BA global IT system failure

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The Spanish

Well-known member
Aug 12, 2008
6,478
P
This is so true, a really obnoxious airline, they make you feel that you a privileged to fly with them, no longer 'The worlds favourite airline' many have left them standing.
The first BA A380 made me laugh, it took them ages to get one, long after many other airlines had loads of them, yet they made such a song and dance about it.
Still better than American or United but there is nothing special about BA.

No say would i take BA over AA transatlantic now. AA. Better product in economy and business, only if you are flying F or W would BA be worth considering.
 






ditchy

a man with a sound track record as a source of qua
Jul 8, 2003
5,251
brighton
And that's on top of the massive LGW outward hold luggage failure yesterday. How on earth did we ever get to be so crap at the basics FFS?
Trying to run them on the cheap rather than invest properly !
 


ditchy

a man with a sound track record as a source of qua
Jul 8, 2003
5,251
brighton
My other half is cabin crew and she is stuck in Barbados . she has a smile as wide as the Mersey at present !
 






beorhthelm

A. Virgo, Football Genius
Jul 21, 2003
36,016
BA CEO tweeted earlier that they believe a power supply problem caused the issue. But not confirmed yet.

which mean he doesnt really know much less understand. no way a "power problem" should cause your fleet of aircraft to be grounded, there's fundemental system design flaws.
 


Knocky's Nose

Mon nez est retiré.
May 7, 2017
4,190
Eastbourne
Bean counters have so much to answer for

I'm not a bean counter, but here's an alternative angle - which in no way affects what's happened. I feel for the people stuck (apart from the chap who's other half is a stewardess, who has a happy Missus and a quiet night with the TV to himself too!)

So... We all demand lower and lower prices. Shareholders demand higher returns. We all demand better service. Shareholders demand higher returns. We all demand slicker systems. Shareholders demand higher returns.

Who's the poor bugger who has to weave this shimmering golden jumper out of thread made from arse crack hair? The bean counter...

Just sayin'
 


Icy Gull

Back on the rollercoaster
Jul 5, 2003
72,015
I'm not a bean counter, but here's an alternative angle - which in no way affects what's happened. I feel for the people stuck (apart from the chap who's other half is a stewardess, who has a happy Missus and a quiet night with the TV to himself too!)

So... We all demand lower and lower prices. Shareholders demand higher returns. We all demand better service. Shareholders demand higher returns. We all demand slicker systems. Shareholders demand higher returns.

Who's the poor bugger who has to weave this shimmering golden jumper out of thread made from arse crack hair? The bean counter...

Just sayin'

I happily pay more for better quality, I reckon you get what you pay for. Not arguing with what you are saying, it's life in the 21st century. Doesn't make it right though and maybe I'm in the minority but I'm not a fan of bean counters.
 




Knocky's Nose

Mon nez est retiré.
May 7, 2017
4,190
Eastbourne
....it's life in the 21st century.

It sure as fook is... Retail and Service Industries have all changed.

It's all about price today. No loyalty - just 'who's cheapest?' and click/buy.

Trouble is - we all jump on airlines like Easyjet, get herded around like cattle, have to pay £4.50 to cough, £6.95 to fart, and £30-40 for the cheek of having a suitcase. Then, we get greedy and demand a premium experience for the same money with a different company.

These companies try to compete, find they can't, make cuts - and this happens. You all got what you deserved.. a broken airline.
 


Mr Bronson

Member
Feb 24, 2009
45
You're right there is no way a problem should ground the entire fleet but if they're running out of one data centre with no redundancy it's perfectly plausible that this could have happened. If this is the case the CTO best book themselves a cab pretty sharpish.

I came back from India on BA yesterday. I normally fly Emirates. BA is direct and Emirates usually has a few hours in Dubai. With the exception of the direct flight there is not one thing BA does better than Emirates including price. Emirates can be 50% cheaper at times.
 






dazzer6666

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Mar 27, 2013
55,553
Burgess Hill
I use BA all the time, averaging a long haul trip a month more or less (we get big corporate discounts because of our overall spend which runs into hundreds of millions a year so tend to use them most of the time). The service is just about OK, but Virgin, Emirates, Singapore and Air Canada for starters are easily better in my experience. Without the corporate discounts, and the Avios programme which allows people like me to get a 'perk' of sorts (not as good as it looks, as they're very difficult to spend unless you're prepared to be very flexible) they'd be fooked.
 




jimhigham

Je Suis Rhino
Apr 25, 2009
8,039
Woking
Trouble is - we all jump on airlines like Easyjet, get herded around like cattle, have to pay £4.50 to cough, £6.95 to fart, and £30-40 for the cheek of having a suitcase. Then, we get greedy and demand a premium experience for the same money with a different company.

I've never flown with a budget airline because I can't stand the thought of the experience but then I'm not a frequent flyer. Once every few years or so is my lot and then generally long haul. However, I think you've nailed the point here. There is such pressure on the main carriers to compete along budget lines. I wonder if there's an opportunity for an airline here to position themselves as a premium carrier. A Waitrose of the skies if you will. You pay top dollar but you get a dinner, some bevvies and quilted toilet paper in the lavs.
 




Westdene Seagull

aka Cap'n Carl Firecrotch
NSC Patron
Oct 27, 2003
21,526
The arse end of Hangleton
It sure as fook is... Retail and Service Industries have all changed.

It's all about price today. No loyalty - just 'who's cheapest?' and click/buy.

Trouble is - we all jump on airlines like Easyjet, get herded around like cattle, have to pay £4.50 to cough, £6.95 to fart, and £30-40 for the cheek of having a suitcase. Then, we get greedy and demand a premium experience for the same money with a different company.

These companies try to compete, find they can't, make cuts - and this happens. You all got what you deserved.. a broken airline.

Agreed but too many companies amke the savings from their IT budgets. They see IT as an annoying expense when in reality it's what helps them still make money. If I had a pound for every IT Director that's asked me if DR and redundancy was really worth the cost I'd be retired. With their penny pinching they actually waste money by introducing single points of failure make any further investment in redunancy pointless.

As for the BA CEO blaming a power failure .... well ridiculous .... the easiest bit of a system to provide redundancy for. If true then the IT Director needs firing.
 


cloud

Well-known member
Jun 12, 2011
3,036
Here, there and everywhere
Hopefully today's cleaner won't unplug it

From the pilot's and airline staff forum:



"He says it is all down to a power supply failure."

really means:

We designed the system so that one power supply failing would bring down our entire operations worldwide.

Therefore
Primary reason is poor hardware system design
Secondary reason: lack of or poor system acceptance testing

In this BA seems to be following the example of Delta whose backup system was powered through the same cutover switch as the primary system. So cutover switch became the single point of failure - and it did.

Rule one of fault tolerance: Single points of failure ALWAYS fail.
 


rocker959

Well-known member
Jan 22, 2011
2,802
Plovdiv Bulgaria
How and earth did we manage to fly around the globe without computers back in the day ?
 






bobbysmith01

Well-known member
Feb 6, 2015
806
Hopefully today's cleaner won't unplug it

From the pilot's and airline staff forum:



"He says it is all down to a power supply failure."

really means:

We designed the system so that one power supply failing would bring down our entire operations worldwide.

Therefore
Primary reason is poor hardware system design
Secondary reason: lack of or poor system acceptance testing

In this BA seems to be following the example of Delta whose backup system was powered through the same cutover switch as the primary system. So cutover switch became the single point of failure - and it did.

Rule one of fault tolerance: Single points of failure ALWAYS fail.

It's like a driver going for a drive and forgetting or taking a risk on not filling up with petrol. Think that IT CEO should get his CV updated very soon.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 


wellquickwoody

Many More Voting Years
NSC Patron
Aug 10, 2007
13,913
Melbourne
This is so true, a really obnoxious airline, they make you feel that you a privileged to fly with them, no longer 'The worlds favourite airline' many have left them standing.
The first BA A380 made me laugh, it took them ages to get one, long after many other airlines had loads of them, yet they made such a song and dance about it.
Still better than American or United but there is nothing special about BA.

I really don't get BA. Me and Mrs W needed flights to Oz, one way only, Emirates was £600 odd each, BA was £2k each! Both economy fares, and I understand that Emirates are subsidised but not to that degree. A basket case that can only go bust if it continues that pricing policy.
 


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