On October 31, 2001, United will discontinue their Shuttle operation and incorporate those flights into mainline flying and United Express service.

Under any other circumstances, I would be out in the streets shouting with glee.  I always thought that Shuttle was disorganized, stressful, and oftentimes a chaotic operation---particularly for flight attendants and CSRs.

However, given the ABSOLUTE HELL all of us are all currently going through, there isn't anything to be happy about.  And, well, a lot of crews liked Shuttle.  Not to mention all the jobs that will probably be lost and shuffled around in this process.  Quite honestly, under these circumstances, I'm very sorry to see it go.

A United spokesperson told the press:

"Due to the dramatic drop in passenger demand and new longer turn times to ensure the safety and security of our aircraft, the Shuttle operation is no longer more efficient than  operating the Boeing 737s utilizing mainline  processes.  For this reason, we will be phasing out the Shuttle brand and processes and operating the aircraft the way we operate other B737s."

There are a lot of questions raised by this announcement.