US AIRWAYS RESERVATION SYSTEM

[gizmo_sc]

Dont even try to do an INTERNATIONAL Reissue.. what a PAIN.... PHILLY has FLOW Delays... passengers cant get to International connection so I try to rebook via other cities. Any what does SHARES so....stop you dead in your tracks. I had one today Pax was flying to INDIA ,via Frankfurt. I had to reroute him IAD-LHR-BLE on UA/BA since the FRA-BLE was CODESHARE with LH, LH had control of the 3rd coupon and Shares would not let me reissue even with the FARE stored. Had to call LH get them to release control of the CHECKED IN status so the reissue could be done...TIME spent on this passenger. about 45 min. Then when I put him on UA IAD closed with THUNDERSTORMS and he comes back wants to go on to PHL. I told himif UA cant get you out tonight you have to come back to US and have us reroute you on SUN.

 

[PHX-F/A]

SOMEONE at the SANDCASTLE needs to really do an evaluation on the SHARES Reservations system. It might have worked for WEST for their small operation but for EAST Agents it is a TOTAL MIGHTMARE. As you all know well (agents on the EAST) if you make a minor change you have to go back and either ADJUST the PNR or redo the ETKT. I find myself trying to do this an all the passenger wants is to ask questions if you MISS a step it FAILS and you have to START over... GOD FORBID if you get a ticket from CHEAPTICKETS, PRICELINE that has to be REISSUED. WHAT a total NITEMARE. Plus if you are working TICKET COUNTER and you checkin a passenger that is traveling to ASIA with MULTIPLE connections. YOu can only PRINT OUT a 3 SEGEMENT BAG TAG. So one has to be written MANUALLY. I think it was one reported here that SHARES was a contact with EDS that we could not get out of. A lawyer friend of mine told me there is not a contract that can not be broken. So what if we had to pay a PENALTY. Would it have not been better to pay a PENALTY than to have to deal with a system than had all kinds of PROBLEMS for the PAST FEW MONTHS... Now for the best part... the NON REV LIST is the MAJOR PAIN....say a NR checks in at home.. and he/ she is at the top of the LIST and is not present to claim a boarding pass, before you can clear the list you have to REMOVE that LISTING to get others off the LIST. Even worse some NR's have problem listing so they do it AGAIN.. this puts multiple listing on the LIST and guess what... we have to REMOVE ALL OF THEM and dont have a LAST NAME that is over 8-12 characters long, Shares cant show all the INFO... WE switched back to SABRE FLIFO... lets go back to SABRE RESERVATIONS.....

Nope. I'm afraid they are digging their heels in on this one. They will spend more money trying to tweak SHARES so that it simulates what SABRE did, than if they had just switched all together. Classic.

 

[Dont call me Shirley]

Try looking up avail from MIA to BSB (Brasilia? QIK says there is no such thing. You can, of course, construct a connection. Hope you're up on Brazil geography. Who would have thought of connecting in MAO (Manaus)? QIK sure didn't. (Sabre did).



And don't get me started on reissuing a paper ticket (domestic or int'l) . A posting from a customer on another thread summed it up well. The customer was in BOS on a delayed PHL flight and waiting to be rerouted on (fortunately) an E-tkt. Also at the counter were several customers on paper tickets with connections out of FRA. According to the customer's posts, the agents "looked like they were about to cry".

 

[happy1]

Dont even try to do an INTERNATIONAL Reissue.. what a PAIN.... PHILLY has FLOW Delays... passengers cant get to International connection so I try to rebook via other cities. Any what does SHARES so....stop you dead in your tracks. I had one today Pax was flying to INDIA ,via Frankfurt. I had to reroute him IAD-LHR-BLE on UA/BA since the FRA-BLE was CODESHARE with LH, LH had control of the 3rd coupon and Shares would not let me reissue even with the FARE stored. Had to call LH get them to release control of the CHECKED IN status so the reissue could be done...TIME spent on this passenger. about 45 min. Then when I put him on UA IAD closed with THUNDERSTORMS and he comes back wants to go on to PHL. I told himif UA cant get you out tonight you have to come back to US and have us reroute you on SUN.

You should be grateful, thank your lucky stars, and kiss the feet of the person at LH who released control of coupon 3. We have an ongoing battle with them, and if they're on going to profit on the reissue they won't do it.

 

[gizmo_sc]

Oh I hear you on the PAPER TICKETS, on one of my recent calls to the HELP DESK, the guy that was helping me asked me if I knew how to do the process I had called about........MY REPLY, SIR HAD I known how to do it... I WOULD HAVE NOT CALLED... DUH...What is so FRUSTRATING is that when you ask a certain procedure that is done via SHARES.... most of the time they just do it and dont tell you HOW... very very FRUSTRATING..... When I started in this industry 17 years ago I was using PARS ( AKA Worldspan) and back then even with MANUAL entries it was much easier...... THE BOYS in TEMPE need to stand behind a busy INTERNATIONAL checkin desk for few HRS and feel the PAIN we go thru. FYI the new KIOSK are great.. but on WEATHER delays.. and Cancelled FLIGHTS...SHARES should not let a person checkin and check a bag just to have to be told by agents OH you are not going to make that connection let me see if we can rebook something for you. ALSO anyone finding the connect time for INTERNATIONAL flights in PHL are WAY TO SHORT...

 

[john john]

FYI the new KIOSK are great.. but on WEATHER delays.. and Cancelled FLIGHTS...SHARES should not let a person checkin and check a bag just to have to be told by agents OH you are not going to make that connection let me see if we can rebook something for you. ALSO anyone finding the connect time for INTERNATIONAL flights in PHL are WAY TO SHORT...

THIS IS A BIG PROBLEM THAT NEEDS TO BE ADRESSED with some kind of inhibitor/flag at the check-in process like SABRE had.
This results in the hubs getting dumped on with miss connections, baggage claims, and surprises to the customer when they go thru the whole check-in process and are told at the gate the flights is running late and you will probably miss connect. Do I board….. do I get rerouted to another flight……. What about my bag……

 

[Geek]

SOMEONE at the SANDCASTLE needs to really do an evaluation on the SHARES Reservations system. It might have worked for WEST for their small operation but for EAST Agents it is a TOTAL MIGHTMARE. As you all know well (agents on the EAST) if you make a minor change you have to go back and either ADJUST the PNR or redo the ETKT. .. lets go back to SABRE RESERVATIONS.....

Ok, Now that I have left this nightmare of an IT dept I can speak my mind.... Now the dept that does the QIK application....AAT or Airport Automation Team is the dept that has been an embarrassment to all of us from the beginning. Even before the merger we had problems with them. They don't want to do their job. They have a manager who protects them. Every other dept in IT has to prove that an issue is their problem before they will even look at it. In other words everyone else has to jump through hoops and troubleshoot everything and lock down that the issue is theirs before they will even look at it. When it would take 10 minutes for them to confirm it is their issue, every other dept has to take weeks to test, mainly because other depts have to do work arounds as we can't see all they can. We also have to be the go between for the customers and them because they won't call an enduser and speak to them. So instead of a 5 minute phone call to determine what the specific issue is, it turns into an ordeal of telephone tag, and is the correct information really relayed???
They are the ones who created the KIOSK mess and everyone in the IT dept is painted with that same brush. Not everyone in IT are totally incompetant but all the good ones are bailing quick and leaving behind the idiots so it is only going to get worse. They hired a bunch of new management that have been with the company for a year or less now. Instead of hiring from within, they went out and got idiots who have never been with an airline, don't understand what is needed on the front line and really don't care.
Those of us out there busting our butts working 80 hour weeks on salary ended up making less per hour than anyone in the company. At some points less than minimum wage! I was the last one in our dept who had any senority. Now the one with the most senority has about 2 years. So they really don't know what it was like. Good luck, I am going to a new company that actually cares about its people and has enough staff to do the job right.
I really did care about this company and tried my best to get what the front line people needed to do their job. Now the mentality is totally different. I hope it changes before it is to late.
Geek

 

[tadjr]

Hey Geek sorry to hear you left. I hope you understand (like those of us on the front line) that when we talk IT idiots, of course we arent talking everyone, but since we dont have a face to go with the obvious incompetence, it might have seemed that way.
One of the agents called the IT help team (one of the names listed on the "migraine relief" newsletter) and spoke to him for about 20 mins. He wasnt aware of this, he wasnt aware of that.... it was really comical. Then why are you on this list to contact if you arent even aware of the things that STILL ARENT WORKING? He didnt know that the last QIK Update in the computer was from June 8th, he didnt know if anyone was still updating it (obviously not) he wasnt aware who was getting the info we send in on QIK FIXES, but he says someone is reading it..... yada, yada, yada..... ok go back to whatever you were doing before, sorry to bother you.
Oh, and when we send in QIKFIXES, it still shuts the computer down and you have to reboot to do anything at that position. :down: Sorry, geek, I know there have to be good people out there somewhere, but the overall impression I've received so far is totally clueless.
Good luck on your new endeavor.

 

[apofurlough]

I watch you east agents work and have to hand it to you. I don't know HOW you all put up with this system. I honestly think that Tempe doesn't give a $h!t. Really, they know that you will all run around like chickens with your heads cut off and get these planes out the best way you can. They RELY on that. Bending over backward to do whats totally in your capacity to take care of our customers is one thing but it's DEPENDED on by the company EVERYDAY. Keep it up and all the promised fixes won't come because they see you GETTING IT DONE. Even HALF done to them is done.

We have found the best way to work with shares is to go next door to AA and look up any reroutes you need on SABRE and then come back and direct sell them into shares. Thank God AA is good enough to let us work on a computer system and then figure out a way to dump it into the nightmare we are saddled with.
It is annoying to the passengers when you walk away but most just grin once you explain that by using a computer system we can actually find a way to get you to your destination instead of just trial and error. There are so many routings not loaded into this nightmare that you know are out there. Thank you for the experience agents who know where each carriers hub is and can build connections. The new hires are totally lost because they don't know how to build a connection.

 

[tadjr]

Hey Tempe,

CHECK THIS OUT !!!!

OAG is offering a free trial.... NO COST. DO IT! SOMEONE register and GET THE FLIGHT INFO FROM SOMEONE WHO KNOWS WHAT IS GOING ON!
You can take turns signing up for free if you cant get it all done in one free trial period!
Hurry, cost neutral! FREE! FREE! FREE! It wont cost you anything!
HURRY!!!!!! :blink:

 

[Dont call me Shirley]

They have a manager who protects them. Every other dept in IT has to prove that an issue is their problem before they will even look at it. In other words everyone else has to jump through hoops and troubleshoot everything and lock down that the issue is theirs before they will even look at it. When it would take 10 minutes for them to confirm it is their issue, every other dept has to take weeks to test, mainly because other depts have to do work arounds as we can't see all they can. We also have to be the go between for the customers and them because they won't call an end user and speak to them. So instead of a 5 minute phone call to determine what the specific issue is, it turns into an ordeal of telephone tag, and is the correct information really relayed??? .....
they went out and got idiots who have never been with an airline, don't understand what is needed on the front line and really don't care.
Those of us out there busting our butts working 80 hour weeks on salary ended up making less per hour than anyone in the company. ..... I hope it changes before it is to late.
Geek

Very enlightening, though rather discouraging, post. Would any other major company tolerate an IT dept like this? Good luck in your new job, Geek. Thanks for trying.

He wasnt aware of this, he wasnt aware of that.... it was really comical. Then why are you on this list to contact if you arent even aware of the things that STILL ARENT WORKING? He didnt know that the last QIK Update in the computer was from June 8th, he didnt know if anyone was still updating it (obviously not) he wasnt aware who was getting the info we send in on QIK FIXES, but he says someone is reading it.....

Once again, I'm "shocked, but not surprised."

What will it take to effect some changes?

 

[REACC1]

We have found the best way to work with shares is to go next door to AA and look up any reroutes you need on SABRE and then come back and direct sell them into shares. Thank God AA is good enough to let us work on a computer system and then figure out a way to dump it into the nightmare we are saddled with.
It is annoying to the passengers when you walk away but most just grin once you explain that by using a computer system we can actually find a way to get you to your destination instead of just trial and error. There are so many routings not loaded into this nightmare that you know are out there. Thank you for the experience agents who know where each carriers hub is and can build connections. The new hires are totally lost because they don't know how to build a connection.

This is the truth! Da--, I wish we were this lucky, as to have Sabre near by.
On another note,
We actually have CO, NW, and DL boarding passes printing out of the kiosks unsolicited.
Blows my mind. Security issue anyone?

 

[tadjr]

On another note,
We actually have CO, NW, and DL boarding passes printing out of the kiosks unsolicited.
Blows my mind. Security issue anyone?

Are you sure they werent left there by someone making a conx to them? The kiosk does do interline etkt checkin at times and it could be a leftover from someone who checked in earlier? If not, definitely a computer issue, send a QIKFIX and dont hold your breath waiting for it to get taken care of.
Also since the names are supposed to match the boarding cards, unless someone with the same name walked up and found a boarding pass and was ready to go somewhere, its really just garbage.

 

[OldGuyinPA]

There are no words to describe how bad this system/company are...

The Board of Director's need to fire Dougweiser ...........

 

[as the prop turns]

Never happen. This company is making too much money for them. As long as that continues, we are stuck with him.