American Airlines Prepared For Final Part Of Merger With US Airways
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NORTH TEXAS (CBS 11 NEWS) - US Airways last flight, ever, leaves Dallas Fort Worth International Airport Friday night, as US Airways departs for good, completing its mega-merger with Fort Worth-based American Airlines.
Alex Parkowski and Andrew Raftovich are flying home to Philadelphia and sad to see US Air fly into history.
Parkowski says, "US Air has been a great airline so it's crazy they're not going to be around. It'll be different and a big change to see American instead of US Airways."
Early Saturday morning, US Airways' reservation system, containing airfares, available seats, flight schedules, and baggage tracing will be folded into American's system.
Experts say during the change-over, reservations could be lost, and that when passengers check-in, their reservations won't be recognized. And neither the airline nor travelers want that.
US Airways passenger James Wiatrak says, "Obviously, not getting my flight and having to spend multiple hours in the airport I wouldn't look forward to that."
To keep that from happening, American says during the past three months, it changed all US Airways' reservations over to American's. It's run test flights and opened command centers. If there are any problems at airports during the next few days, American is bringing in extra staffing.
US Airways passenger Charles Diaz says, "I think that alleviates problems. I'm glad they're thinking ahead about that."
American Airlines sent letters to its customers who are travelling during the next few days.
The best advice: check-in online 24 hours in advance -- so if there's a problem with your reservation, you'll have to time to get it corrected.
Airline analysts point out American's current executives have learned from past mistakes when they oversaw the merger between US Airways and America West Airlines, and mistakes made during other mergers.
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