travelnews: Important News Regarding the United/Continental Merger this coming weekend

Beginning on the evening of March 2, the “new” United, resulting from the merger of United and Continental, will consolidate their reservations systems. This change will enable them to provide better service and operate more efficiently as one airline, with a single frequent flyer program (Mileage Plus), one web-site, and customer service for any United customer or aircraft from any United gate.

When will this happen?

Primary migration period goes from the evening of March 2 to the morning of March 3, 2012. A brief system outage will occur during the cutover starting at 10 p.m. on March 2. The migration period will last an estimated 3 to 4 hours.
This transition is a significant undertaking and could cause some longer lines or delays at the airport. As a precautionary measure, United is staffing additional personnel at airports and call centers to assist customers.

What do you need to do?

Check flight status and information before leaving for the airport at www.flightstats.com.
Check in for your flight online, if possible, to avoid lines at the airport.
Plan to arrive at the airport early.
If traveling the evening March 2 or on March 3, please expect airport check in delays and be prepared to get to the airport earlier than normal.
Pay extra attention to gate and terminal information.

· Proactively mitigate any type of flight interruptions by making sure you have your electronic ticket number available in addition to your itinerary confirmation number. Please note: Some reservations include multiple ticket numbers – make sure to have each ticket number available

Mileage Plus Frequent Flyer Program

If you are a member of United’s Mileage Plus frequent flyer program be aware that changes will occur to Mileage Plus with the transition on March 3. Full information regarding changes to the program may be found at www.mileageplusmergerupdates.com.

During this transition period we highly recommend that all travelers retain original boarding passes for all United and partner carrier flights and receipts for Mileage Plus partners such as cars and hotels until the mileage credit has posted to your Mileage Plus account. This is the only way you will be able to apply for credit for flights or other services that do not post to your account. What Else?

If you were booked on a Continental ticket for travel after March 3 that ticket will be good for travel as long as there are no changes to the itinerary or flight numbers. However, we expect that nearly all United and Continental bookings will be affected in one way or another after the March 3 migration, and that many may require that your ticket be reissued. You may receive “schedule change” itineraries in the days following the migration reflecting changes to your flights or to your ticket. All United confirmation numbers will change following the migration, although for a period the new confirmation numbers will link to the original confirmation numbers negating the need for you to worry about these new reservation IDs in the short term.

If you have questions, please check with your travel agent. Although precautions have been taken, scenarios have been anticipated and rehearsed, safety nets put in place – from experience we know that this transition will not occur without hiccups. Your travel agent team is available to support you and make sure that your travel on United is as trouble free as possible as this merger moves to its final phase.

Further Questions?

Please refer to www.unitedhub.com for updates and frequently asked questions regarding the Continental and United reservations system merger.

Laurie Jacoby, CTC

Travel Manager

Business Affairs Office

University of Oregon

lajacoby@uoregon.edu

541-346-3158 - Voice

541-346-8078 - Travel Fax