News

United moves to single website

6 Mar 2012 by ScottCarey7

United Airlines has taken another step towards completing its merger with Continental Airlines by moving millions of reservation records from two systems into one and redirecting continental.com to the new, single United website

United claims that the conversion to a single passenger service system was the “largest technology conversion in aviation history.” Although there were some technical issues which caused airport delays on Saturday, by Sunday United announced a domestic mainline on-time performance of 77.1 per cent, exceeding the performance achieved on the same Sunday last year.

The single reservations system has now been synchronised with dozens of related computer systems and thousands of devices worldwide. United implemented 1.7 million hours of staff training in order to fully prepare for the IT changes.

Bob Edwards, United's chief information officer and senior vice president said, “The teamwork involved in this conversion is unparalleled in aviation history. Everyone - the IT division, airport operations, customer service representatives, reservations agents, flight crews and our alliance and technology partners - performed with the utmost dedication and professionalism.”

The airline added 600 additional reservations agents worldwide to assist with calls during the transition; however, call volume and handling time continued to be high on Monday. The carrier says it is taking further steps to reduce call volume.

United has also been busy integrating its fleet by installing Economy Plus seating on all Continental’s B757s (see online news January 31) and aligning its Mileage Plus loyalty scheme (see online news September 21, 2011), branding (see online news February 24, 2011) and classes, as it moves towards fully becoming a single carrier.

For more information visit united.com.

Report by Scott Carey

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