http://www.cnn.com/TECH/computing/9910/21/argentina.it.snafu.idg/index.html

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IT snafu causes mayhem for Argentine airlines

October 21, 1999 Web posted at: 8:18 a.m. EDT (1218 GMT)

by Juan Carlos Pirez From...

(IDG) -- A migration to several Sabre systems for travel automation has caused myriad flight delays and cancellations at Argentine airlines Aerolmneas Argentinas and Austral, according to published reports.

A Sabre representative acknowledged that the airlines had run into trouble after implementing the Sabre systems.

"Anytime you make these types of significant changes, you may expect some sort of issues to arise, so part of our process is to put a plan in place to handle and anticipate these problems, which is what we did," said Theda Page Whitehead, Sabre's director of corporate media relations, in Fort Worth, Texas.

AMR, the parent company of American Airlines and Sabre, has owned since November 1998 about 8.5 percent of Aerolmneas Argentinas and 9 percent of Austral, but has no direct management control over them, according to Chris Chiames, managing director of public relations at American Airlines, in Dallas.

Austral and Aerolmneas Argentinas are in the process of merging, according to published reports.

Sabre's Page Whitehead said the Sabre systems were implemented Friday, contradicting the reports that said they were implemented Saturday.

What nobody denies is that the problems began Saturday. Since then, many flights have been delayed -- some by as much as seven hours -- and canceled, reported the newspapers Clarmn and La Nacisn, two of Argentina's largest dailies.

The Sabre systems are intended not only to handle reservations but also to manage a variety of operational issues related to flights.

The migration problems could linger until next Saturday, according to officials from the companies quoted in the newspapers.

The airlines' goal in implementing this new system, ironically, was to provide faster service. The implementation cost $25 million, according to Clarmn's report.

For example, passengers on a flight from Argentina to Perz, who boarded an Aerolmneas plane at midnight Saturday were kept in the plane for two hours, then removed from the plane and taken to a nearby hotel, according to a passenger's account published by Clarmn. The flight was rescheduled for Sunday afternoon, but after the passengers had boarded the plane at that time, the flight was cancelled, according to the article.

Inbound flights were also affected by the system migration -- a flight from New York landed in Buenos Aires after a seven-hour delay, Clarmn reported.

The systems implemented were the following, according to Page Whitehead:

Sabre Multihost Passenger Reservation System, which manages reservation functions

Sabre ACS (Airport Check-In System), which automates passenger check in

Sabre Flight Operating System, which manages flight operation functions, such as the loading of cargo, fuel and passengers in an aircraft

Sabre PC AIRFLITE, which is designed to help with flight scheduling decisions.

Juan Carlos Pirez is Latin America news editor for the IDG News Service.

-- Homer Beanfang (Bats@inbellfry.com), October 21, 1999

Answers

* * * 19991021 Thursday

Don't ya just love that strategy of testing everything in production mode.

Hmmm... I thought it would only take 'em THREE DAYS to FOF ... If the power grid stays up in Argentina? I think "knots!"

What a bunch of idiots.

And these are the goofballs that laid off a bunch of seasoned programmers from their staff, too. That was another smart move.

The cost of entry for the "Y2K 'amusement' ride" keeps getting higher and higher.

Let's see, this one cost:

. Airlines lost time for pilots, ground crews, et al . Hotels and frayed tempers for passengers . Lost business and time of passengers and anyone waiting to meet with them at the other end

Can't you hear the ripples of untold dominos?

Regards, Bob Mangus

* * *

-- Robert Mangus (rmangus1@yahoo.com), October 21, 1999.

Isn't SABRE the outfit recently 'downsizing' their IT staff in Ft. Worth, Texas?

-- Charles R. (chuck_roast@trans.net), October 21, 1999.

I have a programmer friend in Buenos Aires..he says the city is toast. He is currently in the process of buying a farm on the Pampas. There is a list of people "in the know" about Y2K from meetings in Buenos Aires...the list is 300 people out of something like 7 million. Don't cry for me, Argentina...

-- eubie (eubie@tango.com), October 22, 1999.