Sydney check-in anger

[Dave Noble]

An ill-timed trial of a new baggage check-in system is being blamed by angry passengers for chaotic scenes at Qantas's Sydney domestic terminal.

Flights were delayed, passengers said they were queueing for more than an hour, and scores of passengers found themselves waiting in line at the time their planes were due to take off today.

Full article at Sydney check-in anger - Travel - smh.com.au

Dave

 

[straitman]

Full article at Sydney check-in anger - Travel - smh.com.au

Dave

The usual unbiased and unemotive type of report we expect from the SMH.

 

[dr3tz]

I arrived 90 minutes before my flight before my flight in sydney airport last Sunday night. There were around 20 people in the business class queue. I was queing up for at least 45 minutes in the business class queue and was only half way through the queue. Luckily, they opened up an express queue for my flight, so I managed to check-in within 5 minutes(there were still around 30 people who haven't checked-in by that stage)

It seems that the staffs are still getting used to the new system. Hopefully they rectify the problem very soon.

 

[bambbbam2]

I'm currently in the T3 QP and here and in the terminal I didn't see any 'rioting'.. just very delayed QF flights (eg QF642 from PER due 3 hours late) - in other words, business as usual..

 

[MelUser]

Does anyone understand from an IT/systems point of view what the changes actually are?

My reports a few years ago from someone I knew at QF was that they were making computer systems simple and idiot proof - ie so anyone can work in their call centre or do their checkin.

EG: A few years passengers could select what side of the plane their seating preference was - this was taken away. Some things went windows based to make it simpler for lower trained staff - ie lots of icons and things. One thing that QF were hell bent on doing was reducing choices so that person isn't taking customer through lots of options - simply one or two or "sorry sir/madam, the computer doesn't allow me to do that".

 

[Mal]

Does anyone understand from an IT/systems point of view what the changes actually are?

They are pretty huge. There's some interesting background information (but no real specifics as to the changes) over at AustralianIT:
Check-in bug holds up Qantas take-offs | Australian IT
and http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;561325273