JetBlue Joins Commercial Aviation Glitch Airshow

JetBlue Outage Reported on ABC News http://abcn.ws/1y5HhHE

JetBlue is known for its quasi-independent "budget airline" business model, but on March 30, 2015 it looked like just another of the lumbering US airline giants. As reported by ABC News, the airline experienced a nationwide computer system outage. The cause was not immediately reported, but this (extended) quote from the airline's 2013 10K report to investors is instructive: Cause? Computerworld reported the outage but did not appear to report on the cause. (But you can read about a 2007 JetBlue outage caused by capacity problems there.)

We rely heavily on automated systems to operate our business; any failure of these systems could harm our business.We are dependent on automated systems and technology to operate our business, enhance customer service and achieve low operating costs. The performance and reliability of our automated systems and data center is critical to our ability to operate our business and compete effectively. These systems include our computerized airline reservation system, flight operations system, telecommunications systems, website, maintenance systems, check-in kiosks, in-flight entertainment systems and our primary and redundant data centers. Our website and reservation system must be able to accommodate a high volume of traffic and deliver important flight information. These systems require upgrades or replacement periodically, which involve implementation and other operational risks. Our business may be harmed if we fail to operate, replace or upgrade our systems or data center infrastructure successfully.

We rely on the third party providers of our current automated systems and data center infrastructure for technical support. If the current provider were to fail to adequately provide technical support for any one of our key existing systems or if new or updated components were not integrated smoothly, we could experience service disruptions, which, if they were to occur, could result in the loss of important data, increase our expenses, decrease our revenues and generally harm our business and reputation. Furthermore, our automated systems cannot be completely protected against events beyond our control, including natural disasters, computer viruses, other security breaches, or telecommunications failures. Substantial or sustained system failures could impact customer service and result in our customers purchasing tickets from other airlines. We have implemented security measures and change control procedures and have disaster recovery plans as well as requiring our third party providers to have disaster recovery plans; however, we cannot assure you these measures are adequate to prevent disruptions, which, if they were to occur, could result in the loss of important data, increase our expenses, decrease our revenues and generally harm our business and reputation.