Delays And Cancellations Continue For Delta Air Lines Passengers
By Ian Bush
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Flight delays and cancellations continue for Delta Air Lines passengers, as the company tries to recover from a computer outage Monday morning that led to hundreds of thousands of people being stranded at Philadelphia International and airports around the world.
While Delta says the problem started with a power outage at its hub in Atlanta, it points to much broader problems in the industry.
Flight reservations, plane dispatching, crew operations, passenger notifications -- it's no wonder a company like Delta can be brought to its knees by an IT glitch. Just last month, Southwest suffered an outage that grounded more than a thousand flights. So why do computer issues seem to be a weak link in air travel?
"What concerns me is that we seem to have these problems regularly with airlines and they don't seem to recover quickly," says Henry Harteveldt, founder of the travel industry research firm Atmosphere Research Group.
In part, it's because the companies are lumbering. Many are overdue for a computer system upgrade. But Harteveldt says that's no excuse for not having a backup -- or for that disaster recovery not to kick in when it's called upon.
"When system 'A' fails there should be a redundant system 'B' to pick it up instantaneously and seamlessly, and we don't seem to have that in place now," he explains.
He says such a failover should be in another location, another city, and on another power grid for airlines to better ensure up-time -- for computers, planes, and passengers.