3 ms·

I wonder if the difficulty at this point is algorithmic, or if they even have the data to make "reasonable" decisions, never mind optimizing them. Like what do

I wonder if the difficulty at this point is algorithmic, or if they even have the data to make "reasonable" decisions, never mind optimizing them. Like what do they do with the bags that are sitting on the plane for cancelled flights? Store them where they are? Figure out their origin and start queuing them to be sent there? Try to get information from the passenger about where to send it? And then with planes and crews, do they even have "potential" flights where they would be able to reliably seat a worthwhile number of passengers?

chasd00 4y ago
yeah it sounds like recovering from this requires standing up a brand new organization in real time. I hope someone is watching the trouble ticket system, imagine that going down...
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
bodhiandphysics 4y ago
I'm sure they know exactly where every plane and every flight crew is at every moment. My point about algorithmic complexity is that even with perfect knowledge, fixing this is a computationally difficult problem. The idea was to show how the properties of algorithms that perform combinatorial optimization actually matter!
- anon84873628 4y ago
  The statements from employees indicate that SWA does _not_ know where flight crews are at every moment. When a flight is cancelled the downstream information is not updated accordingly. Crew have to call a phone line and speak to another human to update their information and assignments. With the large scale cancellations due to weather, that system was overloaded and fully collapsed. SWA had no choice but to cancel the majority of their flights while they sort out where the crews are at and how to schedule them next. The debacle is a direct result of lack of investment in modern software systems.
  - chasd00 4y ago
    heh i wonder if they've asked everyone to use their phones to share their location with their immediate supervisor. Then someone setup a spreadsheet in sharepoint and the supervisors are going at it.
- enneff 4y ago
  > I'm sure they know exactly where every plane and every flight crew is at every moment. The story being circulated by Sw employees is that this is the failure. The system needs to be manually updated when flights are cancelled or changed, and in this situation with a cascading failure they have completely failed to keep that data accurate. SW employees have said they have spent 24 hours on hold trying to inform the company where they are. I don’t think this has anything to do with algorithmic complexity.
SoftTalker 4y ago
> Like what do they do with the bags that are sitting on the plane for cancelled flights? Eventually you send them back to the passenger's home address. I've had lost luggage before that turned up on my front porch a week later, some courier service had dropped it off.

chasd00 4y ago

yeah it sounds like recovering from this requires standing up a brand new organization in real time. I hope someone is watching the trouble ticket system, imagine that going down...

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

bodhiandphysics 4y ago

I'm sure they know exactly where every plane and every flight crew is at every moment. My point about algorithmic complexity is that even with perfect knowledge, fixing this is a computationally difficult problem. The idea was to show how the properties of algorithms that perform combinatorial optimization actually matter!

anon84873628 4y ago
The statements from employees indicate that SWA does _not_ know where flight crews are at every moment. When a flight is cancelled the downstream information is not updated accordingly. Crew have to call a phone line and speak to another human to update their information and assignments. With the large scale cancellations due to weather, that system was overloaded and fully collapsed. SWA had no choice but to cancel the majority of their flights while they sort out where the crews are at and how to schedule them next. The debacle is a direct result of lack of investment in modern software systems.
- chasd00 4y ago
  heh i wonder if they've asked everyone to use their phones to share their location with their immediate supervisor. Then someone setup a spreadsheet in sharepoint and the supervisors are going at it.
enneff 4y ago
> I'm sure they know exactly where every plane and every flight crew is at every moment. The story being circulated by Sw employees is that this is the failure. The system needs to be manually updated when flights are cancelled or changed, and in this situation with a cascading failure they have completely failed to keep that data accurate. SW employees have said they have spent 24 hours on hold trying to inform the company where they are. I don’t think this has anything to do with algorithmic complexity.

SoftTalker 4y ago

> Like what do they do with the bags that are sitting on the plane for cancelled flights? Eventually you send them back to the passenger's home address. I've had lost luggage before that turned up on my front porch a week later, some courier service had dropped it off.