Aug 7, 2019, 9:16 am
Last edit by: fluffymitten
BA FLY was down for most of Wednesday 7 August with multiple delays and cancellations.
Service was restored and operational at start of play on Thursday 8 August, until...
1451 BST BA reported issues with BA FLY and reverted to using JFE.
1521 BST BA advised all short haul aircraft have been grounded in/out of outstations due to the loss of the FLY system
1555 BST FLY reported as stable
Service was restored and operational at start of play on Thursday 8 August, until...
1451 BST BA reported issues with BA FLY and reverted to using JFE.
1521 BST BA advised all short haul aircraft have been grounded in/out of outstations due to the loss of the FLY system
1555 BST FLY reported as stable
Wed 7 Aug - BA systems down; flights disrupted / cancelled
Aug 7, 2019, 12:41 pm
#242
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: YYC
Programs: BA bronze, Aeroplan peon
Posts: 4,747
That was me this spring. I was caught in the Max groundings and was connecting to a Trans Canada train trip that only runs twice a week. I was only able to get rebooked in time because I have a friend who works for the airline and was able to move me to an earlier flight.
Aug 7, 2019, 1:02 pm
#243
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: USA
Programs: BA Silver
Posts: 812
Aug 7, 2019, 1:09 pm
#244
Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Feb 2010
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold; Flying Blue Life Platinum; LH Sen.; Hilton Diamond; Kemal Kebabs Prized Customer
Posts: 63,939
There are bound to be some delays tomorrow since people and aircraft aren't where they ought to be. Some flights had very long delays indeed. Plus there are one or two weather events out there. For the record here is BA's 16:30 hrs statement:
Cancellations for 8 August (Thursday)
BA776 ARN 07:05
BA938 DUS 10:45
BA215 BOS 18:25 (this I noticed earlier today, it may be unrelated to the current problems)
and more relevant perhaps for the forum, the Inverness night stop got scrubbed so there isn't an early morning return to London.
We have resolved the temporary systems issue from this morning which affected a number of our flights today. We apologise to all our customers caught up in the disruption, and appreciate how frustrating their experience has been.
Our teams have been working tirelessly to get the vast majority of customers on their way, with most of our flights departing. Our flights are returning to normal, however there may be some knock-on operational disruption as a result of the issue earlier today. We continue to advise customers to check ba.com for the latest flight information before coming to the airport.
Our teams have been working tirelessly to get the vast majority of customers on their way, with most of our flights departing. Our flights are returning to normal, however there may be some knock-on operational disruption as a result of the issue earlier today. We continue to advise customers to check ba.com for the latest flight information before coming to the airport.
Cancellations for 8 August (Thursday)
BA776 ARN 07:05
BA938 DUS 10:45
BA215 BOS 18:25 (this I noticed earlier today, it may be unrelated to the current problems)
and more relevant perhaps for the forum, the Inverness night stop got scrubbed so there isn't an early morning return to London.
Aug 7, 2019, 1:28 pm
#245
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Kyiv, Ukraine
Programs: Mucci, BA Gold, TK Elite, HHonors Lifetime Diamond
Posts: 7,691
The situation seems to be resolved so a tangential remark might not cause me to have my wrists slapped by a mod.
Not sure this is true.
Complex systems have complex problems and you can only test for the issues you can foresee.
Spending more time (not cheap) on system design and testing doesn't guarantee a lack of problems in deployment i.e. 'Good'.
One of the major causes of issues is some well meaning person 'fixing' a minor issue in a deployed system to increase quality but inadvertently causing much bigger problems e.g. the NatWest cashpoint issues.
What you really need is to prioritise simpler IT over complex IT and that doesn't necessarily cost any more.
Hire fewer people but ones that know what they are doing.
Less is more.
Don't hack at it.
In reality there is business system psychosis that results in the opposite of all these things because nobody involved really cares about the system, they are all locally optimising for their own reward (either psychological or financial).
So sadly Mr Cruz is not to blame.
You will find it hard to find any individual or organisation specifically to blame.
If there is any real blame it's on human nature.
Not sure this is true.
Complex systems have complex problems and you can only test for the issues you can foresee.
Spending more time (not cheap) on system design and testing doesn't guarantee a lack of problems in deployment i.e. 'Good'.
One of the major causes of issues is some well meaning person 'fixing' a minor issue in a deployed system to increase quality but inadvertently causing much bigger problems e.g. the NatWest cashpoint issues.
What you really need is to prioritise simpler IT over complex IT and that doesn't necessarily cost any more.
Hire fewer people but ones that know what they are doing.
Less is more.
Don't hack at it.
In reality there is business system psychosis that results in the opposite of all these things because nobody involved really cares about the system, they are all locally optimising for their own reward (either psychological or financial).
So sadly Mr Cruz is not to blame.
You will find it hard to find any individual or organisation specifically to blame.
If there is any real blame it's on human nature.
Aug 7, 2019, 2:45 pm
#247
Join Date: Jul 2013
Programs: AA MM, AA EXP; OW Emerald, EK silver
Posts: 928
Aug 7, 2019, 4:09 pm
#249
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: London Stratford, E7
Programs: BAEC Gold! Thanks to FT
Posts: 3,395
Depends if you’ve got other flights on an unprotected separate PNR, you might have a hotel with a cancel if no show policy happens, you might need to do some admin locally a certain number of days before a wedding. Could be as basic as missing a cruise. Outdoor be these or a number of other situations where a days delay or disruption will ruin a holiday.
Aug 7, 2019, 5:00 pm
#250
Join Date: Sep 2014
Programs: BAEC GGL/CCR
Posts: 171
The situation seems to be resolved so a tangential remark might not cause me to have my wrists slapped by a mod.
Not sure this is true.
Complex systems have complex problems and you can only test for the issues you can foresee.
Spending more time (not cheap) on system design and testing doesn't guarantee a lack of problems in deployment i.e. 'Good'.
One of the major causes of issues is some well meaning person 'fixing' a minor issue in a deployed system to increase quality but inadvertently causing much bigger problems e.g. the NatWest cashpoint issues.
What you really need is to prioritise simpler IT over complex IT and that doesn't necessarily cost any more.
Hire fewer people but ones that know what they are doing.
Less is more.
Don't hack at it.
In reality there is business system psychosis that results in the opposite of all these things because nobody involved really cares about the system, they are all locally optimising for their own reward (either psychological or financial).
So sadly Mr Cruz is not to blame.
You will find it hard to find any individual or organisation specifically to blame.
If there is any real blame it's on human nature.
Not sure this is true.
Complex systems have complex problems and you can only test for the issues you can foresee.
Spending more time (not cheap) on system design and testing doesn't guarantee a lack of problems in deployment i.e. 'Good'.
One of the major causes of issues is some well meaning person 'fixing' a minor issue in a deployed system to increase quality but inadvertently causing much bigger problems e.g. the NatWest cashpoint issues.
What you really need is to prioritise simpler IT over complex IT and that doesn't necessarily cost any more.
Hire fewer people but ones that know what they are doing.
Less is more.
Don't hack at it.
In reality there is business system psychosis that results in the opposite of all these things because nobody involved really cares about the system, they are all locally optimising for their own reward (either psychological or financial).
So sadly Mr Cruz is not to blame.
You will find it hard to find any individual or organisation specifically to blame.
If there is any real blame it's on human nature.
Whilst it's not possible to engineer any software system, particularly a complex one with a multitude of functionality, to be error free, it is possible to engineer resilience such that failures do not cause widespread and prolonged outages except in the most extreme "tail event" circumstances. And I'm talking from personal experience here - I run a team of hundreds of engineers responsible for systems I estimate to be of roughly similar complexity to BA's, and despite deploying 10+ changes per day, these types of outages simply do not happen (and I'm talking decade plus, not a short time frame) . With BA they seem to happen multiple times per year.
Ultimately Cruz is to blame. In my experience, apart from in the "tech" companies, there are few people in executive management positions in industry who understand and value technology, but many execs pay lip service to it. But it's an area where, as the saying goes, quality really is free.
Aug 7, 2019, 5:04 pm
#251
Join Date: Aug 2018
Posts: 85
I've not caught up with the full thread yet, but want to thank you for this. Having been sworn at and verbally abused today it's been difficult. But the hugs and tears of happiness have fortunately made it more positive.
Aug 7, 2019, 5:12 pm
#253
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Northern Ireland
Programs: BA Silver, A3
Posts: 1,103
Aug 7, 2019, 5:18 pm
#254
Join Date: May 2006
Location: 5 miles from EMA
Programs: BD, BAEC Pleb, VS Pleb, Accor Pleb, HHonors Gold, Big White Season Pass
Posts: 5,909
BA got a pasting on the ITV news tonight.
They even noted that Alex was conspicuous by his absence, re-running the infamous hi-viz clip
They even noted that Alex was conspicuous by his absence, re-running the infamous hi-viz clip
Aug 7, 2019, 5:47 pm
#255
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: UK
Programs: BA Gold / Hilton Diamond / IHG Diamond Ambassador / Marriot Bonvoy Gold
Posts: 2,539
quite simply outrageous and you show an utter contempt for those caught up in this BA self inflicted chaos. A bit like BA do.
One missed flight is not one day, it’s months of planning, months of anticipation. It means loss of money as BA don’t cover what they conveniently call consequential losses for their incompetence. This could lead to lost onward flights, hotel costs pre booked experiences. It might be insured but then you have the fight with insurance companies trying to limit their losses and then the policy excesses. Had this occurred on the 2nd the consequences for me and my family would have been horrible. Even with more than 24 hours transit time.
You also assume its just just one day. Last weekend when they blamed weather the day before my flight was rebooked more than 24 hours later. For some it was longer than that. At this time in the year it could 2,3 or more days.
frankly an apology to the OP is in order.
One missed flight is not one day, it’s months of planning, months of anticipation. It means loss of money as BA don’t cover what they conveniently call consequential losses for their incompetence. This could lead to lost onward flights, hotel costs pre booked experiences. It might be insured but then you have the fight with insurance companies trying to limit their losses and then the policy excesses. Had this occurred on the 2nd the consequences for me and my family would have been horrible. Even with more than 24 hours transit time.
You also assume its just just one day. Last weekend when they blamed weather the day before my flight was rebooked more than 24 hours later. For some it was longer than that. At this time in the year it could 2,3 or more days.
frankly an apology to the OP is in order.