How two airlines become one: American, US Airways ready to combine
It's one thing to agree on a merger. It's another to combine complex operations involving millions of consumers who are, literally, flying in different directions.
This weekend, American Airlines and US Airways will complete the final critical step in the 22-month process of becoming the world's largest airline when their reservations systems become one.
For consumers across the airborne universe, that means no more confusion over which airline site to use, which app to download or which toll-free number to call. The name US Airways will disappear as both partners fly under the banner of American Airlines.
Passengers at Miami International Airport and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport will see few changes.
"No flights will be impacted in Florida," said Martha Thomas, an American spokeswoman. American Airlines -- MIA's largest airline -- has always had far more flights locally than US Airways, but across the total combined fleet, only about 4 percent of all bookings need to be migrated into the new system.
Still, American advises, passengers should check in online up to 24 hours before departure and arrive at the airport early, boarding pass and itinerary in hand.
At MIA, workers are sched
uled to replace US Airways signs Friday evening with American signage. Exterior Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport signs also will be replaced Friday. US Airways gates will become American gates. At MIA, both airlines are located in D and E concourses. Because American and US Airways Miami baggage carousels are adjacent, no luggage snafus are anticipated.
Nationwide, American's rebranding at 200 airports includes standardized, more openly designed airport lobbies, with sleek silver and light wood ticket counters.
At the US Airways hubs of Philadelphia, Charlotte and Phoenix, about 200 flights -- or 11 percent of 6,700 flights fleetwide -- are being removed from the regular schedule Saturday to ease the transition. Those cuts affect American, American Eagle, US Airways and US Airways Express flights but do not impact Miami or Fort Lauderdale, Thomas said.
The two carriers announced the merger in February 2013 and formally closed the deal at the end of that year, closing out the 2011 Chapter 11 bankruptcy of American Airlines parent AMR Corp.
End of US Airways
The last leg of historic US Airways flight 1939, which began 76 years ago as a tiny mail service, will leave San Francisco at 9:55 p.m. Friday, landing in Philadelphia at 6:18 a.m. Saturday. By midnight Saturday, US Airways' website will go dark. Visitors will be automatically redirected to the American site at www.aa.com.
"We have really tested the heck out of everything," said Maya Liebman, American's chief information officer.
Since the merger process began in February 2013, American has added 1,500 reservation agents and 600 new airport agents. It installed 1,300 new computer kiosks and spent a million hours training more than 50,000 employees. Cost: undisclosed.
To ease the transition, American also is staffing 24-hour command centers -- a main post and 23 satellites -- with 1,000 employees through Oct. 27. The airline began emailing customers Wednesday about changes.
Final milestone
Combining the reservations system is the third and final milestone in merging the two companies. In March, the frequent flier programs were joined. In April, the two lines began flying under a single government operating certificate.
"Our No. 1 goal is to make sure customers have as seamless experience as possible," said Kerry Philipovitch, American's senior vice president of customer experience.
On the technical side, American moved US Airways reservations into the back-end system, operated by SABRE, and built an overlay, similar to the one used by former US Airways agents.
This story was originally published October 17, 2015 at 12:12 AM with the headline "How two airlines become one: American, US Airways ready to combine ."