UA Network Outage Underscores Travel Agent Value

United’s major network outage that shut down its reservations system and website on Tuesday pointed up the advantage for consumers to work with travel agents.

While most agents contacted by Travel Market Report said they experienced little or no business disruptions during the outage, some were called on to assist clients caught up in the mess – and were able to help navigate them through it.  

580 delays, paper boarding passes
United’s computer glitch grounded airplanes for more than two hours, caused 580 delays, nine cancellations and rendered the carrier’s website inaccessible.

In addition, GDS companies said that they did not have access to real-time inventory during the outage.

United said its operations were running normally on the following day. The carrier said the outage was caused when a piece of communications equipment in one of its data centers failed and disabled communications with its airport stations and website.

“We have fully redundant systems, and we are working with the manufacturers to determine why the backup equipment did not work as it was supposed to,” a United spokesman said in an e-mail.

Although the outage affected reservations and departure control issues – the carrier had to issue manual boarding passes and baggage tags – the spokesman said the problem was a hardware issue, rather than a problem with SHARES, the passenger services system to which it migrated in March following the merger with Continental. (See stories, “UAL Chief Apologizes for ‘Customer Disservice,’” July 30, 2012 and “Agents Unhappy with United in Wake of Res Cutover,” April 19, 2012)

That migration was deemed a technical success, but it occurred simultaneously with a raft of policy changes regarding frequent flier upgrades, elite status, seat assignments and other issues that caused the carrier’s call centers to be overwhelmed at a critical time, giving the carrier a black eye.

Agents step up to the plate
Among agents whose clients were impacted by the outage was Susan Garria, director of corporate travel at The Travel Store in Los Angeles, who had clients stranded at Newark trying to fly out on a United nonstop to Hamburg, Germany.

“My client called me from Newark saying the airport was mobbed and no one could print their boarding passes,” she said. “I emailed my United representative, who was working to try and get something for us.

“I then spoke to a United employee at the airport who said the whole global system was down. She kept my clients informed and didn’t ditch them. Before the system came back online, they were taking e-ticket receipts. The plane departed at 6:40 instead of 5:40.”

Once on the plane, one of the clients sent an appreciative email to Garria. “She was enjoying a cocktail. She’s very well-traveled, and for her to be satisfied is really great.”

Similarly, agents at Fugazi Travel in San Francisco were able to provide some support to stranded clients who called in from the airport, said agency partner Robert Romano, CTC.

“Because we know who to call and know the ins and outs of the system, we can at least do some things to help navigate people through,” he said.

Precautionary measures
Among advice imparted by the agency is that stranded passengers should keep on calling the airline while they are waiting in line for assistance. “At any given moment, the res system can come back up and you can leave the line,” Romano said.

The agency also advises clients on precautionary steps to take in order to minimize problems should a outage occur.

 “For instance, if you have a mobile boarding pass, you should also check in online and print one out,” Romano said. “That way you can get through the security line.”

Praise for United
Despite the inconvenience, Garria said feedback from clients indicated that United did a good job of handling the situation.

“We had clients impacted in Houston and all over,” she said. “What we heard for the first time since the merger is that United was really great and on top of everything.”

Need for the agent
Situations such as what occurred on Tuesday demonstrate the relevance of travel agents, according to Garria.

“Truthfully, we have some really big clients who say if it wasn’t for you guys, we’d be lost,” she said. “They tell their buddies who book online, ‘try to get someone on the phone to help you or back you.’ I had a client with three transfers yesterday, and I had her backed up- if you go online, this is not going to happen. Travel agencies are still needed.”