[Travelandtourism] SmartBrief: United Continental flights will move to 1 booking system

[Reese]

ASTA SmartBriefe final major step in the process of merging Continental Airlines into United will occur in the dead of night this weekend when computer systems for handling passenger ticketing, seating and frequent flier miles are combined into one. 
The cutover — the technical name for the process linking United’s system into Continental’s — is scheduled to begin on Saturday about 1 a.m. and could take several hours to complete. 

When the system comes back up, Continental.com will be rebranded as United.com. 
“By and large, these things go well,’’ said Robert Mann, an airline industry consultant in Port Washington, N.Y. “It depends on planning and training. Mostly, it comes down to how it’s executed.’’ 

Nearly two years in the making, the $3 billion merger of Continental and United into the world’s largest airline has required combining everything from labor unions and fleets to operating manuals and menus.

Even the new branding will reflect a little of both companies. While the merged airline will operate as United, it will retain Continental’s trademark blue sphere logo. The airline’s post-cutover website will also borrow heavily from Continental in both appearance and functionality.

The passenger services system provides the airline with a vital connection with its customers, taking reservations, providing tickets, assigning flights and seats, executing upgrades and managing frequent flier miles. 

“This is the largest part of the integration from the customer perspective,’’ said Martin Hand, United’s senior vice president of customer experience. “It is right at the top of all the merger integration tasks.’’

Once the computer systems are combined, the Continental name — already erased from most planes and no longer mentioned by air traffic controllers — will disappear from airports, tickets and travel websites. 

While tying the computer systems together is a monumental last task, United still has another big, merger-related detail to wrap up: labor negotiations with its pilots. The flight attendants ratified a new agreement Tuesday.

Michael Boyd, an industry consultant in Denver, said the cutover is “huge’’ in terms of complexity, but he said the Continental-United merger has unfolded so far without any obvious major problems.

“What they’re talking about (with the cutover) is mostly just dotting the “i’’ and crossing the “t,’’ Boyd said. 

On a typical Saturday, an estimated 175,000 travelers move through United’s eight hubs in the U.S., according to Boyd’s calculations. While flying traffic tends to be lighter on Saturdays, United took steps “to thin out the schedule a little bit more,’’ according to United spokesman Rahsaan Johnson. He wouldn’t talk about the specific changes.

Training leading up to the computer change has involved 10,000 employees, four dress rehearsals and a number of day-long training drills in different hubs, Johnson said.

On a recent conference call with industry analysts, United’s CEO Jeff Smisek said he was confident that merging the computer systems would be carried out smoothly. But in the event of problems, the company does have backup plans, he said. “We’ve been pretty thoughtful and conservative,’’ Smisek said. 

Glitches wouldn’t be unprecedented. When Virgin America carried out a system change late last year, its website experienced glitches for weeks, according to Mann, the airline industry consultant. U.S. Airways struggled through a disasterous computer switch as part of its merger with America West in 2007. 

United plans to have additional staffing in the airports and several hundred extra workers answering telephones to ease . “We know we’ll have customers who aren’t sure where to go,’’ Johnson said. 

The airline is advising customers to go to the United website before they leave for the airport not only to check their flight status, Johnson said, but also to check on gates and terminals. At Newark Liberty International Airport, Continental fliers used to departing from Terminal C may now have flights that leave from Terminal A. 

We’re advising customers flying on Saturday,’’ Johnson said, “to make sure they look for United signage.’’ 


Reese



Home of the low price guaranty

Peachtree Travel



reservations at peachtreetravel.net



770-280-5029