lgwcalling
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This was emailed to all Dividend Miles Members today.
___________________________________________________________
Dear Dividend Miles Member,
Here we go, possibly the most important Merger Update we've sent so far. There's a lot going on, so let's get right to it.
First, the Reservations Migration — moving millions of America West and US Airways reservations to a single system. Now that it’s over, I’ll tell you the good, the bad and answer the popular, "why move to this Reservations system?"
And as if it wasn’t enough to be completing one of the biggest IT projects in aviation history, March gave us a surprise ice storm that socked our Philadelphia hub and caused problems throughout the East Coast. I'll give you a brief explanation and an apology for some mistakes we made as part of that storm.
Res Migration
Where to begin with the Res Migration? This was a major change in computer systems, and while it didn't go as well as we would have liked in some regards, it went better than expected in others. To give you some perspective on this type of project, airlines in the past have had to take out full page ads to apologize for complete meltdowns.
The Good
Please indulge me while I quickly rattle off some of the accomplishments made by a group of several hundred employees after 18 months of planning:
Our whole team is now on the same system. No more transfers when you call Reservations.
Combined ticket counters and queues at airports. Just tell the taxi driver "US Airways." No more America West.
Combined kiosks for all flights. No more figuring out if you’re on an "East" or "West" flight.
Faster Web Check-in at usairways.com where you can pull up your reservation using your confirmation number or Dividend Miles number.
A whole lot of back-end systems that you don't want to know about (like the back room of a sausage factory) just got a lot cleaner.
A great big thanks to all of you who asked for these improvements and stuck with us as we slogged our way through the merger process. As we've said before, this is the stuff that makes airline mergers hard. If it was easy, everybody would be doing it.
The Bad
As with any change this big, we hit a few bumps and sinkholes along the way, and there are some important issues to tell you. We took care of most of the trouble early on, but there are still some lingering issues.
For those of you who like the details, here's the real "inside baseball" on Res Migration. When we transferred the seven million reservations from one system to the other, approximately 1.5 million of them didn't "sync up" correctly and our agents had to hand-process each reservation. Many systems that were otherwise ready to go became bogged down with these reservations. We've since whittled the number of "out of sync" reservations to a very small number.
The great news is that any new reservations you’ve made since Res Migration (March 4) won't be affected.
A few other issues (many of which were caused by the out–of-sync problem):
If your reservation is out of sync, you may have trouble checking in online or at the kiosk. If you Web Check-in doesn’t work with your reservation number, try using your Dividend Miles number. If that doesn't work, call Reservations. We should be able to get your reservation back in sync on the phone so you can check in through our automated systems.
Kiosks in Charlotte, Philadelphia, Boston, Las Vegas and several other eastern cities did not convert smoothly during the migration. By now kiosk problems are down to a minimum, but we won't rest until they're back to their previous levels of reliability.
"This all sounds very clunky. Why didn’t you convert to a more modern system?"
Ugh. How much time do you have? The short version is this:
Most airlines were built on “legacy†mainframe systems from the 60's and 70's. These systems are deeply embedded in everything from reservations, to flight operations, to airport operations, to accounting. They are very reliable, but very inflexible. As our business changes, it’s as though we’re fighting with one hand tied behind our back.
You might respond: "So dummy, convert it to a 21st century system." We would like to do that and eventually will. Several technology companies are building more modern platforms, and we are in contact with them. In an industry where we lose money more often than we turn a profit, it's not easy to justify replacing a system that works with one that’s very expensive, untried and carries additional risk. But stay tuned; we'll get there.
East Coast Ice Storm
On a different but equally impactful note, I wanted to close with a quick discussion of this month's operational difficulties. As you likely know, every airline — including US Airways — was forced to cancel and delay flights due to East Coast airport closures over the St. Patrick's Day weekend. Ice and snow were the culprits, but that was no consolation to many delayed, misconnected and stranded US Airways passengers. As we go to press, the operation is back on track, meaning we're looking back at what we can do different and better next time (because, with weather, there will always be a "next time"). In the meantime, please accept my personal apology to those of you whose travel was interrupted by the storm. We are applying many lessons learned to ensure that this doesn’t happen again.
Thank you again for your patience as we refine the new Reservations system, especially if you were further inconvenienced by our weather-related delays and cancelations. In spite of these troubles, we've made great progress and there is more come. 37,000 professionals are working hard every day to earn your business and build a strong and vibrant airline. It takes time, but with Res Migration behind us, it's full-steam ahead. With many of our people and resources now able to spend more time focused on the future, we look forward to bringing you the consistent and reliable service that we know you expect from US Airways.
With Warm Regards,
H. Travis Christ
Vice President, Sales and Marketing
___________________________________________________________
I'm looking forward to everyone's opinion after deconstructing this letter. I'm going to the pharmacy to get some blood pressure medication and nerve pills!
lgwcalling
___________________________________________________________
Dear Dividend Miles Member,
Here we go, possibly the most important Merger Update we've sent so far. There's a lot going on, so let's get right to it.
First, the Reservations Migration — moving millions of America West and US Airways reservations to a single system. Now that it’s over, I’ll tell you the good, the bad and answer the popular, "why move to this Reservations system?"
And as if it wasn’t enough to be completing one of the biggest IT projects in aviation history, March gave us a surprise ice storm that socked our Philadelphia hub and caused problems throughout the East Coast. I'll give you a brief explanation and an apology for some mistakes we made as part of that storm.
Res Migration
Where to begin with the Res Migration? This was a major change in computer systems, and while it didn't go as well as we would have liked in some regards, it went better than expected in others. To give you some perspective on this type of project, airlines in the past have had to take out full page ads to apologize for complete meltdowns.
The Good
Please indulge me while I quickly rattle off some of the accomplishments made by a group of several hundred employees after 18 months of planning:
Our whole team is now on the same system. No more transfers when you call Reservations.
Combined ticket counters and queues at airports. Just tell the taxi driver "US Airways." No more America West.
Combined kiosks for all flights. No more figuring out if you’re on an "East" or "West" flight.
Faster Web Check-in at usairways.com where you can pull up your reservation using your confirmation number or Dividend Miles number.
A whole lot of back-end systems that you don't want to know about (like the back room of a sausage factory) just got a lot cleaner.
A great big thanks to all of you who asked for these improvements and stuck with us as we slogged our way through the merger process. As we've said before, this is the stuff that makes airline mergers hard. If it was easy, everybody would be doing it.
The Bad
As with any change this big, we hit a few bumps and sinkholes along the way, and there are some important issues to tell you. We took care of most of the trouble early on, but there are still some lingering issues.
For those of you who like the details, here's the real "inside baseball" on Res Migration. When we transferred the seven million reservations from one system to the other, approximately 1.5 million of them didn't "sync up" correctly and our agents had to hand-process each reservation. Many systems that were otherwise ready to go became bogged down with these reservations. We've since whittled the number of "out of sync" reservations to a very small number.
The great news is that any new reservations you’ve made since Res Migration (March 4) won't be affected.
A few other issues (many of which were caused by the out–of-sync problem):
If your reservation is out of sync, you may have trouble checking in online or at the kiosk. If you Web Check-in doesn’t work with your reservation number, try using your Dividend Miles number. If that doesn't work, call Reservations. We should be able to get your reservation back in sync on the phone so you can check in through our automated systems.
Kiosks in Charlotte, Philadelphia, Boston, Las Vegas and several other eastern cities did not convert smoothly during the migration. By now kiosk problems are down to a minimum, but we won't rest until they're back to their previous levels of reliability.
"This all sounds very clunky. Why didn’t you convert to a more modern system?"
Ugh. How much time do you have? The short version is this:
Most airlines were built on “legacy†mainframe systems from the 60's and 70's. These systems are deeply embedded in everything from reservations, to flight operations, to airport operations, to accounting. They are very reliable, but very inflexible. As our business changes, it’s as though we’re fighting with one hand tied behind our back.
You might respond: "So dummy, convert it to a 21st century system." We would like to do that and eventually will. Several technology companies are building more modern platforms, and we are in contact with them. In an industry where we lose money more often than we turn a profit, it's not easy to justify replacing a system that works with one that’s very expensive, untried and carries additional risk. But stay tuned; we'll get there.
East Coast Ice Storm
On a different but equally impactful note, I wanted to close with a quick discussion of this month's operational difficulties. As you likely know, every airline — including US Airways — was forced to cancel and delay flights due to East Coast airport closures over the St. Patrick's Day weekend. Ice and snow were the culprits, but that was no consolation to many delayed, misconnected and stranded US Airways passengers. As we go to press, the operation is back on track, meaning we're looking back at what we can do different and better next time (because, with weather, there will always be a "next time"). In the meantime, please accept my personal apology to those of you whose travel was interrupted by the storm. We are applying many lessons learned to ensure that this doesn’t happen again.
Thank you again for your patience as we refine the new Reservations system, especially if you were further inconvenienced by our weather-related delays and cancelations. In spite of these troubles, we've made great progress and there is more come. 37,000 professionals are working hard every day to earn your business and build a strong and vibrant airline. It takes time, but with Res Migration behind us, it's full-steam ahead. With many of our people and resources now able to spend more time focused on the future, we look forward to bringing you the consistent and reliable service that we know you expect from US Airways.
With Warm Regards,
H. Travis Christ
Vice President, Sales and Marketing
___________________________________________________________
I'm looking forward to everyone's opinion after deconstructing this letter. I'm going to the pharmacy to get some blood pressure medication and nerve pills!
lgwcalling
