AA Plans a Smooth Transition to Single Res System

American Airlines outlined its plan to smooth the way through the migration to a single reservations system later this year.

US Airways will move off the SHARES system and will join American on the Sabre system.

American is seeking to avoid the pitfalls of a sudden-death cutover by taking a “drain-down” approach. In other words, it will take steps ahead of time to minimize the number of US Airways reservations that will need to be moved on the big day.

American has not yet set a date for the move (big IT projects are notorious for delays). But it said that the 90-day phased process could begin as early as July, which would mean an October cutover.

Phased process
That phased process will begin with a schedule change that will convert all US flights that depart on or after the cutover date to AA flights.

That means any flights booked during the 90-day period for travel after the cutover will be American flights and will be in the Sabre system.

Any existing US reservations for flights departing after the cutover will be converted to AA flights and moved to the Sabre system.

The vast majority of passengers booking business travel during the 90-day transition period will have completed their travel by the cutover day, since they tend to book closer to departure. So most of the flights booked during the 90-day window will not need to be converted.

Frequent flyer programs
US Airways’ Dividend Miles program was absorbed into the American AAdvantage program in March, but not all policies on upgrades and other perks have been aligned.

Travel agents should remind their customers to pay close attention to any e-mails from the airlines on the topic.

Many of the problems that United experienced when it migrated to Continental’s passenger services system had nothing to do with technology; rather, when their frequent flyer policies on upgrades, seats, etc., were unified, a lot of passengers were surprised and irate.

They took to the telephone to voice their displeasure, tying up United’s phone lines for hours.

So to ensure that travelers receive upgrades during the 90-day transition period, agents should continue to book flights marketed and operated by the same airline – American or US Airways.