The travel industry has seen it all before. Well, perhaps not an IT outage the magnitude of what occurred just days ago (and is still impacting travel), but you do learn a thing or two when you’re put through the wringer as this sector has been over the years.
So when it came time to help stranded holidaymakers in need of assistance, it’s no surprise many travel advisors heeded the call… and with aplomb. Even if some of the SOS calls weren’t from actual customers (though might be moving forward, we imagine).
“I’ve had people who weren’t clients contact me in a panic as a result of the IT outage, as Jetstar had cancelled their flight from Singapore to Melbourne and rebooked them in six days’ time,” said Steven Green, Director of Victoria’s Olive Tree Travel.
“There was no accommodation with a credit on offer for the flight. They called to see if we could help get them home earlier. We could.”
And here’s how.
“I booked them on two seats on Qantas for Monday evening and was checking hourly over the weekend to see if there were any other options that had opened up for them to get them home earlier,” Green explained.
“They were happy to pay my booking fee and told me they felt blessed to have a guardian angel on their side, trying all the options for them.”
Another Aussie advisor to take decisive action was Take Off Go Director Ivona Siniarska, who supported customers in the US.
“I had two clients, a mother and son, travelling through the US for a family reunion, who were scheduled to fly from Denver to Chicago to Green Bay,” she said.
“Their flight was supposed to depart at 10 am, but American Airlines hadn’t cancelled the flights in our GDS, so we were uncertain whether the guests should go to the airport. They couldn’t miss the family reunion, so we had to act quickly.”
So Siniarska took a different approach – and one which ultimately paid off.
“As the check-in deadline approached and the airline still showed the flights as cancelled on their website, we decided to skip the chaos and quickly hired a car, so they could drive the 17 hours to make the reunion on time,” she explained.
“We also booked them a hotel in Des Moines for their overnight stay. I received a heartfelt message saying they made it to the family reunion on time.
“They expressed their gratitude for how, within 15 minutes, I was able to cancel their flights, email American Airlines, and book them a car and hotel to ensure they made it to their family gathering.”
The Australian Travel Industry Association (ATIA) CEO Dean Long heaped praise on the travel professionals “worth their weight in gold, particularly during unexpected disruptions”.
“Friday’s Microsoft outages, which led to flight cancellations and check-in delays on a global and domestic scale, underscored the invaluable support our ATAS-accredited members provide,” he said.
“Australia’s travel professionals went above and beyond over the weekend to help their clients and non-clients who reached out in desperation.
“Choosing an ATAS-accredited travel professional means choosing peace of mind and reliable assistance, no matter the circumstances.”
While the global IT outage that affected thousands of flights and the plans of millions of travellers has largely passed, some of the issue’s after-effects linger on.
Meanwhile, the CEO of Swiipr, which provides major airlines with digital disruption payments systems, says passengers will unlikely be eligible for flight delay compensation for the IT outage.
