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Computer Glitch Disrupts Air Canada Operations for Several Hours

Posted on: Friday, 16 November 2007, 12:00 CST

By Gregory Bonnell, THE CANADIAN PRESS

TORONTO - Frustrated travellers endured long lineups and short tempers Friday as a glitch with Air Canada's computer reservation system delayed flights and played havoc with the travel plans of roughly 1,000 passengers grounded at Canada's largest airport.

The problem occurred at around 4 a.m., when the system experienced a communications error between the airline's central reservation system and computer systems at airports across Canada, said Toronto general manager John Segaert.

"This problem has caused us not to be able to print boarding passes," Segaert said.

"It's recovered now. It's really just a communications error between our reservation system and the airport locale."

While the problem with the system has been fixed, it caused flight delays of between 30 and 60 minutes, Segaert added. The airline predicted operations would be back to normal by Friday afternoon.

A lack of information for delayed travellers at Toronto's Pearson Airport had some, including John Deluca, 50, of Toronto, rapidly losing patience with the airline.

"It's the usual Air Canada - they don't tell you anything, just stand in line and wait," said Deluca, bound for San Antonio for a five-day business seminar.

"I'm fed up with this. It's always the same story no matter where and I'm tired of it."

Deluca said he was appalled that in "this day and age" there isn't a backup system in the event of computer problems, and said he's going to consider flying out of Buffalo in future.

"We've made significant progress in isolating and resolving our computer glitch issue," said Angela Mah, a spokeswoman with the airline based in Vancouver. "We do expect to get all of customers out today with minor inconveniences."

The massive line-up of backlog passengers snaked through the cavernous Terminal One at Pearson, where travellers heard a recorded message, played over the terminal's public address system every five minutes, pleading with passengers to be patient.

Airline employees were also handing out bottles of water to people waiting in line.

There were a few Air Canada flights that left on time, but a departure board showed numerous delays.

In Halifax, the computer glitch also caused delays at the Robert L. Stanfield International Airport.

Airport spokesman Peter Spurway said several departing Air Canada flights were delayed Friday morning, though it wasn't clear how many flights were affected or how long the delays were. Other flights arriving from Toronto were affected as well.

Mah couldn't detail the extent of the problem nationwide, but said the biggest problems were at the airline's Toronto operations.

"Of course because Pearson is our hub and has the greatest volume of our flights that is where our impact was felt the most," she said. "Flights are departing across our network, albeit there are some delays."

Despite the massive backlog of passengers at Pearson, Mah expressed confidence that Air Canada operations would be back to normal by Friday afternoon.

"We do expect to be up and running normally within the coming hours."

Source: Canadian Press

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