This year, we have planned a $1.3 billion spend on upgrades and maintenance of our IT systems. "Over the past five years, we implemented numerous large-scale technology and business projects. Southwest declined an opportunity to take part in the Town Hall, but offered emailed comments from a spokeswoman afterwards addressing concerns voiced by the aviation experts, including the following: It's not going to be easy for them to manage that kind of a one-off storm that hit them hard." "I feel the pain of what the Southwest team went through. "I don't see a path for them to recover from complex, irregular operations like this on a normal day, with 100 to 200 flight cancellations," said Eash Sundaram, JetBlue Airways former chief digital and technology officer. Another very bad storm could produce similar results before an effective tech solution can be implemented. The biggest problem, though, isn't the front-facing consumer efforts but that even a billion-plus dollars on operations spending can't guarantee that Southwest steers clear of another tech meltdown in the future. Leisure travelers will return if the airline can prove its return to a former level of reliability, he said, but business travelers may be more reluctant, he added, depending on where they live and what other flight options they have. Bonus offers and other incentives to sign up for credit cards, and companion passes for frequent fliers, are other examples of great benefits for passengers worth considering as a return traveler to Southwest, he said, but added, "These are not the actions of an airline that is seeing business flow across the transom at the level they expect." He pointed to $29 fare sales, "something I haven't seen Southwest offer in a long time," he said. Southwest is, from my perspective, in a moderate state of panic," said Henry Harteveldt, Atmosphere Research Group president and a travel industry analyst and advisor who formerly worked in airline marketing. "People have been booking away from Southwest in January and February. It had not invested enough in scheduling software and as a result didn't have staff in place properly, and couldn't catch up once the system started cascading with flight cancellations.Īccording to airline experts who took part in a recent CNBC Technology Executive Council Town Hall, there's been some signs of panic from the airline in answering this question itself. The airline conceded what critics had ben saying for years and after the crisis were able to say even more forcefully - and to a much wider, angrier audience. Southwest Airlines accepted the blame for its technological meltdown during the holidays, and it has committed over $1 billion to fixing it. Personal Loans for 670 Credit Score or Lower Personal Loans for 580 Credit Score or Lower Best Debt Consolidation Loans for Bad Credit
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |