An error during a systems upgrade by British Airways led to
hundreds of UK and foreign flights being delayed last week.
Nick HuberThe protracted, high-profile IT failure was caused by an error
during an upgrade of the airline's booking and departure system.
Technical problems with links into the mainframe network corrupted
data in BA's passenger departure control system, which manages all
departing domestic and overseas flights.
As Computer Weekly went to press, the corrupted data had still
not been purged, although BA was hopeful that the issue would be
resolved by the middle of the week.
Industry analysts said the upgrade glitch pointed to a weakness
in BA's contingency planning and upgrade projects.
A number of flights had to be handled manually as IT staff
worked through the night to purge IT systems of the rogue data.
Inventory control, BA's Web site and World Cargo Systems were also
hit by the upgrade complications.
BA is working with its outsourcing supplier Amadeus to resolve
the error by clearing the corrupted data from the system's numerous
links across the business.
BA plans to launch a review into the problem in partnership with
Amadeus.
A spokesman for BA said, "An error occurred during the upgrade.
The programs are complex and all the information feeds into
different systems via links."
Only a handful of flights were cancelled because of the computer
problems and passengers were either re-routed on other flights or
offered a full refund, the spokesman added.
nick.huber@rbi.co.uk