stone@kvue.UUCP (Anthony Stone) (05/30/85)
How many times has this happened to you? You call an airline to make a
reservation and are told, "We can't give quote you a fare now because
*they* are reprogramming our computer."
I've been told this both during the day and at night. One airline told me at
11pm that their system would be down until 5am!! When this happens the
reservations agents usually put you on hold for a couple of minutes while
they "check with their fare department." This can be very frustrating when
you're calling People Express long distance.
Here's my question: Is this really a new program they're installing/debugging?
Or can they not change fares without taking the whole system down? Good grief,
if I installed a new kernel on our system three times a day I'd have some very
unhappy users.
And yes, I do use travel agents whenever convenient.
---
Anthony Stone
KVUE-TV
{ihnp4,seismo,gatech,harvard,ctvax,nbires,ucb-vax}!ut-sally!kvue!stoneshaprkg@sdcrdcf.UUCP (Bob Shapiro) (06/04/85)
In article <195@kvue.UUCP> stone@kvue.UUCP (Anthony Stone) writes: >How many times has this happened to you? You call an airline to make a >reservation and are told, "We can't give quote you a fare now because >*they* are reprogramming our computer." > >I've been told this both during the day and at night. One airline told me at >11pm that their system would be down until 5am!! When this happens the >reservations agents usually put you on hold for a couple of minutes while >they "check with their fare department." This can be very frustrating when >you're calling People Express long distance. > >Here's my question: Is this really a new program they're installing/debugging? >Or can they not change fares without taking the whole system down? Good grief, >if I installed a new kernel on our system three times a day I'd have some very >unhappy users. > >And yes, I do use travel agents whenever convenient. > >--- >Anthony Stone >KVUE-TV >{ihnp4,seismo,gatech,harvard,ctvax,nbires,ucb-vax}!ut-sally!kvue!stone As one who owns a travel agency and a TWA computer system (both PARSII and PARSI) I have had quite a bit of experience with the above subject. It is rare indeed for any of the major airline computers to be down. (By major I mean American, United, TWA, Eastern, Delta). It is especially unusual for them to be down for reprogramming. The only time my PARS system has ever been down is on a few occasions which were the fault of the local telephone company not the programming staff in Kansas City. PARS posts when they are doing programming changes and they are usually at extremely odd hours such as 2 to 4 in the morning on Sunday when there is practically no possibility that anyone is using the system. It is particularly interesting to me that you give People Express as your example. They have one of the most primitive computer systems in the business. They are not hooked into the ARINC system which connects most of the other airlines together so you cannot make a reservation with them except by phone. Their system has no provision for any comment information such as phone numbers or travel agent name so that they have no way of reaching you when they have to make a schedule change. They have no history record so when they screw up (and they do that a lot) there is no way to retrace what happened). They do not provide seats, special meals, wheelchairs, or any other services. In addition there software has a very bad backpointer problem in my opinion as it seems to frequently lose reservations that can be called up by the return flight but not by the going flight. Adding to all this is the fact that their people are low-paid and poorly trained so that what you get is what you pay for. It has been my experience when a customer walks into my agency and says that they booked themselves on People Express over 50 per cent of the time I cannot find the reservation when I call People Express on the phone to tell them that I am going to write the ticket. Other airlines such as Southwest and many of the commuters also have very weak computer systems. Computers are a major cost for airlines and one of the ways that the discount airlines save money is to use old computers and antiquated software. I suspect it is penny-wise and pound-foolish but since I'm not the boss its not my decision. One of the easiest ways to tell if an airline has a reasonably modern system is if you can book space for it on another airline system. At least this means that it is tied into the ARINC system and someone has sat down and done a little standardization. Bob Shapiro