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Ladies & Gentlemen, There Will Be a Short Delay...
updated: Dec 09, 2012, 7:35 PM

By Edhat Subscriber

A system-wide computer outage at SBA this morning kept UAL and Sky West planes on the ground until 10 a.m. Dozens (a hundred?) of people missed their connections. Rumored to be state wide, and all airlines, it was probably only SBA and only UAL and Sky West, and subsidiaries. OK for occasional glitch, but airline workers said this has happened three times recently. Every time this happens, they claim mechanical error or air traffic error and pay no rerouting penalties. I spent the whole day in SFO airport because I missed connections twice. They ought to be investigated. Related link shows it has happened before to UAL at other airports. I believe that the story gets no coverage because only ticketed passengers are allowed in terminals.

Comments in order of when they were received | (reverse order)

COMMENT 352045P	2012-12-09 09:01 PM
The article says it didn't affect local operations not sure if edhat has different info but might check the headline
COMMENT 352136	2012-12-10 08:17 AM
System outages happen. Their system is massive, and more complex that you can imagine. When an outage is sytem wide, it is heavily reported. There was a system-wide outage on November 15th. However, what isn't talked about here is that American Eagle, and NOT United or Skywest personnel operate the grounds crew in Santa Barbara. It's possible that their new system which was implemented last month has caused the local problems.
COMMENT 352160	2012-12-10 09:00 AM
The link is to a KEYT article from November 15th. Is this a new incident, or just a tardy report of a 3-week old incident?
ESL TEACHER	2012-12-10 11:32 AM
This may be a minor complaint related to computer systems, but the last time I left SBA recently there was confusion relating to customer information. I was notified before leaving home that my United flight was delayed. I went to the airport anyway because the message also said, Of course sometimes flights leave early. Not much help there. At the airport the departure monitor downstairs showed my flight was on time, so I breathed a sigh of relief. At the United counter there was no monitor with information. I learned however by asking that the flight was indeed delayed. When I questioned why the board downstairs showed the flight was on time, I was told that United does not control that monitor, the airport does. I did not know what to make of this.
COMMENT 352943	2012-12-11 03:39 PM
The link was indeed to an older outage to illustrate that UAL has a crappy system that screws with us constantly and since it is considered a "mechanical failure", they are not fined or held liable for any problems caused to the flying public. I had three legs to my trip to the east coast, my flights were delayed 5 times, two were cancelled. I left SBA at 5 a.m. Sunday, arrived at 11 p.m. on Monday. 40 hours flying for a 5-hr trip, and no recompense other than two $10 meal vouchers. They do not serve the public any more.
COMMENT 355847	2012-12-20 07:42 AM
Update: yesterday my bf flew cross country - his 5-hour UAL flight took 31 hours. Once again no compensation because it was mechanical. It must be that they have contracted out their maintenance. It was a nonstop united flight and the plane broke twice. It left NJ, detoured to Chicago - circled for 3 hours to spend fuel enough to land, then gave them 5 hours in a Hilton, the plane was delayed for another hour, long enough to miss the SBA connection, for another mechanical issue before leaving for LAX. While in Chicago he helped up with a French couple who spoke no English who were also going to SB. No good to travel these days. :It's like traveling in a third world country.

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