IP: Computer problems ground new Malaysian airport

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

I missed the fun


Dave


6/30/1998


        SEPANG, Malaysia (AP) - Check-in computers stopped, overhead
monitors blipped out, escalators ground to a halt - the first working day
of Malaysia's $2.3 billion airport was anything but smooth Tuesday.
        Hundreds of hapless passengers waited up to four hours,
occasionally in the dark, for their bags and searched fruitlessly for
airport officials.
        Many stormed from the baggage area without their luggage when the
computer meltdown caused long delays at Kuala Lumpur International, touted
as the world's biggest and most modern airport.
        "This is a disaster," said Yunus Paruk, 29, a textiles
manufacturer from South Africa who left without his bags after waiting
three hours and missing two business meetings.
[...]
   But as the day wore on, swarms of weary international travelers sat
dozing on their carry-on bags and slept on the cold marble floors waiting
for luggage belts to begin moving. Some gave up, only to become entrapped
in a 200-person taxi line that barely moved.
        Passengers from one jumbo jet chanted "lug-gage, lug-gage," in an
effort to get some explanation as to the delay. Departing domestic and
some international flights were delayed for hours.
        A harried airport official eventually addressed a crowd of
hundreds, apologizing for the long wait.
[...]






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