BA, more questions than answers

[al**bear]

So was British Airways infrastructure Hacked ?

Total silence from BA and even weirder, it has come to light that the Company who installed their computer systems, were rebuffed when they offered emergency help.

It shows how dependant Companies have become on Computers. That dependent that BA couldn't even coordinate a system, of their Staff using mobiles, pens and paper, that at least would allow people at the sharp end to give out basic info.

The systems they did quickly Jerry-rig, online and updating the Phone App, were giving out totally different info - telling some their flight was going to be available, only to be turned away after going to the airport, while others missed what flights did take off, because  they were informed theirs were cancelled

BTW - There's no way a company the size of BA did not have a stand alone, stand-by system. So why didn't this quickly take over, instead of being 'stand alone' did it work off the same power systems ? 

The Unions are saying a lot of the problems were caused, because too much of the Companies Information technology work has been totally outsourced to India. 

So was this another ransomware attack, this time on BAs computer power systems ?

Would BA ever admit to this ?

that could be the reason they refused help from their system supplier.

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Public Relations disaster -

British Airways seem to have looked at the problems caused when United Airlines, made a total mess of the PR, over the passenger being dragged off one of their overbooked flights and thought, We can easily out do that.

Not ONE British Airways Official talked to the media, they actually went into hiding

They still aren't putting up a spokesperson this Morning, on the 3rd day of delays

It is going to cost them a fortune, in standard compensation payments alone

But just watch Private compensation cases flooding in

[fallen-archie]

This is a terrible situation for those travelling with BA, but it is also a sad indictment of a company which has had a huge fan base for so long. I have flown BA many many times in the past and can honestly say I never had a bad experience so this current situation is shocking, how can a major brand allow itself to become consumed by such a PR disaster, if it is a ransomware attack they should say so at least that way people might understand a little more, but there single most failure has been there chaotic response leaving people clueless and frustrated, can you imagine the outpouring of bile that would be heaped upon our emergency services had they responded up a crisis in a similar fashion last week? Sadly heads must role for this debacle and soon! The chief executives response was woefully inadequate as has been the gleeful response of other carriers, I suspect al is right about the outsourcing to India and that is probably where this all began hence the lack of information, bring it back to the uk and stop trying to do things on the cheap, half the time when you do talk to someone you can't understand a word they say so little wonder that they don't know what's going on, however that aside where are the contingency plans and who is responsible for customer care, Time to come clean methinks!

[theelench]

Isn't it true to say that doing things on the cheap is precisely why business has embraced computerised systems with such enthusiasm?   Replacing employees with software and down-grading those that are left to mere button -pushers incapable of running the business without computers.

Although businesses would undoubtedly have back-up and contingency plans wouldn't they have used the same computing power to model the gains and losses resulting from scenarios of partial and total failure of their systems to come up with the most cost effective balance between what they spend safeguarding the system and what it will cost them if it fails.

All the CEO can really say, if they were to be completely truthful, would be "Sorry for the inconvenience, we knew something like this would happen eventually.  But as our calculations show that it will cost us £xxxx millions in compensation as opposed to even more millions to ensure it would never happen we took the cheaper option.  Although we value your custom we value our bottom line even more.  We knew that inevitably people would suffer because of this and are truly sorry it just happened to be you.  Have a nice day."

[fallen-archie]

For a start we all rely on computers in one form or another, be that through banking, buying, or social media, the problem is that large corporations as well as individuals are at risk due to the rise in cyber crime, therefore in order to address this one needs to take more precautions which cost money, I am not being racist but I do find this outsourcing to countries who then staff up with people who have a limited command of English to be frustrating, they invariably work from a script and struggle to address the problems one has, it is also more likely to be in a country where cyber crime is a major issue surely it would be better to keep the systems in house?

[theelench]

Aren't you saying the same thing really?

Use computers instead of people with admin.skills,  it's cheaper.

Outsource the computers instead of keeping it in UK, it's cheaper.

The point is it's the people queueing at the airport or who have their NHS appointments who suffer.  In this case BA will suffer a bit, short-term, but the decision makers won't.  At some point they will trot out the usual response "New safeguards will be put in place.  Lessons have been learned, etc." 

Until the next time.  But the corporations will still be making the same decisions based on the same calculations. 

[upthecreekyetagain]

The data centre in question was in the UK

[j_uk643]

I understand BA are not claiming a grid power failure, but their ups failed which was running their equipment at the time, though why isn't clear.When they restored power they experienced a power surge which damaged some equipment. Why any surge protectors failed to clip the incoming spike remains unclear, as indeed does the question of whether they were on grid or ups at that time. Not surprisingly some have found it less than convincing as an explanation

Quite what Indian call centres have to do with it other than the normal preoccupation with forrins, remains unclear