Nitehawk

"Thank you for contacting the concierge desk;


Please note that we are currently unable to process any transactions as we are currently undergoing a transition to our new Amadeus based system. Please allow a delay of about 12 hours as our functions within our reservation systems are severely reduced. We should be back and all in order as of noon tomorrow.


My apologies for the inconvenience,


Thank you for your continued loyalty to Air Canada and for being a Super Elite 100K Member."

canadiancow

You should be fine. I've cancelled much closer to departure than that.

Amil

is the 2 hour min a bs rule?

canadiancow

I wouldn't abuse it for the sake of abusing it, but I've never had an issue cancelling any booking closer than that.

24left

Sorry, guys, I changed the channel and had some cereal. What did I miss? what's the AC Amadeus score so far?

shadowspar

Biggest EF "what the....oh right, they're upgrading" moment for me: "No additional comments for this airline." I sure hope that's not sticking around once Amadeus is up and running.

In other news I'm downloading to my phone as a good luck charm for my flights tomorrow.

yyznomad

So far so good...

Agents here in YVR saying things seem to be ok...

Rock rock me Amadeus!

cedric

Realistically most of this would have happened regardless of tonight's cutover. The flight cancellation & being on your own for accommodation have nothing to do with the reservation system switch.
If time sensitive, I would book a flight tomorrow morning on another airline and deal with your travel insurance or AC for reimbursement later. If less time sensitive, wait until noon or whenever the system is back up and then get rebooked by AC.

daniellam

That's because it is highly likely they are still using the old Departure Control System. This migration is for the reservations side of things.

In a few days/weeks/months (or even starting tomorrow morning), once they switch over the airport side of things (DCS) airport by airport to Altea Customer Management, there might be some confusion.

Here is a video clip from youtube (I think it was meant for training Garuda Indonesia airport agents some years ago when they had their migration) to get an idea as to what type of interface AC agents at the airport will be dealing with.


The next one is a training video for Malaysian Airlines agents (when they had their migration). It even shows how to "interline" bags and do through check-in to flights on a separate booking.



IMHO: No more black screens with green text and cryptic commands (at least on the airport side)! This type of interface actually requires less training and makes check-in functions at outstations easier to outsource to local ground handling companies (which also handle a few other airlines who also use the same system).

yyznomad

Just to be clear, I spoke with a check-in agent, two gate agents, two MLL agents, and two AC terminal staff and they all said similar. I'm fully aware of the separation from DCS. It's also discussed upthread.

Basically, my point was that aside from their direct experiences in real-time, I look at them as a litmus test (or as per others, acid test) with being a direct ear to ops. That's all.

I have read your posts upthread, and you are one of the more/most knowledgeable here with the migration details. ^

canadiancow

I don't expect the DCS migration to happen for a while.

I can't recall where I heard this (it may have been on FT, if so, then I apologize for not citing my source), possibly from one of the many airport agents I've interacted with recently, but the US stations are slated for early next year.

YOW and something else big-but-small were going to be first. Big enough to have lots of employees and the ability to handle things, but small enough that there isn't a flight departing every few minutes.

YYC009

I think in addition to YOW it was YQB, ORD, GRU, and LHR that were the first five stations to try the new system.

tomvancouver

This is like when Apollo missions went behind the moon and there was no communication for a few hours. Will AC emerge from the dark side in 9 hours time or will they have crashed?

Nitehawk

Noticed that historical flight postings from my M flight pass are now showing different fare classes than M on my Altitude dashboard. Y, J, and P flights all seem to have stayed the same.

PLeblond

On the AC app; the PNR for an upcoming reservation seems to have changed. Perhaps its just junk text while the system is down or will this change all PNRs?

Has anyone else noticed this?