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DMN Analysis of Problems with UA Merger

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Old Aug 29, 2013 | 11:30 am
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DMN Analysis of Problems with UA Merger

Was scanning the Dallas Morning News for articles about the AA/US merger and came across this: http://business-news.thestreet.com/d...nited/12017518

Very intelligent analysis, IMO, and a great warning to all airlines regarding the pitfalls of allowing the smaller company's platform to serve as the model for the combined airline.
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Old Aug 29, 2013 | 12:02 pm
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Originally Posted by flyingmusicianlax
Was scanning the Dallas Morning News for articles about the AA/US merger and came across this: http://business-news.thestreet.com/d...nited/12017518

Very intelligent analysis, IMO, and a great warning to all airlines regarding the pitfalls of allowing the smaller company's platform to serve as the model for the combined airline.
I did see na article about 4 month ago about the ARM / US merger that says they will do the opposite as UAL.

A global airline cannot have a computer system from the 70s.

Read this
http://crankyflier.com/2013/02/14/th...screw-this-up/

Last edited by Ocn Vw 1K; Aug 29, 2013 at 9:06 pm Reason: Combine consecutive posts of same member.
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Old Aug 29, 2013 | 12:07 pm
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Originally Posted by mgs 1k
I did see na article about 4 month ago about the ARM / US merger that says they will do the opposite as UAL.

A global airline cannot have a computer system from the 70s.
UA's computer system was also from the 70s. So is AA's. There is a long, long thread where you can discuss it in more detail.
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Old Aug 29, 2013 | 9:00 pm
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1970s? Don't these systems date to the 1960s?
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Old Aug 29, 2013 | 9:12 pm
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Originally Posted by star_world
UA's computer system was also from the 70s. So is AA's. There is a long, long thread where you can discuss it in more detail.
Indeed, it was. But UA agents didn't use the native interface on UA, whereas they did on CO.

It's how undeveloped CO's system was that hurt UA.
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Old Aug 30, 2013 | 6:17 pm
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Originally Posted by channa
Indeed, it was. But UA agents didn't use the native interface on UA, whereas they did on CO.

It's how undeveloped CO's system was that hurt UA.
Another way of saying this is that many of pmUA's agents were neither trained nor capable of using the system directly but were rather dependent upon technology to make the technology which they should have had expert knowledge of work.
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Old Aug 30, 2013 | 6:41 pm
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Originally Posted by Indelaware
Another way of saying this is that many of pmUA's agents were neither trained nor capable of using the system directly but were rather dependent upon technology to make the technology which they should have had expert knowledge of work.
That's a pretty creative statement.

How about this. UA agents used technology to improve efficiency and reduce processing time for repetitive tasks, resulting in cost savings in staffing and improved customer service delivery times while maintaining an older underlying platform. Indeed, FastRES and FastAIR were built to do just that, not compensate for agent's technical knowledge. The airline ultimately could do more with fewer people and customers waited shorter amounts of time for tasks to be performed resulting in better service metrics.

[Unduly personalized text deleted by Moderator per FT Rules.]

Last edited by Ocn Vw 1K; Aug 31, 2013 at 8:43 am Reason: See above note.
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Old Aug 31, 2013 | 1:18 am
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Originally Posted by Indelaware
Another way of saying this is that many of pmUA's agents were neither trained nor capable of using the system directly but were rather dependent upon technology to make the technology which they should have had expert knowledge of work.
The assertion that CSRs should be expected to have expert technical knowledge is unsound. Their role is customer service and to fulfill it properly they need an interface that is simple and stable.
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Old Aug 31, 2013 | 7:31 am
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Originally Posted by Kacee
The assertion that CSRs should be expected to have expert technical knowledge is unsound. Their role is customer service and to fulfill it properly they need an interface that is simple and stable.
+1

I can only imagine if my company went back to some command line based version of Excel my guess is the outcome would be the same or worse than what happened with UA. I've never used command line software in my life and it would be a very steep learning curve.
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Old Aug 31, 2013 | 7:54 am
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Originally Posted by Indelaware
Another way of saying this is that many of pmUA's agents were neither trained nor capable of using the system directly but were rather dependent upon technology to make the technology which they should have had expert knowledge of work.
Says the person posting on the internet using a web browser and a computer operating system.

[Unduly personalized text deleted by Moderator.]

Last edited by Ocn Vw 1K; Aug 31, 2013 at 8:45 am Reason: Per FT Rules.
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