Next October 17, passengers on U.S. Airways Flight 434, a 10 pm red-eye from San Francisco, will arrive in Philadelphia as the last ever to fly on U.S. Airways. When they leave the plane at 6 a.m., it will be over, and all flights now flown as U.S. Airways will become American Airlines flights.
This weekend, the merged airlines begin the last stage of their nearly 3-year-old merger process as reservations are shifted over from U.S. Air’s reservation system to Americans. When the process is finished in October, all flights will be on one system, the USAir website will shut down, airport signs will be changed, and the only remaining evidence of USAir will be planes that have not yet been repainted.
American has saved the computer merger for last because it’s the most complicated part; United merged its systems with Continental 3 years ago and has been plagued with glitches and shutdown ever since. American has tried to learn from that, including hiring 1900 extra staff and retraining 10,000 to try to get it right…but there could be glitches. That’s why American has phased the merger over such a long period.
