Computer error misleads airline to treat woman as an infant in booking system
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Computerisation has improved air travel and has also caused disruption for airlines and travellers, but few personal experiences can beat that of a woman aged 101 years being handled as a baby because the booking system cannot handle the fact she was born outside the memory of the digital age.
Patricia, who did not want to share her surname, says American Airlines keeps getting her age wrong because its computer cannot process that she was born in 1922, not 2022.
The BBC reports having witnessed the latest mix-up, which she and the cabin crew were able to laugh off.
“It was funny that they thought I was only a little child and I’m an old lady!” she said.
But the centenarian says she would like the glitch to be fixed as it has caused her some problems in the past.
For example, on one occasion, airport staff did not have transport ready for her inside the terminal as they were expecting a baby who could be carried.
The glitch the BBC witnessed happened when Patricia was flying between Chicago and Marquette, Michigan – a flight this reporter was also travelling on.
Patricia was flying with her daughter, Kris.
“My daughter made the reservation online for the ticket and the computer at the airport thought my birth date was 2022 and not 1922,” she narrated.
“The same thing happened last year and they were also expecting a child and not me.”
Patricia’s seat was booked as an adult ticket.
But it appears the airport computer system is unable to process a birth date so far in the past – so it defaulted to one 100 years later instead.
The former nurse, who flies every year to see family and escape the cold winters, says on both occasions staff at American Airlines were kind and helpful, in spite of the confusion.
The centenarian says she would like it to be fixed. On a previous flight, Patricia and her daughter were waiting inside the plane after other passengers had left, as airport staff had not arranged a wheelchair for her.
She says having her real age acknowledged would also be beneficial for Kris.
“I would like them to fix the computer as my poor daughter had to carry all our luggage and apparel almost a mile from one gate to the other.”
Patricia
Next trip
Patricia travelled solo until she was 97, but has been reliant on help from her family since then.
“I have some trouble with my eyesight now so I wouldn’t want to do it on my own.”
But she is adamant the IT problems will not put her off flying, and says she is looking forward to her next flight in the autumn.
By then she will be 102 – and perhaps by then the airline computers will have caught on to her real age.
Increasing adoption of automation across airlines’ systems
Business Insider adds airlines are increasingly adopting automation across their systems to make operations more efficient, and passengers mostly embrace the convenience that technology brings to their travel experiences.
In the latest annual American Customer Satisfaction Index, app services, ease of making reservations, and airlines’ websites were the factors that customers were most satisfied with when traveling with US airlines.
But while technology generally makes operations smoother and more efficient, glitches routinely pop up, often affecting more vulnerable passengers with special requirements.
Errors with technology have also caused serious disruption to global travel.
A glitch in the UK’s national automatic flight-planning system last August left air traffic controllers processing flights by hand. The issue led to more than 1,500 flight cancellations across Europe.
Some 12,000 American Airlines flights were left without pilots in 2022 after a glitch allowed them to drop assignments. The airline had to offer pilots triple pay to cover the fallout.
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