united airlines computer out(r)age

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: mis () seiden com
Date: January 4, 2006 3:55:16 PM EST
To: dave () farber net
Subject: united airlines computer out(r)age

for ip, if you wish:

what, in this day and age, would cause a complete >5 hour outage of an
system mission critical for an airline?

according to ap and reuters:

"Computer Glitch Delays United Air Flights In US		11:15 PM EST  
January 3, 2006

CHICAGO (AP)--United Airlines' domestic flights were delayed up to 90
minutes Tuesday night because of a computer glitch.

The computer system controlling United's check-ins and reservations
went down around 5 p.m. CST (0100 GMT Wednesday), airline spokeswoman
Jean Medina said. The system remained down five hours later and
airports were forced to check passengers in for flights manually, she
said.

Medina said flights were delayed 60 to 90 minutes because of the
problem. Some flights pushed back their takeoff times to allow
passengers stuck in long lines to board, while other passengers had to
reschedule flights, she said.

Medina could not provide the number of planes delayed because of the  
glitch.

United, the nation's second-largest carrier, has 3,400 daily flights
worldwide. Its parent, UAL Corp. (UALAQ), is based in Elk Grove
Village, Ill.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires"

but according to me, who was at lax yesterday trying to get to  
oakland at 5pm
on their one-and-only flight.

- the outage was complete and systemwide.  no self-check-in kiosks  
working,
reservationists answering the phone with "our computers are still down".

which meant every queue had > 500 people in it, spilling out on the  
sidewalk
outside the terminal, and they were using "the manual procedure".

the people close to the head of the queue had been waiting for > two  
hours,
they said, and they dispensed with the special queues for premier or  
1k, just to
spread the pain equally.

- they weren't calling out specific flights to try to fill them.

- they had most of the check-in desks empty.  obviously they don't
have enough people trained in the manual procedure to alleviate the
bottleneck.

- the woman working the lines (with a megaphone) was apologetic,
but wouldn't answer questions, not even frequently asked
questions which did not have to with individual problems,
such as "if i miss my last flight will you provide a hotel?
or is my ticket now refundable if i fly another carrier?

- some reports are they were flying planes half-empty because people  
couldn't
get to the gates.  of course, they weren't announcing how long they  
were holding
flights to try to board them.

- TSA, not known for their flexibility, was not allowing people to go
to the gates directly with a boarding pass.  even an e-ticket receipt
with a seat assignment wouldn't get you there.

united stock (ualqq) is down 2% today, trading at around a buck a share.
their earnings are -$43 per share at the moment.  i'll bet this was an
expensive failure.

(as for me, i scooted right over to southwest, and got out only 1.5  
hours later,
but buying a one-way last minute ticket guarantees you'll get the  
dreaded four
ssss "special screening" on your boarding pass).



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