Yet more IT problems at BA
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Yet more IT problems at BA
Reportedly affecting both airport departures and online check-in.
British Airways passengers facing delays after IT failures
British Airways passengers facing delays after IT failures
"Holidaymakers travelling with British Airways are facing delays and problems checking in online, with the airline saying system failures are to blame."
Just what sort of a Mickey Mouse outfit is ba running these days?
At what point are senior management going to have to carry the can for this continuing shambles? BA make £2 Billion with the wheels coming off. Just imagine if the airline had everyone pulling in the same direction and competent management. All of that will have an immediate cost though so they aren’t willing to countenance it. Penny wise pound foolish indeed.
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A constructive explanation on the BA Forum at Flyertalk >>> https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/31388845-post115.html
BA are upgrading their IT systems, but integration of some 30 sub-systems through a single-point Systems Integration Platform (SIP) is challenging. At least, that's how I read it.
BA are upgrading their IT systems, but integration of some 30 sub-systems through a single-point Systems Integration Platform (SIP) is challenging. At least, that's how I read it.
I really hope and wonder if the Iberia system is working ok at T5. They got some criticism for opening up their own desks rather than relying on BA. They inferred they perhaps the BA system did not quite fit their needs for connections etc. Not often IB are proved right but events may prove it so.
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After the fiasco of 2017 I vowed to never give BA any of my hard earned money again. I haven’t, and if I was relenting this just reminds my why. BA back to being Bloody Atrocious...
Was the real reason for the May 2017 "computer failure" fiasco ever made public by BA? - and I don't just mean that someone turned off the power to the data centre, but why did the back-up system not work correctly, had it ever been tested etc etc - or was there even a backup system that should have kicked in, and a back-up to the back-up ?
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Failures like this make IT environments better understood and more robust for the future. Give them a break.
Absolutely. For some here BA can do no wrong. Shocking! They should have appropriate contingency plans for such issues. BA contingency is cancel. They are not exactly holding themselves in high regard at the moment.
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Was the real reason for the May 2017 "computer failure" fiasco ever made public by BA? - and I don't just mean that someone turned off the power to the data centre, but why did the back-up system not work correctly, had it ever been tested etc etc - or was there even a backup system that should have kicked in, and a back-up to the back-up ?
"...wannabe budget airline British Airways"
And the rest:
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/0...path_analysis/
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/0...t_airline_80m/
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/0...city_airports/
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/0...ge_load_sheet/
Airlines have probably the most complex and difficult to manage IT systems after banks. The shear amount of integration, and backwards interoperability they have to manage should give anyone with a serious understanding of IT systems sleepless nights. Upgrades and constantly changing (read innovating) things to keep up with the latest security patches and supported technologies is an extremely important yet risky task. You are damned if you do and damned if you dont. Failures like this make IT environments better understood and more robust for the future. Give them a break.
(1) They should long ago have better understood their IT environments and made them more robust. Airlines need to understand that their IT systems nowdays are mission-critical and should be managed and funded accordingly.
(2) I well understand the description of the problem on the BA Forum at Flyertalk – but they should have sorted out their legacy systems long, long ago. Then doing an upgrade, with a significant risk of failure, at peak holiday time? Sorry, no break for that.
(3) From what's being described by passengers, BA seems to have no adequate plan at all for what to do when their system goes pear-shaped. Compliments to staff for doing their best, but there simply weren't enough of them out front to deal with the problem. Too many passengers are reporting being stuck for hours on planes, or unable to get information, or in long queues. It should have been "all hands on deck". Where was WIllie Walsh today? Not out front at Terminal 5, I'll bet. Sorry, no break for that either..
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/06/02/british_airways_data_centre_configuration/
"...wannabe budget airline British Airways"
And the rest:
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/0...path_analysis/
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/0...t_airline_80m/
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/0...city_airports/
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/0...ge_load_sheet/
"...wannabe budget airline British Airways"
And the rest:
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/0...path_analysis/
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/0...t_airline_80m/
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/0...city_airports/
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/0...ge_load_sheet/
I was "stranded" in the USA when that happened, got to the airport earlier than strictly necessary and was put onto an AA plane that took off about an hour later than my supposed BA flight, and landed a similar amount of time later but at the wrong terminal, so I had to get the dreadful inter-terminal train to get to T5 to collect my car.
The only "compensation" I got was when I queried this aspect myself, nothing pro-active from BA, and was just the difference in price between Premium Economy that I had treated myself to, and cattle class.
I wonder if I was entitled to anything more?? I was just grateful to get home about 2 hours later than planned with my luggage; when I saw/read what some poor unfortunate people went through, I considered myself "fortunate"
What happened to manual loadsheets? I used to do them on my laptop (that's the bit between my knees and hips) with a pen and a £2.99 calculator with final passenger and bag numbers passed over the radio.
I bet no-one on duty can even do one now. Operations has become scary when I hear that loadsheets are completed in Thailand for flights departing LGW. When the pieces of paper cease to mean anything the numbers also become just figures on an iPad. I'm sure the flight crew do understand them, but who knows what has actually been loaded (or left in the hold from the inbound and not on any loadsheet).
I bet no-one on duty can even do one now. Operations has become scary when I hear that loadsheets are completed in Thailand for flights departing LGW. When the pieces of paper cease to mean anything the numbers also become just figures on an iPad. I'm sure the flight crew do understand them, but who knows what has actually been loaded (or left in the hold from the inbound and not on any loadsheet).
Paxing All Over The World
Before we give BA a break, lets ask how many IT failures other companies have had in the last five years: LH? KLM? QF? Find similar sized carriers with complex interconnections and then make a comparison. I do not have those numbers.
The problem with outsourcing is that, when something goes wrong, you cannot reach out and grab someone warmly by the throat ... naturally, no one on the Board will be grabbed.
The problem with outsourcing is that, when something goes wrong, you cannot reach out and grab someone warmly by the throat ... naturally, no one on the Board will be grabbed.