AirAsia booking system to shutdown for 3 days from Friday

[Naim 6]

3 days offline? Big job! Looking fwd to new set-up.

 

===

 

AirAsia booking system to shutdown for 3 days from Friday

July 07, 2010

 

KUALA LUMPUR, July 7 — Low cost airline AirAsia Bhd will temporarily shutdown its current booking system for three days starting the day after tomorrow to replace it with a new system that can cope with the company’s current growth.

 

As part of the system implementation process, AirAsia’s booking services will be temporarily unavailable from Friday, July 9 (1pm Malaysia time/GMT+ to Sunday, July 11 (6pm Malaysia time).

 

...

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/business/article/airasia-booking-system-to-shutdown-for-3-days-from-friday/

[Sanjay Thaker 0]

and more opportunities for the RM 1.98 cents/min call center to be used which then equals to more ancillary income =)

[Sri Ramani K. 0]

this is from the official press conference. Navitaire was chosen to replace the old system.

 

Kuala Lumpur, 7 July 2010 – AirAsia, the world’s best low-cost airline, is unveiling its state-of-the-art booking system on July 11, pulling ahead of competitors in offering hi-tech user-friendly booking features.

 

The new system will be available starting 6 p.m. on July 11 (Malaysia time/GMT+. It is a huge improvement on AirAsia’s current booking system, and it will allow the continuously- and fast-growing airline to book up to almost 1 million flights a day. The new system is powered by Navitaire, a subsidiary of industry-leading technology and business solutions provider Accenture.

 

AirAsia’s new booking system was meticulously developed over three years, and more than 200 specially-trained personnel were tapped to implement the new system. AirAsia has been investing heavily in technology to support its expansion across its markets, largely in Asia, Australia and Europe.

 

Kathleen Tan, Regional Head of Commercial, AirAsia, said, “AirAsia’s investment in technology is part of its commitment to give the best services to its guests. We have managed to stay ahead of the pack by smartly using advanced technology to enhance our products and services and to meet the needs of today’s tech-savvy air travelers.”

 

“The new and improved system will spell for AirAsia’s guests countless benefits, including savings that will come as a result of the more efficient operational processes created by the new system,” she added.

With the new system, guests also will benefit from more innovative sales and marketing campaigns, product and service offerings tailored to guests’ preferences, and better self-service facilities, including direct access to their Credit Shell accounts.

[Y. J. Foo 0]

I believe their current booking engine is already from Navitaire, as are many LCCs in the world, including Tiger Airways, Firefly, JetStar, Ryanair, Southwest and AirTran, per Navitaire's site.

 

 

[Ikman Ikreza 0]

AirAsia.com System upgrade

 

We’ve been hearing the word “upgrade” a lot, and we thought that is exactly what we’ll do! A lot of hard work will be done by our team during this time and we’re sorry for the inconvenience, but we promise it will all be worth it. So stay tuned!

 

When What happens What's unavailable

7 July 2010

0001 (GMT+ Self Check-In goes offline Self Check-In:

• Web Check-In

• Mobile Check-In

 

9 July 2010

1300 (GMT+ Start of system upgrade Flight bookings Member logins Manage my booking

• AirAsia Call Centre

• AirAsia Sales Office

• AirAsia Travel Agents

• Corporate Guests

• mobile.airasia.com • AirAsia Blog

• AirAsia Live Help

• Junior Jet Club

• RedMegastore • Pick-A-Seat

• Pre-book Meals

• Pre-book Baggage

• Update Passport/Profile

• Flight Change

• Resend Itinerary

Self Check-In AirAsiaGo.com

• Web Check-In

• Mobile Check-In

• Kiosk Check-In • Flight + Hotel

• Flight

 

Do’s

Finalise your bookings before 9 July (1300 GMT+

Arrive early for check-in – at least 3 hours before your flight

Make any necessary travel arrangements before these dates

Check back often for the latest updates

Logon AirAsiaGo.com for hotels, tour packages and car rentals

 

All features will be back on track by 11 July 2010 at 1800 (GMT+ .

 

 

After the upgrade

All username logins will be changed to email logins effective 12 July 2010.

 

 

For multiple accounts with the same email:

 

• Email addresses with multiple/duplicate accounts will be merged into one main account. The main account is determined by the latest creation date.

• This preselected main account has been emailed to you on 21 June 2010, along with your other accounts.

• If you wish to select another profile as your main account please click “Use this instead” in the email.

• To maintain separate accounts, please login to your account and update each profile with a unique email address before 9 July 2010.

• Any non-updated accounts will be labelled inactive and you will be unable to use them.

 

Source : http://www.airasia.com/my/en/upgrade.html

Edited July 8, 2010 by Ikman Ikreza

[Naim 6]

yes, navitaire has been supplying their booking engines all along. so maybe this exercise is to integrate booking with ... jetstar? heheheh!

[flee 5]

I think that they may be upgrading to a more versatile version. It is no secret that there is a demand from AirAsia Group pax for multiple destination bookings, e.g. OOL-KUL-BKK-HKG-KUL-OOL. With the booking engine updated, they may also accommodate AirAsia X's requirement for one-stop long haul flights, e.g. KUL-MEL-CHC

[Mohd Azizul Ramli 2]

AirAsia To Shutdown Booking System For 3 Days From Friday

 

KUALA LUMPUR, July 7 (Bernama) -- Low cost airline AirAsia Bhd will temporarily shutdown its current booking system for three days starting Friday to replace it with a new system that can cope with the company's current growth.

 

As part of the system implementation process, AirAsia's booking services will be temporarily unavailable from Friday, July 9 (1pm Malaysia time/GMT 8 ) to Sunday, July 11 (6pm Malaysia time).

 

Kathleen Tan, Regional Head of Commercial, AirAsia said guests are strongly encouraged to make bookings in the next few days prior to July 9 (1pm) to avoid disappointment.

 

She said the new system will be available starting July 11 (6pm).

 

"The current system, which is a 20-year old system, cannot cope up with our current growth. Previously, the system can only cope as high as half a million a day. With the new system, it can book up to almost one million flights a day," she told a media briefing here Wednesday.

 

AirAsia will spend about RM10 million for the first year of operating the new system.

 

Tan said the airline has been investing heavily in technology to support its expansion across its markets, largely in Asia, Australia and Europe.

 

For this year, the company is allocating about RM80 million to RM100 million to its IT department.

 

With the implementation of the new system, guests would also benefit from more innovative sales and marketing campaigns, product and service offerings tailored to guests' preferences, and better self-service facilities, including direct access to their Credit Shell accounts.

 

During the shutdown, guests would not be able to book seats online, at AirAsia sales offices and counters or through their call centre.

 

Self check in, through the web, by mobile and at the kiosks and the facility to self-manage bookings online would also not be available for the three days.

 

Tan said the airline would also only accept cash for purchase of any ancillary product at the check-in counters, including excess baggage fees, during this period.

 

During the period, guests have been also advised to check in at least three hours before departure to avoid missing their flights as check-in will be done manually at the airport check-in counters.

 

However, hotel bookings and reservations for tours and activities on airasiago.com will remain available throughout the AirAsia system upgrade.

 

Tan said two to six weeks after the upgrade of the system, the airline will be launching several new destinations including Seoul, South Korea and Haneda, Japan.

OMG, Incheon and Haneda are confirmed by this news article!

[Naim 6]

OMG, Incheon and Haneda are confirmed by this news article!

 

you are sharp, bro. i've got trips lined up till early next year, but would yearn to return to japan & korea!

[Naim 6]

July 10, 2010 18:02 PM

 

AirAsia Goes Live With New Skies Reservation System

 

KUALA LUMPUR, July 10 (Bernama) -- Low cost carrier, AirAsia, has successfully completed the implementation of its new state-of-the-art reservation system, New Skies, ahead of schedule.

 

The system migration from Open Skies to New Skies, which was expected to be completed at 6pm on Sunday, was fully completed from 3.15 pm Saturday, AirAsia said in a statement.

 

New Skies is powered by Navitaire, a subsidiary of industry-leading technology and business solutions provider, Accenture, it said.

 

As the New Skies booking system takes over, AirAsia guests can now continue to carry out online bookings on www.airasia.com as well as purchases through AirAsia sales offices, counters and the call centre.

 

All Self Check-In services via the web, mobile and kiosks at the airport are also functioning normally, along with self-manage options online, such as adding check-in baggage weight, pre-order hot meals and seat selection, it said.

 

Kathleen Tan, Regional Head of Commercial, AirAsia, said: "Surpassing our own expectations and completing the new reservation system successfully ahead of schedule only reiterates our commitment to provide the best services to our guests.

 

"We set a record of only nine months to complete this major migration, while other major airlines usually take between 18 - 24 months."

 

Among the exciting features which guests will experience in the New Skies reservation system is the Low Fare Finder.

 

Guests will have the convenience of viewing the lowest fare available according to their selected destination and preferred date of travel.

 

AirAsia guests will also be able now to book seats for multi-cities in one transaction, that is, guests flying from Perth to Kuala Lumpur to Hong Kong and return, do not need to make two separate bookings anymore.

 

This was a limitation with the Open Skies system.

 

The new system is also able to support characters such as Mandarin, Thai, Japanese and other language characters.

 

This makes it easier to include more robust content for AirAsia's multilingual guests globally, in a continuous effort to be relevant and stay ahead as a leading industry player.

 

-- BERNAMA

 

http://bernama.com/bernama/v3/news_lite.php?id=512467

[Mohd Azizul Ramli 2]

Tehran's Imam Khomeini International is in the new booking system.

[Ikman Ikreza 0]

you are sharp, bro. i've got trips lined up till early next year, but would yearn to return to japan & korea!

 

Yup, they on preparation fly to Japan soon. Yesterday July 10th, during onboard KUL-KBR AK5282 I saw one of four FA's was Japanese girl on duty wearing FA badge/tagname with Japan flag. I think maybe she on training, early preparation before AirAsia fly to Japan soon.

[Sri Ramani K. 0]

Yup, they on preparation fly to Japan soon. Yesterday July 10th, during onboard KUL-KBR AK5282 I saw one of four FA's was Japanese girl on duty wearing FA badge/tagname with Japan flag. I think maybe she on training, early preparation before AirAsia fly to Japan soon.

 

about 3-5 of them were hired about a year ago.

[Ikman Ikreza 0]

about 3-5 of them were hired about a year ago.

 

Really? That's mean probably on future AirAsia will hire more FA Japanese or others multiasian FA?

[Sri Ramani K. 0]

Really? That's mean probably on future AirAsia will hire more FA Japanese or others multiasian FA?

 

They have had recruitment drives in many countries and hired them all. To name a few, Philippines, Myanmar, New Delhi, Singapore, Jakarta, Laos, Cambodia. In line with its Truly ASEAN airline.

[Mulyadir Fitri 0]

Did anybody travelled through the LCCT during the upgrade? My cousin who travelled this morning said that it was utter chaos due to the upgrade. How was it Ramani?

[Sri Ramani K. 0]

Did anybody travelled through the LCCT during the upgrade? My cousin who travelled this morning said that it was utter chaos due to the upgrade. How was it Ramani?

 

Only one word bro, bad. There is so many things not right yet. I hope they resolve it by the end of the day!

[Ikman Ikreza 0]

Did anybody travelled through the LCCT during the upgrade? My cousin who travelled this morning said that it was utter chaos due to the upgrade. How was it Ramani?

 

Yesterday, i saw at LCCT checkin kiosk services closed and not available during the upgrade. So, Q lineup at checkin counter so long and a bit slow. Advise to checkin early to avoid waiting for the Q.

[Ikman Ikreza 0]

Did anybody travelled through the LCCT during the upgrade? My cousin who travelled this morning said that it was utter chaos due to the upgrade. How was it Ramani?

 

At this time, I'm surfing at KFC Sultan Ismail Petra Airport Kota Bharu due to my AK5293 flight delayed. Should be fly on 09:55PM to KUL but reschedule to 11:15PM. Another flight AK to KUL also delayed. Manually checkin also take time (Q line up so long) almost 20 minutes, so this happened due to the upgrading. Perhaps i don't miss my hangout session for World Cup final..

[aaronhiew 0]

They have had recruitment drives in many countries and hired them all. To name a few, Philippines, Myanmar, New Delhi, Singapore, Jakarta, Laos, Cambodia. In line with its Truly ASEAN airline.

 

More colours, cultures & characters on flights. Wohoo...

[Hon Kit 3]

I was on a flight from LGK on 9 July. Checked in 3 hours earlier. Was deny at first because they said counter open 2 hours before departure. But i told them that i thought i was advised to check in 3 hours before and they allow.

 

Was first to check in so there is no queue ahead of me. But manual check in was done.

[Ikman Ikreza 0]

At this time, I'm surfing at KFC Sultan Ismail Petra Airport Kota Bharu due to my AK5293 flight delayed. Should be fly on 09:55PM to KUL but reschedule to 11:15PM. Another flight AK to KUL also delayed. Manually checkin also take time (Q line up so long) almost 20 minutes, so this happened due to the upgrading. Perhaps i don't miss my hangout session for World Cup final..

 

 

Not only manually checkin take time (Q line up so long) almost 20 minutes, many passengers KBR-KUL was angry when flight AK5293 delayed again from first reshedule departure 11:15PM to 11:55PM. Some of passengers "serbu" departure counter to get some explanation from AK person. One of arabian girl was really angry "bertikam lidah" with AK person (manager) at departure hall regarding flight delayed because of system upgrading. Finally before departure after 2 hours waiting for flight delayed, AK manager take a some effort to give passengers a tin/bottle of water as refreshment.

 

[Kenneth Chong WT 0]

The new system has "Promo" and "Regular" fare...and apparently you can "Change Name", "Date and Time", while the "Promo" only "Date and Time", any difference? Will fees be imposed on the "Regular" for the change of time and date?

[Mulyadir Fitri 0]

The new system has "Promo" and "Regular" fare...and apparently you can "Change Name", "Date and Time", while the "Promo" only "Date and Time", any difference? Will fees be imposed on the "Regular" for the change of time and date?

But of course. It's AirAsia.

IIRC, before this, it's the same. You can only change names for the Regular tix, but only through their counters. So with the upgrade, I assume it can be done online now.

[Sri Ramani K. 0]

The new system has "Promo" and "Regular" fare...and apparently you can "Change Name", "Date and Time", while the "Promo" only "Date and Time", any difference? Will fees be imposed on the "Regular" for the change of time and date?

 

From what I gather, there will still be a fee charged for name change & date change unfortunately