British Airways passengers facing delays after IT failures • Hacker News Board

Re: British Airways passengers facing delays after IT failures

#11

Post by londons_explore » Wed, Aug 07, 2019, 9:56 AM UTC

ptah wrote: post #4

acchow wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would they do that without working computers?

the other airlines computers are working. they would have to book them in manually

Anything involving automated systems failing like this leaves not enough human employees to do all the work of the computers.

The only solution is to drop work that's less important. In this case, that should have been ticketing/seat allocation/baggage handling. They should have simply allowed anyone into the planes, and dealt with reconciling records of who flew and who paid later.

Re: British Airways passengers facing delays after IT failures

#12

Post by IntegralCalcs » Wed, Aug 07, 2019, 9:58 AM UTC

There should be guidelines as to how airlines should address tech problems and flight delays, so people don't end up on the ground for hours, sometimes without access to food or water.

Re: British Airways passengers facing delays after IT failures

#13

Post by Havoc » Wed, Aug 07, 2019, 9:58 AM UTC

As much as I like flying BA as a in person experience - Their IT is a shitshow of note.

Even on a good day it’s 50/50 whether it can find my bookings.

Re: British Airways passengers facing delays after IT failures

#14

Post by darkhorn » Wed, Aug 07, 2019, 10:12 AM UTC

ptah wrote: post #8

mk_chan wrote: post #5

I was stuck in exactly this situation with my father last year going from UK to Portugal via Heathrow. Hundreds of people past immigration counters joined the lines to get back into the country, stuck in there for about 5 hours in an extremely congested, slow moving crowd. Some of the younger people were so outraged they took to Twitter and Instagram and began a campaign to refund and sue. About 3 hours in, BA decide…

did you get compensated?

Because he was in EU he has right for compansation.

Re: British Airways passengers facing delays after IT failures

#15

Post by donaltroddyn » Wed, Aug 07, 2019, 10:13 AM UTC

londons_explore wrote: post #9

A failure of IT systems shouldn't stop the plane flying... The gate staff should just let anyone onboard with a legit ticket or a sufficient story about buying one. Sure, some people might get a free ride, or a few legit ticket holders can't get on because the plane is full, but overall, most passengers end up happy. Simple things like "the pilot can't log in to the HR system so he gets paid for the flight" should be…

In most countries, there are severe penalties for airlines who allow passengers to reach destination immigration controls without valid documents, so if there's any doubt, airlines will not allow passengers to fly.

Re: British Airways passengers facing delays after IT failures

#16

Post by dagw » Wed, Aug 07, 2019, 10:23 AM UTC

londons_explore wrote: post #9

A failure of IT systems shouldn't stop the plane flying... The gate staff should just let anyone onboard with a legit ticket or a sufficient story about buying one. Sure, some people might get a free ride, or a few legit ticket holders can't get on because the plane is full, but overall, most passengers end up happy. Simple things like "the pilot can't log in to the HR system so he gets paid for the flight" should be…

From the second line of the article:

"BA said it is reverting to manual systems for check-in at airports."

The problem is that the manual process is slower and once a flight gets too delayed then it misses its slot and if too many flights get delayed it causes cascading problems since there aren't enough free later slots to put them in and you have to cancel.

Re: British Airways passengers facing delays after IT failures

#17

Post by throwaway-hn123 » Wed, Aug 07, 2019, 10:23 AM UTC

londons_explore wrote: post #9

A failure of IT systems shouldn't stop the plane flying... The gate staff should just let anyone onboard with a legit ticket or a sufficient story about buying one. Sure, some people might get a free ride, or a few legit ticket holders can't get on because the plane is full, but overall, most passengers end up happy. Simple things like "the pilot can't log in to the HR system so he gets paid for the flight" should be…

yeah, you're pretty clueless. thanks for participating though

Re: British Airways passengers facing delays after IT failures

#18

Post by michaelt » Wed, Aug 07, 2019, 10:25 AM UTC

londons_explore wrote: post #9

A failure of IT systems shouldn't stop the plane flying... The gate staff should just let anyone onboard with a legit ticket or a sufficient story about buying one. Sure, some people might get a free ride, or a few legit ticket holders can't get on because the plane is full, but overall, most passengers end up happy. Simple things like "the pilot can't log in to the HR system so he gets paid for the flight" should be…

I flew out of Heathrow just the other week, and I'm pretty sure BA doesn't have enough staff to accept checked baggage and get it onto the right plane without any IT systems.

Re: British Airways passengers facing delays after IT failures

#19

Post by trilila » Wed, Aug 07, 2019, 10:26 AM UTC

Seems like software failures are a common occurrence in british banks and airports. Perhaps a culture of corner cutting, and calling it agile, might be the cause?

Re: British Airways passengers facing delays after IT failures

#20

Post by robin_reala » Wed, Aug 07, 2019, 10:27 AM UTC

darkhorn wrote: post #14

ptah wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

did you get compensated?

Because he was in EU he has right for compansation.

Specifically, €400 per person assuming they were flying to Lisbon: https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/travel/passenger-right... . If OP hasn’t claimed already, then it’d probably be a good idea to do that before October 31st though.