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Subscribe to RSSUPDATED 12:15 p.m. PT: Customers of United Airlines saw improved service on Sunday as the airline worked through technology glitches during its combination of the United and Continental Airlines reservation systems.
On Saturday, United adopted the reservation platform of the former Continental Airlines after the companies merged to form the world's largest airline, now known as United Airlines and owned by United Continental Holdings.
But after spending months preparing for the change — including training about 15,000 employees on the new software — United said on Sunday that technical issues had flared up at airports across the system, causing delays.
In particular, problems with the company's airport check-in kiosks meant customers had instead to line up to see service agents, spokeswoman Megan McCarthy said.
"We did have some issues with our kiosks and at times that slowed the check-in process," McCarthy said, adding that the airline's performance had improved by Sunday morning as the company installed upgrades to the kiosks.
About 75.5 percent of United's mainline flights were on time — arriving within 14 minutes of their scheduled slot — on Sunday morning, as were about 87.1 percent of its Express flights, according to McCarthy. "Employees are working hard to take care of our customers," she said.
Original story: In a final step of its merger, United-Continental on Saturday performed a massive procedure consolidating two IT systems into one, a process called a “cutover.” The transition has gone relatively smoothly, though some fliers have been affected by missed connections and late departures and arrivals.
Some travelers reported about their experiences on Twitter:
- “Getting an upgrade on #United has never seemed less convenient or more expensive than it does now. Congratulations guys!,” tweeted @rogermud.
- “Flying on #United or #Continental today? Arrive early as they’ve completely bungled the debut of their new check-in system. #mergerfail,” wrote @owasow.
- “#United rolled out their new website today and it takes significantly longer to load,” @deanwampler tweeted.
- “If you’re flying #United/#Continental today & have the option to check in curbside, do it! Reading horror stories but curbside was a breeze,” said @ericschmoldt.
In an e-mail to msnbc.com, United Airlines spokesperson Rahsaan Johnson said one system is now supporting the carrier. "The system conversion involves moving millions of reservations and re-establishing numerous communications links. The vast majority of this work is going well, and we are resolving technical issues that we are identifying during this process," he said.
“As a letter grade, I give them a B-,” said Joe Brancatelli, frequent flier and publisher of business-travel newsletter JoeSentMe. Most problems, he said, have been reported at pre-merger United hubs such as Dulles International in Washington and O'Hare International in Chicago. Former Continental hubs, he observed, have not had as many problems.
As for the delays at Dulles and O'Hare, Johnson said the airline is working "to speed up airport kiosks, which at times have slowed check-in," but added "most of our flights have either departed on time or within 30 minutes of the scheduled departure time.
As of 5 p.m. ET, United's on-time percentage for departures out of O'Hare was at 16 percent, according to Flightstats.com. Out of 83 tracked departures, one was canceled, 28 were delayed between 15 and 30 minutes, 20 delayed between 30 and 45 minutes and 21 were delayed more than 45 minutes. By comparison, American Airlines' on-time percentage out of O'Hare was 85 percent.
“Barring an absolute meltdown, the electronic side has gone as well as expected,” Brancatelli told msnbc.com. “In fairness, I don’t see the gigantic problems we’ve seen with other cutovers.”
Recent history is littered with cutovers that didn’t go quite as planned. Perhaps the most infamous snafu took place in 2007 when US Airways tried to integrate the systems of merger partner America West. The result? Out-of-order kiosks, long lines, flight delays and lots of inconvenienced and angry customers.
More recently, Virgin America and Cathay Pacific have suffered IT-migration meltdowns that impacted travelers’ ability to manage reservations, access mileage plan accounts or talk to a reservation agent.
As for United's cutover, “people haven’t lost a seat or not been upgraded, but it’s not running as smoothly as it should,” Brancatelli said, adding that problems will be fixed in the days ahead, but said the issue today is moving people through the system.
Continental's last flight, 1267, departed from Phoenix at 11:59 p.m. PST on Friday and arrived on-time in Cleveland as United 1267 on Saturday morning.
The airline will stop using Continental's "CO" code. That means no more Continental Airlines tickets, or flights — even though the Continental name is still painted on some planes.
If you’re traveling today, Brancatelli urges carrying on your luggage if you can, printing out everything, leaving for the airport early and allowing plenty of time, and if you’re not flying over the next few days, staying off United.com.
“Don’t obsess that all the miles you’ve rode haven’t caught up. They will. Today is about people traveling now,” he said.
United and Continental have gone to great lengths to lay the groundwork for a successful transition. Earlier this week, United's Johnson said the carriers conducted four dress rehearsals, successfully migrating the data from United’s Apollo-based system to Continental’s SHARES-based one.
“As in any dress rehearsal, we figured out potential issues that might arise, fixed them and developed procedures in case they arise again,” he said.
The last flight will mark the completion of the takeover of Continental by United. NBC's Brian Williams reports.
Have you run into problems flying on United or Continental this weekend? Tell us on Facebook.
Information from the Associated Press and Reuters was included in this report.
More stories you might like:
- Weekend 'cutover' puts United-Continental merger to the test
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- How to handle kid-hating curmudgeons on airplanes
- Hate having an airplane seatmate? You have options
Leave a Comment:
it was not a "takeover" of Continental by United. Quite the opposite: United has been takenover by Continental. They kep the United name only. But all the rules and procedures are Continental's, and the results thus far have been disasterous.
Wonder when the name is going to change.
This is what I find when I google the take over: United, which announced its $3 billion-plus takeover of Continental in the spring of 2010.
Let me clarify...As a former Continental employee (now a United employee) this merger is actually a MERGER. Neither company takes over. As a whole, the Continental Brand was and is much stronger and more positively known world wide. The UA brand struggled for years due to service and aircraft appearance/accomodation. The combined airline now will operate under the UA name, but most of the UA management was done away with, being replaced with CO management. The airplanes will all be upgraded to the CO interiors with the exception of the seating capacities. The paint job will say United, but will have the CO logo because of it's service recognition. UA and CO stock was pretty close at the time the merger was announced. This is a complete merger and not a take over. If you want to dive into it, feel free.
Regarding the computer system: This switch to a single customer service booking system is hell..plain and simple. The reason United stations are having issues is because their original booking system has been replaced and the unfamiliar entries are causing havoc which is to be expected for the time being. Entries are different and the system is still be updated with all the UA info that needs to be in the system for it to work 100% effectively. CO stations are less affected due to they've already been using the system for years. Now both UA and former CO stations are incuring some difficulties because some of the entries are not operating while the techies are re-writing codes to include the UA and old CO aircraft seat maps, tail numbers. Keep in mind, CO was an all Boeing fleet, and UA had both Boeing and Airbus, different seat maps for the some of the same types of planes and also we are still using two different weight and balance systems for an expected 2yrs. This whole situation will get better, it will just take a little time to get all the bugs worked out and everyone up to speed on how to use the new combined SHARES program.
well said!
If the takeover was really Continental and all the rules and procedures are Continental's... then we are all in trouble.
Continental was a grade 'F' airline. They had no trouble looking you in the eye and lying to you. They cared nothing for their customers and it showed. I stopped flying them years ago. NOW, I'll make sure I never fly United.
Thanks for the tip Bill ~
yep as a frequent traveller and 1k the the changes they are making so far are a complete fail several of my reservations have been messed up. United bought them but everything they are chaning too is from continental. Doesnt make sense united had a better web site and easier way to look at flights the continental one hasnt changed in over 10 years.
Bad reporting on the part of NBC. Someone needs to check their facts.
This was not a takeover of CO by UA, but rather the opposite. Continental took over United but then chose to keep the United name because of brand recognition internationally. Unfortunately, the United brand comes with a reputation for pretty poor customer service. CO was in better shape financially, had a much newer fleet and a newer ticketing system. Just look at where all of the major executives came from, especially the CEO and CFO. The merged frequent flyer program kept the UA name, but that was just a rebadge of the CO program. Even their new livery is the CO livery with the United name.
They also did not transition CO to the UA ticketing system as Brian Williams reported, but rather they transitioned UA to the CO ticketing system and web site and then changed the name in the corner to United.
This was supposed to be a merger of "equals." Tilton wanted to dump the airline since he became CEO but could not find anyone who wanted it. The Delta NW merger then started heating up the merger talk. Most executives did come from CO and they are bringing a culture change to United. It is going to take time but it will get better. Meanwhile, the CO systems from the website, reservations, payroll, accounts payable and others are not sized for the volume of a company the size of the combined companies.
You are half right. This is supposed to be a merger, not necessarily one company taking over the other. Continental has a better reputation and brand recognition, so they chose to keep the logo. Continental also had more streamlined internal reservations procedures and a unique reservations system that is considered easier to use, so United switched to Continental's systems and policies.
As a 1K flyer on United there have been many glitches - the last 2 weeks any travel on express flights have been off from the United website. Boarding passes won't go to my iphone - now tonight I find out that my mileage plus account # from the last 15 years has been changed. When logging in - it doesn't show my reservations - I am not a happy camper. They sent out a packet with new account # - with drink coupons - there aren't enough to fix this mess. I can't believe that Continental had a better name or plan - in my opinion as a 1K on UNITED for many years - they let people cross the red carpet who TOTALLY should not be there. I hate Continental - I would NEVER choose to fly them - their airport check in in Seattle SUCKS. GO WAY CONTINENTAL!!
I flew out of an airport in the south two weeks ago heading to Los Angeles. They put my spouse and daughter on the plane and said the plane was overbooked/overweight and I could not board. So split up from my family which I thought was unacceptable, I had to wait 14 hours in this horrible airport for the next flight that could handle another passenger. Horrible.
I have been a longtime Continental customer, but will probably not fly the new United in the future. Purchased a ticket back in September for an evening flight out of Newarkthis upcoming June 2012. United/Continental canceled it sometime ago and never alerted me. They canceled ALL their evening flights. Period. When I discovered this last week, as an accident no less, I waited on hold for 2.5 HOURS to talk to someone about my flight and what could be done. They rescheduled it to a day flight without my permission and I can't make that time. So a flight I paid for and booked back in September with what would be about 2 hoursfly time is now a multiple stop 7 (going) and 8 (coming back) hour odyssey. When I finally got a rep on the phone, he did not introduce himself, he just asked, "What do you need?" I was a bit upset over the situation and he didn't care. The minute I objected he offered refund. When I said I needed an evening flight, he immediately said, "Obviously what ever I can do, will not satisfy you, so I recommend a refund." He never apologized for the phone wait and did not care about the inconvenience this caused me. I already booked the rental car and hotel, sometimes you pay a fee to change the hotel! I ended up waiting another 45 min to speak with a supervisor and she explained to me that ALL of the airlines are doing business this way and basically we (the consumers) have to accept that. While the supervisor got me a different flight on another airline, I am still flying much longer. No more United/Continental for me. In the past Continental could be counted on for decent customer service, NOW, completely unacceptable. I blamed the merger, the rep denied that.
You do not say where you are going and you do not say how you made your reservation. If you made a reservation through a travel agency, online, or through the reservation system you should receive an email regarding a schedule change, if you provided one. It is hard to verify information when particulars are not provided.
If that is to my post. I fly a lot. I use a lot of airlines and bundle as much as I can with one airline for the miles. I did not use a travel agency and I have received emails from Continental before regarding schedule changes. I am NOT a newbie flyer. They never alerted me. When I asked when the trip was canceled, the rep couldn't determine when it actually happened. As a OnePass member, they have my email address, trust me. I was flying Newark (Continental's hub to Little Rock, AK). I also have NO CLUE why You said this: " It is hard to verify information when particulars are not provided." Why are you trying to verify anything in my post? This is my story and it IS true.
I said that because I can check and see what happened only if I had some information. Like I am finding it hard to believe that it will take that long to go from EWR to LIT even with a connection through IAD, Not sure what time of night you wanted to fly either. So there are questions. I was not commenting on whether you were a frequent flyer or newbie flyer. The systems, up until this day, were separate. I am thinking that since the date of travel is fairly far out you were not notified since everyone for the past 4 months have been working on the switch to a single system and focus was on travel for this week and next week.
You sound like you work for them... here's what I am flying now: US 2609 EWR > CLT Jun 20 US 2625 CLT > LIT (It is about 6 hours with the layover-not even counting the time to get to EWR and getting through TSA) Coming back Jun 24 CO 4168 LIT > IAH CO 152 IAH > EWR
I was told all the evening flights for this route are deleted, I flew to this event last year on the evening flight and it saved a lot of time because it was direct. Originallly there was an evening flight out of EWR on June 20th direct EWR>LIT CO4694 7:30pm-9:32pm. That was the one that I booked. Like I said, I never received notification. I am just lucky I caught it. Not happy about the extended length of new flights, it kills the whole day. I used to get at least 2 free flights on continental in a year, because I would try to fly CO as much as I could.
LM, I am sorry for your experience. The reality is the individual you dealt with is a mindless functionary. I have come to the conclusion that, in this increasingly impersonal world, nothing matters save expediency and money. It was a good thing you caught the "mistake"in time. I trust nobody to do their job anymore and follow up as a matter of course. We need to stop flying. When the financial pain reaches the head of the "dinosaur" change will come....
On another story reported today, Tom claims he doesn't understand why an artist who uses endangered species as a medium has been sentenced to jail time. He's a troll, LM. Take him with a grain of salt.
This is a direct result of the deregulation everyone wanted 30+ years ago. More competition, better service, lower fares. Yeah, right! Be glad - be very glad - that Continental Airlines was the survivor of this merger and only adopted the United name for broader recognition. Having lived in Houston for years, I found Continental to be the most responsive, responsible air line in the country. Give them time to work out the kinks.
All the problems will seem simple once you arrive at the TSA
I hope Jeff Smizek dies a horrible death, he was CEO for Continental all of 3 months before he announced the plans for a merger. Continental was rated the 3rd best carrier in the US, United bottom of the bucket. Why, United employees for the most part could care less. This is how clueless Smizek is, United had already filed for bankruptcy in 2008, they were close to closing up shop. As it stood United was in terrible financial shape, the pensions were depleted, moral was low. Had he waited a year or so more, he could have had United for pennies on the dollar. Instead, he took Continental's pension and bailed out United.....didn't even get to keep the name....75% of the Continental employees will be out of the picture by the end of the year..and when its all said and done, United will still fail. Why, because you will still have the same employees and mentality that ran United down in the first place...way to go Smisek, yet another greedy bitch who sold his mother and the employees of Continental down the river after 20+ great years of building a fantastic airline with pride in its brand...may you burn in hell Smizek.
I blame Washington for approving another unnecessary merger. Both carriers were making profits, just not enough for their stock holders so they decided on a bungled 'the sky is falling' urgent merger as the Board Of Directors of both companies put "....in order to stay in business." Only 2 U.S. carriers that haven't merged into one and that's SOUTHWEST and ALASKA AIRLINES (thank you very much). A UNITED pilot lives down the street from me and he's retiring early. I asked him why and he simply put it "....too many asses ruining the once friendly sky airline." Since he's a pilot I take his word seriously. He also mentioned that he would have had a much better career in medicine.
So here we wait for the dust to settle from these 2 giant, profitable air carriers who had a mid-air collision hoping for even bigger profits. Don't hold your breath waiting for the same expensive lousy service awaits you just like all the other mergers, especially USAir/America West. And the powers to-be in Washington just love it. Hey, where else will they get all their perks and campaign money?
Southwest merged with AitTran, but since both airlines suck, who cares.
Well, they certainly pitifully bungled my attempts at booking a June flight to LA today. I tried to book on United's website and the site couldn't figure out the seat assignments. Then I tried booking on Priceline and two hours after booking my flight, I am told there are issues with the airline because of the United and Continental merger. Smooth? Hardly.
Needless to say the experience has been so frustrating that I will certainly never book a flight with this airline again.
Well, I'm flying to Phoenix from Milwaukee on Wednesday afternoon - Have flight numbers and confirmations with United - hope this works as I really need to play some golf in the sun.
Just rechecked - actually I'm flying out on US Airways and coming back on Continental - don't care if return flight gets screwed up....LOL
I'm glad so many people realize how inaccurate that video is. It was not a takeover, but a MERGER. And United is moving to Continental's reservation system.
Ramon, I think you're being a little hasty with your decision. They just moved United to the Continental system a few hours ago. There will be a few bugs to work out. Give it a few weeks.
I have beek 1K or Global Services with UA for years. I stopped using Continental years ago because of their horrible service. Now here we are as one (Ha!) airline. I sure picked the wrong time to book a one-way to Montreal...I tried to book the trip back at 4am this morning, ended up on the phone with someone who told me huh? what? can you hold? i'm sorry, i appreciate your patience...this program is slower..etc. While he fumbled I booked the trip home for tomorrow on US Air....at over $600 less!
I weep at the loss of Continental; they have the best customer service and their employees are always happy and courteous. When I get to the United side of the terminal, the United personnel are not happy, grumpy, and act like you owe them the favor of their company. Once we use up our Continental miles, am thinking seriously of changing our airlines miles/business to someone else, but they have almost disappeared. We are senior citizens and retired, and the Continental graciousness and efficiency was the bestest ever. We quit flying all other airlines and went out of our way to fly only on Continental. Now.........*sigh*
The airline industry should never have been deregulated years ago.
A perfectly great turned around airline, i.e. CO is now a mess! In mergers, there are no winners!
As a former Continental flight attendant (10 years) ...it really makes me so sad that this merger ever occurred....a family member also flies for United, and believe me, many of the United employees wish this merger never happened either. Greediness caused this un-necessary merging and the employees will suffer as well as passengers.
ANYTHING associated with @!$%#inental scarelines is not only a "hiccup", it is a full fledged PILE OF TOXIC DIARREAH !!!
@!$%#inental is the WORST AIRLINE in the history of aviation!!!!
And ANYONE WHO FLIES @!$%#inental IS AN IDIOT!!
It is very funny how people want to comment on somethings they have no idea about or who are not living in the situation! I have worked for United Airlines for over 15 years and have always loved my job. All companies go through financial struggles, UA did and filed bankruptcy and so did CO, who filed bankruptcy 3 times, in which some people have seemed to pushed into the back of thier minds. Everyone has their opinion but UA has been very successfull in offering thier customers innovative products, things that make their premium access great and something that has set us apart from other carriers. I have never been a disgruntled employee and neither has my co-workers. We live in the real world and understand that mergers do not happen over night, and it damn sure doesnt happen over night when you are mergering two large companies. Neither company has been better than the other in these tuff economic times, and employees from both companies have worked very hard to be successful at doing thier jobs as best they can with what we are given. Let me remind you, neither company's co workers asked for this merger!!! United employees have gotten nothing but grief, no one wants to recognize that we are making all the concessions here, with new managment, a computer system that was chosen because it is owned by Continental, which is fine, that puts money into our CEO's pockets. The problem is that the system has not been updated in over 10 years, and we are now moving from Apollo, one that was very fast and efficient but cost the company 750,000 a day to utilize. It would make more since to us to use new technology to keep up with the ever evolving world than to move back in time. One click for a United agent, has turned in to 17 entries just to issue a boarding pass, doesnt matter that UA agents only had 5 days to learn this system, one that took Continental agents 8 weeks of training to learn. But here we are praising Co management for putting saving money over customer service. I say all this to say that before you critisize one single entity, do your research and get the facts. We are all trying very hard to get through this, both company's co workers, it takes TIME. So, I understand it is difficult for some to show compassion because it is all about ME, but those who do we ALL, both UA and CO co-workers truly and greatly appreciate it! God Bless you all.
C U N T inental
very classy and sexist comment....come on
UA/CO cancelled a flight I booked for my daughter without telling us. Got her to the airport only to be told no flight exists for our daughter. Funny I had a confirmation number and receipt proving a ticket was purchased. Had to pay $630.00 for a one-way ticket on DELTA AIRLINES. UA/CO...you LOST ME. Merger difficulties or not, never again. UA/CO airline needs to go belly up and make way for an airline that cares about PEOPLE....UA/CO SUCKS WIND. Maybe they should consider cargo only..... can't piss off a box.
hello
Be very careful chosing continental for a flight. I was stranded in Houston as the connecting flight couldn't be made as there was not enough time. LAX (LA) flights are almost always late arriving (check stats) and flights to lesser destinations leave on time. Way to go Continental!!! You ruined my vacation and didn't offer any apology. I complained to the DOT and got nothing from them either. We wonder why the US transportation system sucks.
Having flow both Continental and United over the last 35 years I grew to hate United because of its crummy service, rude Cabin Attendants and stopped using the airline. When I needed a flight it would be "Conti."
When the merger was announced we started to use up our milage and will no longer use the airline.
We switched to an airline that is 100% better....VIRGIN AMERICA.
I am a 1K flier with United and I do not like the merger at all.Flights previous to the merger time line were on United only with good seating and easy upgrades. Now flights are full, and continental hasn't come anywhere near getting the Economy Plus seating. lots more that isn't nice about teh merger.