Problems in Denver

[skyguy]

CNN is reporting that one of United's commuters has "shut-down" in Denver. Does anybody know the details?

 

[Paul]

Looks like a computer glitch.

 

[novaqt]

It was a computer glitch to a main processor at the outsourced company. Maybe this will be an well-deserved lession that outsourcing does not ultimately work in the long run. If other companies are starting to figure this out, perhaps UA should also.

 

[whlinder]

It was a computer glitch to a main processor at the outsourced company.

The article says

The airline's computer system controlling check-ins and reservations went down around 5 p.m. CST Tuesday, airline spokeswoman Jean Medina said.
The system was fixed about four hours later but caused about 200 flights to be delayed as airports had to manually check in passengers, spokesman Jeff Green said.

So was it something wrong with Apollo/Galileo, or was it a problem at a company that Apollo/Galileo outsources to, or neither?

 

[Eagle]

Apollo was spun out as part of Covia Partners back in the Wolf era with much of the resulting funds distributed to the stockholders but UA retained controlling interest. Over the last couple of years the controling stock was sold off with Cendent eventually taking total control. That same data center (Denver) operations was outsourced by Cendent to IBM a couple of years ago. The system originally developed in the 60's is being replaced in the next year or so in conjunction with the Star partners.

 

[dc3fanatic]

It was a computer glitch to a main processor at the outsourced company. Maybe this will be an well-deserved lession that outsourcing does not ultimately work in the long run. If other companies are starting to figure this out, perhaps UA should also.

making a blanket statement that outsourcing doesn't work long term is a little misleading.

Outsourcing isn't necessarily bad. Look at office supplies, no company makes their own, they 'outsource' it to a few companies that do it very well.

Do you think UA can do everything better than every other vendor out there?

 

[casual rat]

Staples and paper clips are a little bit different than people are. Did you ever try to solve a computer problem while at the same time, try to conquer an English language problem? It makes the original solution that much more of a problem...but hey, it's cheaper, and that's what matters the most. Customer Service in this country is going the way of the dinosaur, but at least those above Middle Management don't have to deal with it--they have enough money to buy their way around it.

 

[eolesen]

Staples and paper clips are a little bit different than people are. Did you ever try to solve a computer problem while at the same time, try to conquer an English language problem?

And to think that I've thought all these years that people in Chicago, Denver (where one of the date centers is located) and Canada (where the other data center is located) all spoke the same language... Silly me.

Just to be safe, I guess United should start building its own computers, ground equipment, airplanes, drilling oil and refining it into jet fuel, too....

 

[casual rat]

And to think that I've thought all these years that people in Chicago, Denver (where one of the date centers is located) and Canada (where the other data center is located) all spoke the same language... Silly me.

Just to be safe, I guess United should start building its own computers, ground equipment, airplanes, drilling oil and refining it into jet fuel, too....

Now you're being silly... I never said nor promoted the idea that UA should build its own computers, ground equipment,etc. I said that outsourcing degrades customer service levels in some circumstances. I was referring to the fact that UA outsourced some of its reservations to India (a predominantly Hindu speaking country). Maybe even the same representatives that Dell Computer uses, who knows?
AA, you won't have to worry about it anyhow, it appears like you're on your way up the Airline Corporate ladder with the rhetoric that spews forth when you type--so, good luck to you on that...

 

[dc3fanatic]

I was referring to the fact that UA outsourced some of its reservations to India (a predominantly Hindu speaking country).

AND that's relevant to a computer problem in Denver? How again?

 

[phasersonstun2]

Just to be safe, I guess United should start building its own computers, ground equipment, airplanes, drilling oil and refining it into jet fuel, too....

You know what... the jet fuel idea is a good one.

What if airlines owned a group of refineries through a co-op with ownership equally shared among member airlines like a mini OPEC country club. Excess supply would be sold on the open market as a hedge. Any profits within the co-op would go to the member airlines in equal shares. If oil prices rise, production increases, and the co-op would keep member costs down through profits from the open market sales. If oil prices decline, then production shrinks to match member demand. In the end, stability for the sector and that would even make Kramer (CNBC) hit the BULL button.

 

[casual rat]

dc3, I referred to the outsourced India reservations as a DEGRADING FACTOR with respect to Customer Service (on a macro level)--not the computer glitch. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

 

[FWAAA]

You know what... the jet fuel idea is a good one.

What if airlines owned a group of refineries through a co-op with ownership equally shared among member airlines like a mini OPEC country club. Excess supply would be sold on the open market as a hedge. Any profits within the co-op would go to the member airlines in equal shares. If oil prices rise, production increases, and the co-op would keep member costs down through profits from the open market sales. If oil prices decline, then production shrinks to match member demand. In the end, stability for the sector and that would even make Kramer (CNBC) hit the BULL button.

Uhh, where, exactly would the airlines get the tens of billions of dollars to buy an oil company? Even a small oil company like Valero has a market value well in excess of all USA airlines combined (including WN and its $13 billion market cap).

It would be a good idea if I got my friends together and did the same thing, but the same restriction would prevent us (we don't have tens of billions of dollars with which to get into that business). I'd like to have a gold mine, but I can't really afford to buy one.

 

[jimntx]

AND that's relevant to a computer problem in Denver? How again?

Where are the programmers for those data centers located? More and more companies are using programmers in Asia to write code that runs on a computer here in the U.S. I don't know that is what is happening at UAL, but don't assume that because the computer is in Denver, the programming occurred there also. And, the programming is what matters.

 

[FA Mikey]

I was referring to the fact that UA outsourced some of its reservations to India (a predominantly Hindu speaking country).

FYI Hindu is a faith, not a language. The official language of India is Hindi. English also is recognized under the Indian constitution.