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Source: ONE News -
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A major computer malfunction has caused chaos for Air New Zealand passengers.
The nationwide problem meant all domestic and international flights had to be checked in manually. It is also affected booking systems online and call centre systems.
Spokesman Bruce Parton says there were delays of about two hours or more which would be cleared by the end of the day.
He says they had to prioritise flights after power was cut to the company's service provider IBM, affecting the airline's central computer facility in Auckland.
A passenger flying to New Zealand from Cairns told ONE News the process was slower than usual.
Graeme Chambers says nothing could be electronically processed and boarding passes were written by hand using a ballpoint pen.
He says they had to queue at another desk to get seats allocated and several didn't get their original seats. He also says the luggage conveyor belt didn't seem to be working properly.
Chambers says passengers were generally tolerant of the situation, saying: "People accept it's one of those things that happen at times when you travel".
And Chambers says the check in people dealt competently with the problem, telling passengers as they arrived. He says once staff learnt the manual process it was working quite smoothly.
Chambers says he was at the front of the queue and wasn't badly
affected but people at the back may have been starting to "get a
bit irritated".
