Thus far, none of the United States’ four biggest carriers have been able to escape the grasp of tech issues. In late July, Southwest Airlines had system trouble blamed on “multiple technology systems” and a faulty router. Lastly, in July 2015, a “network connectivity issue” resulted in either the delay or cancellation of 4,900 flights. Former CEO Jeff Smisek at one point conceded that some passengers were choosing not to fly United because of their technology problems.įurthermore, in April 2013, more than 400 American Airlines flights were cancelled due to a computer failure. Two glitches in 2014 resulted in thousands of cancellations, one related to crew systems and the other to various passenger services. In 2012, the carrier acknowledged four separate computer glitches, one of which involved one plane taking off 20,000 pounds heavier than expected by the pilots. In the past few years, as technology has seemingly gotten better and better, glitches in airlines’ internal systems appear to be causing more issues than ever.įollowing the United-Continental merger, United had a long series of computer-related glitches. To many customers, each separate system is something that might be the root of yet another problem. Then it takes time to figure out what was broken and how to fix it, and the repairs can take a while.Īmadeus IT, a tech provider for the travel industry, stresses all they bring to airline systems on their website, from inventory and ticketing to revenue management and operations. Each system facilitates the process of running an airline, but consumers may not understand just what that means for them. Sometimes, on the other hand, that delicate mechanism gets smashed with a baseball bat of sorts, possibly a large storm or a catastrophic system failure. Sometimes, that machine loses one small piece and continues to function well until it can be fixed. The slightest issue can lead to cancellations and delays that cause problems for days.Įach part of the system is a small piece in a very delicate machine. Everything has to mesh perfectly for anything to run smoothly. There are the customer-facing aspects – the app, the website, the kiosks at the airport – on top of everything behind the scenes – crew scheduling, network planning, inventory and even finance.
All of the systems that create part of the airline industry’s foundation today is made up of much more than back in the 1950s and 1960s. The average airline’s systems are nothing short of works of art.
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