is no extra cost for UA (i.e. if UA collected $100 for the trip, then UA will pay $100 to the *a partner). Outside the alliance, it is more expensive.

When I asked about Aero, she thought it is still not to the level FastAir was. So, I guess for agents who did not learn SHARES native mode, the struggle continues.

channa

It's not cheaper if it's somewhat responsible for the revenue performance of United since the cutover, let alone additional staffing at the gate and in the back office.

It may be cheaper to license, but it could be far more costly to operate.


Exactly. Commandline interfaces (CLI) are outdated for end-user facing systems, and younger generations are simply not accustomed to interfacing with computers in that manner. Most casual users of computers have not used a CLI in 20 years. Typically only computer support, engineers, or programming staff interface with a CLI.

Similarly, I wouldn't know how to use an abacus if someone placed it in front of me. But that doesn't mean I'm not good at math, or I couldn't do a job that required math. But if my company forbade the use of calculators and required that I use an abacus, I may need some remedial training in the legacy calculation technology in order to use it, and I would likely be much slower at it than I would be with more appropriate, modern tools.


Ticket accounting was a back office function. FastAir did exchange tickets, very much like SHARES does (take these 2 coupons and exchange them for those 2 coupons). The only difference was it took seconds rather than minutes.


This is not accurate.

1. CARS is an old system. The CA may even stand for Continental Airlines.
2. CARS runs manually, when an agent or operations initiates it.
3. CARS will take any seat in the cabin, even in a higher booking class.
4. CARS will run even if you've already been rebooked manually and may wipe out your rebooking.


FastAir had 10+ years of refinement behind it. Until it's fully deployed, fully functional, and they require everyone to use it, it won't get to that level. Plus since this is CO, not UA running the show, it may take more than 10 years to get to the same refinement level.

daniellam

Just out of curiosity, I wonder how many ex-airline staff / travel agents have left their jobs, went back to school and became computer programmers instead. Linux shells shouldn't be too difficult for them to master :-)