United pulls the plug on viewtrip.com
 

This message direct from the Galileo folks:

"On Monday 8/12/02 United Airlines asked that
their itineraries would not be displayable on ViewTrip.com; they want the public to utilize their web site. So that capability was turned off on 8/12/02."

This explains all the failures discussed in the previous thread on this Board.

Don't shoot the messenger please! This is a sad turn of events: ual.com does not display free award travel itins, for example.

United.com shows my award travel itins just fine...


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When once you have experienced being a 1K, you will forever fly the friendly skies with your eyes set on 100% mileage bonus and SWUs, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return, every year!

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

Since I usually book direct with UA and credit the points to Aeroplan, I will no longer be able to see my itineraries in real time (including whether my upgrades have cleared).

Sorry -- I was not explicit enough. Your own award travel charged to your own account appears, as your MP number is in the PNR. However, if for example someone in your family is on a free award using _your_ miles, they generally refuse to put the traveller's MP number in the PNR, and thus ual.com doesn't see it.

Who do we complain to at UA? I figure those of use that use viewtrip are probably some of the biggest users of the UA web site.

John

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From a kiwi who can fly!

Not only that -- one would think UA would be happy to keep the extra burden off of their own servers, if all you want to do is "look" but not buy

On Viewtrip: All of my itenaries booked via our corp. travel department still show as of a minute ago. However, I have an award trip that does not show. Then again I'm not sure it ever showed.

The award trip does show on UAL.com along with the corp travel booked trips. So it it just UAL.com booked trips?

I'm agree with this Empress on this regard. UAL.com is limited to looking itin associated with a MP number. Therefore those of US who credit to another FF *A account are left out in the cold.
Though Empress: If you used the PTO, you could load from the Res System to check if your seat assignments are unchanged,

Could it be that bookings made via TAs are still shown on viewtrip while bookings made directly with UA doesn't?

That's certainly what's happening to me.

You're right. PTO will even show unassigned E+ seats. The problem is if I am on the waitlist for an upgrade, I won't be able to find out whether I've cleared unless I call UA. (viewtrip is very useful for this) UA seems to have this stupid rule that if you don't call in and 'claim' your upgrade with X hours, you'll be back on the waitlist (at least that's what the agent told me).

double post

[This message has been edited by AlmostThere (edited 08-16-2002).]

'Tis true. I had this happen returning CDG-SFO at the end of last year. It's not all that convenient (or possible) to log in to ual.com when your travelling outside the US.

John


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From a kiwi who can fly!

[This message has been edited by SoFlyOn (edited 08-16-2002).]

This sucks. What about all those millions of folks flying United that don't have an online ual.com account?

Plus, my partner award travel does not show up at ual.com (such as Aloha flights), but I could enter the United issued PNR at ViewTrip and it would bring these up along with the associated Aloha PNR.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

I've seen this posted before but I've never had to call in to "claim" an upgrade. Is this an international deal, or does it apply only to *A partners? It has never been the case for my domestic (US) travel.

I've only had this happen on international travel (waitlisting with a SWU).

John

You're right. Seems like it only happens on international upgrades. It's annoying and there's no way I have time to call UA to check on the upgrade status everyday. With viewtrip, I just make it part of my morning routine to check on the upgrade status.

Bad and stupid move UA. Probably a money saving move rather than to direct people to UAL.com. Why do they take away the most useful tools from customers? (United Connection and now viewtrip!)

I just an e-mail to the Web customer support people. http://www.ual.com/site/primaryNC/1,13494,2072,00.html

I await their response http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

I sent a "friendly" e-mail as well, this is stupid. In United current financial condition, why are they wasting thier own Bandwidth, Server Resources, Technical staff, etc... On something another company is willing to do for FREE...FREAKIN FREE! (Dr. Evil voice from Austin Power) (Not that I'm expressing my annoyance or anything)

Do we know that UAL or the UA division really didn't have to pay anything to Galileo for this?

Also, I'm sure there were incremental costs associated with supporting the viewtrip, and UA is not going to derate their own site. . .

Not that I'm saying this is a good thing for pax, but in UA's current financial condition, this may have been a good move (in fact, I'd bet it was).

Greg

viewtrip is owned by Galileo and is used for travel agents and other direct users to show clients their flight info, hotels, cars, or any invoice LIVE online.

Worldspan has http://www.mytripandmore.com

Sabre uses http://www.virtuallythere.com I believe...

i forgot the amadeus product...

-nate

If you register on united.com and purchase your flights on united (or another carrier) you'll be able to see them in the view itineraries section.

You can go into update profile from the homepage and add in OA FF numbers and select them when making your purchase so you'll be sure to be credited in the appropriate account.

Hope this clears some things up...

For Amadeus itineraries go to

http://www.checkmytrip.com

[This message has been edited by NickP 1K (edited 08-16-2002).]

Surely a *real* travel agent has better tools than just viewtrip to show their clients an itin.?

I believe most travel agents use a text-based system that would not be end-user friendly. Viewtrip provided a nicer front end for the passenger to view the itinerary. Plus, you don't need to go to the travel agent to take a look.

My own corporate travel department (Rosenbluth managed) emails my itinerary with a note advising me I can view it on Viewtrip.

Okay, but this requires one to make bookings strictly through ual.com, and to ignore other booking resources one might use. If they want to replace viewtrip then they should at least put in the same functionality that it had on Ual.com

Does anybody know of ANY other sites that allow you to enter in PNR's that work with United? Even if it requires registration, to be able to track many different airlines is key, and itens other than your own.

Viewtrip is working just fine for apollo travel agency-booked UA itineraries.

Some of my ual.com reservations are still showing on viewtrip whilst others are not. I have a SEA-LAS trip in December that appears, and a YVR-SEA flight in September that is there. However, two SIN runs and an ATL trip don't show....
I cant see any reason why those two still show and the others don't. They were all booked on the web.
Shame to see it go though

with Worldspan, I use FastClip that sends you an itinerary in your e-mail that looks almost like my invoice. I can also have Worldspan fax it... but the online viewing feature actually pulls up your PNR and can see flifo, weather, etc...

I think it's nicer... and my clients prefer it....

-n