IT Nightmares: British Airways Terminal 5Well, things could be going better at British Airway's brand-new $8 billion Terminal 5 at London's Heathrow airport. Since it's opening just last Thursday, cancelled flights (by the hundreds) and lost luggage (by the tens of thousands) have crushed British Airway's hopes of a spectacular opening. "Willie Walsh, BA’s chief executive, said yesterday that the number of [missing] bags was 19,000. Mr Walsh admitted that Terminal 5’s opening day had been a 'disaster' telling Sky News: 'It is a fantastic facility, we can make it work. But we got it completely wrong on day one.' " You'll not be surprised to hear that much of the trouble is IT-related: "British Airways said it planned to operate 80% of scheduled flights, including all long-haul routes, from Terminal 5 on Friday, after canceling dozens of flights Thursday... Much of the trouble stemmed from problems with the terminal's new computerized baggage-handling system. London's Daily Mail newspaper reported that baggage handlers were not able to log in to the system. As a result, British Airways said passengers could only board flights if they left checked luggage behind." At the Software Testing & Quality Blog, Randy Rice notes that the situation has eerie similarities to United Airlines ill-fated baggage handling system at Denver International Airport. "The new automated baggage system which has 10 miles of conveyor belts, 140 computers, designed to process 12,000 bags per hour had never been tested in a live terminal. That would be quite a load test, but still...there were many things both manual and automated that failed that such a test might have found." And as one commenter on Information Week noted: "As an IT developer the most golden rule we have and respect is: Once you have written something TEST IT, and when you are done testing it TEST IT AGAIN. AND AGAIN. If you do not, T5 is the result." There's nothing like being 'live' to show you the kinks in your system. But it's better to find out when a hundred people are on line, rather than a stadium-full. They will work out the issues, but this is the kind of black eye we'd all be wise to avoid. Posted by Joe Caponi at 10:53 AM, April 1, 2008 This is a public forum. United Business Media and its affiliates are not responsible for and do not control what is posted herein. United Business Media makes no warranties or guarantees concerning any advice dispensed by its staff members or readers. Community standards in this comment area do not permit hate language, excessive profanity, or other patently offensive language. Please be aware that all information posted to this comment area becomes the property of United Business Media LLC and may be edited and republished in print or electronic format as outlined in United Business Media's Terms of Service. Important Note: This comment area is NOT intended for commercial messages or solicitations of business. |
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