Qantas upgrades to a new check-in system ...

[serfty]

From Qantas.com:

Between 17 May and 5 September 2008, we will be upgrading the Qantas check-in system across our network to provide a more efficient and effective check-in experience.

While we're confident that the upgrade will be a smooth process, there may be minor delays while the new system settles.

If you are travelling during the following periods, we suggest you allow an additional 30 minutes to complete check-in and security clearance.

• 17 May to 19 May 2008 - From Perth domestic or any WA regional airports
• 26 July to 31 July 2008 - All domestic flights
• 30 August to 5 September 2008 - All international flights

Online check-in will be unavailable for travel to/from Perth airport between 17 May and 26 July 2008.

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause to your travel plans.

 

[oz_mark]

Online check-in will be unavailable for travel to/from Perth airport between 17 May and 26 July 2008.

Grrr. That's a pretty significant time to be unavailable for!

 

[thadocta]

Grrr. That's a pretty significant time to be unavailable for!

Tell me about it - I have a return flight booked to PER in June (to watch the SWANS beat the WEAGLES) and was going to be hand luggage only. Understandable though, if PER is going to be on the new system and the rest of Oz will be on the old.

This will be fun, the return flight is a 743....

I wonder if this will herald the introduction of OLCI to international flights.
Dave

 

[straitman]

Tell me about it - I have a return flight booked to PER in June (to watch the SWANS beat the WEAGLES) and was going to be hand luggage only.
Dave

Why bother.

The Kindergarten left overs can beat the WEGIRLS this year :!:

 

[oz_mark]

Tell me about it - I have a return flight booked to PER in June (to watch the SWANS beat the WEAGLES) and was going to be hand luggage only. Understandable though, if PER is going to be on the new system and the rest of Oz will be on the old.

Maybe it was a good thing your mileage run didn't come off.


* Avoiding any comment about football. It's not as though as an Eagles supporter it is worth pretending to be a Dockers supporter at the moment...

 

[simongr]

Tell me about it - I have a return flight booked to PER in June (to watch the SWANS beat the WEAGLES)
Dave

As an aside - are you planning to got to the game at Olympic Park this weekend?

But back on Topic - this seems like a horrendous outage period. I know this is a core system but if we put in a new finance system and said "we can't report any numbers from [insert business unit here] for 6 weeks" they would sack the CIO and CFO...

 

[oz_mark]

As an aside - are you planning to got to the game at Olympic Park this weekend?

But back on Topic - this seems like a horrendous outage period. I know this is a core system but if we put in a new finance system and said "we can't report any numbers from [insert business unit here] for 6 weeks" they would sack the CIO and CFO...

There are still other ways of checking in! It's more of an annoyance than anything else.

 

[Dave Noble]

But back on Topic - this seems like a horrendous outage period. I know this is a core system but if we put in a new finance system and said "we can't report any numbers from [insert business unit here] for 6 weeks" they would sack the CIO and CFO...

There is no issue with checking in for a flight, just that 1 method of check in will be unavailable. Quite different to no checkin being avaialble at all

Dave

 

[bambbbam2]

Of course I happen to be travelling PER-ASP on 17 May exactly!!

Of course!!

I will still try to use OLCI on the 16th for my flight on the 17th and see what happens. It still annoyes me that WA passengers only have 23 instead of 24 hours before departure to use OLCI.. never worked out why..

 

[simongr]

There is no issue with checking in for a flight, just that 1 method of check in will be unavailable. Quite different to no checkin being avaialble at all

Dave

True - but equally a six week period of interruption to a key business system in one location would be unacceptable.

 

[oz_mark]

Of course I happen to be travelling PER-ASP on 17 May exactly!!

Of course!!

I will still try to use OLCI on the 16th for my flight on the 17th and see what happens. It still annoyes me that WA passengers only have 23 instead of 24 hours before departure to use OLCI.. never worked out why..

It's only during daylight saving periods that the 23 hours thing happens. The rest of the year it is 24 - so it has something to do with not being able to account for daylight saving.

 

[oz_mark]

True - but equally a six week period of interruption to a key business system in one location would be unacceptable.

Is OLCI a key business system? It is a channel that may be used by some, but there is still an ability to check-in.

 

[codash1099]

It's only during daylight saving periods that the 23 hours thing happens. The rest of the year it is 24 - so it has something to do with not being able to account for daylight saving.

No doubt they will get it fixed just before WA votes against daylight saving.

(I have little respect for the views of the great unwashed.)

 

[NM]

True - but equally a six week period of interruption to a key business system in one location would be unacceptable.

I would not consider OLCI as a "key business system". People like thadocta can still check-in at the Qantas Club lounge if they want to avoid any queues at the general check-in area. And I would assume they will still have the same seat pre-allocated via the new system as they would have had via the old system. So really means a 2 min diversion between the top of the escalator and the bar to collect a BP from a real person at the Qantas Club service desk. And if seeking an ODU or an exit row seat there will not be any additional diversion necessary.

Although I have used OLCI quite a number of times, I would not be concerned about it not being available for 6 weeks.

In fact I think it is good planning and project management to implement a new system in a staged manner. They can use the WA folks as guinea pigs and apply the lessons learned to the real target market on the east coast to ensure a successful migration a few weeks later .

 

[thadocta]

As an aside - are you planning to got to the game at Olympic Park this weekend?

Sure am, I'll be in the Swans Members Reserve, near gate H, if anyone is going to be there PM me and we can hook up for a drink at some stage.

Dave

 

[simongr]

Is OLCI a key business system? It is a channel that may be used by some, but there is still an ability to check-in.

I was in a project meeting this morning and remarked about the lack of OLCI in Perth for 6 weeks and people were in two camps - "that is simply ridiculous" (CFO and IT managers) and "I still don't trust OLCI" (non-IT personnel) - so as I said earlier in my company it would be unacceptable based on the reactions.

The increasing push towards OLCI (although not as big a push as BA) makes this a key business system in my opinion. The business model is based on expected numbers of different check in methods - and staffing is structured around that. The general consensus here is that PER is an awful travel experience so increasing the burden on front line staff in a challenging environment seems to me to be a poor system implementation choice - almost smacks of IT driving the implementation rather than the business.

 

[oz_mark]

I was in a project meeting this morning and remarked about the lack of OLCI in Perth for 6 weeks and people were in two camps - "that is simply ridiculous" (CFO and IT managers) and "I still don't trust OLCI" (non-IT personnel) - so as I said earlier in my company it would be unacceptable based on the reactions.

The increasing push towards OLCI (although not as big a push as BA) makes this a key business system in my opinion. The business model is based on expected numbers of different check in methods - and staffing is structured around that. The general consensus here is that PER is an awful travel experience so increasing the burden on front line staff in a challenging environment seems to me to be a poor system implementation choice - almost smacks of IT driving the implementation rather than the business.

The one thing we are not privy to in all of this is the drivers and reasoning behind the lengthy delay. Without that information, one cannot make an informed judgement on whether the outage of that length is needed or not. Certainly, I doubt that you would be privy to what alternatives they had, and are not in the best place to judge the poorness of that decision.

I would not expect that it was a decision taken lightly, and any alternative approach to avoid such an outage would have been looked at (after all the business would have had to sign off on the outage).

 

[serfty]

Qantas have had enough trouble completely eliminating USAS, their 20 year+ old system.

They have a HUGE network and maybe that's one of the drivers for such a long test/implementation phase.

 

[dajop]

The business model is based on expected numbers of different check in methods - and staffing is structured around that. The general consensus here is that PER is an awful travel experience so increasing the burden on front line staff in a challenging environment seems to me to be a poor system implementation choice - almost smacks of IT driving the implementation rather than the business.

Actually maybe staffing will be less of an issue in PER than other ports. With the sort of traffic that passes through PER, I wouldn't be surprised if the proportion of pax using OLCI is lower than on the east coast, if luggage is any guide. At MEL, I certainly notice a lot more pax retrieving luggage off a 767 originating from PER than a 767 originating from SYD. And if you are checking luggage - OLCI is really not that important.

 

[thadocta]

Actually maybe staffing will be less of an issue in PER than other ports. With the sort of traffic that passes through PER, I wouldn't be surprised if the proportion of pax using OLCI is lower than on the east coast, if luggage is any guide. At MEL, I certainly notice a lot more pax retrieving luggage off a 767 originating from PER than a 767 originating from SYD. And if you are checking luggage - OLCI is really not that important.

Checking luggage is not necessarily indicative of how you checked in. OLCI is important if you care about your seat assignement, and wish to change it. Those of us who are carrion baggage only, will be affected but this.

Dave