Notwithstanding where it was and whose fault it was or wasn't, the fact that there are no backup procedures to speak of for keeping the business running is worth noting (and for which management should be excoriated).
I've seen both extremes in fast food restaurants: at a Taco Bell once, a power failure meant they were telling customers "We can't sell you food because the cash registers don't work". At a McDonalds another time, the power went off and the cashiers immediately reached under the counter and produced calculators, pads, and pens. Business continued. Air NZ might should consider something tricky like, oh, say, the ability to get passengers on the planes WITHOUT having to hand-write boarding passes. The boarding passes are for the airline's benefit anyway; passengers don't care about them. Worst case, they tell everyone to line up a la Southwest. The biz travelers would grumble, but getting on board would beat not flying. If the issue was getting passes before security, then again, the real issue isn't whether they have a boarding pass or not: that's a convenience for security, to reduce the number of folks they have to screen. I can get a gate pass anytime I want by asking, so if I'm Mr. Terrorist, I can get my body through security. Or hell, if I'm Mr. Terrorist, I can buy a ticket. If security is intractable (as it would likely be in the US), a backup procedure could involve handing out numbered, pre-printed (or locally printed) boarding passes. Again, the worst case isn't very bad: someone gets to the gate with a high-numbered pass and the plane is full because of folks who had printed passes before the power failure; at least most people would fly (and the plane would be full). Cheaper than grounding the flight. This stuff ain't tricky; unclear why multi-billion-dollar businesses wouldn't think about it BEFORE it's a crisis (well, OK, never ascribe to malice anything that can be explained by stupidity...). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
