Community
Wiki Posts
Search
Old Dec 17, 2017, 10:45 pm
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: RatherBeOnATrain
Waiver posted: https://www.delta.com/content/www/en...er-outage.html

as of ~1am EST on 12/18:

AFFECTED CITIES (TO / FROM / THROUGH)
Atlanta, GA (ATL)

IMPACTED TRAVEL DATE(S)
December 17-19, 2017

TICKET MUST BE REISSUED ON OR BEFORE
December 22, 2017

REBOOKED TRAVEL MUST BEGIN NO LATER THAN
December 22, 2017

An Atlanta newspaper article that describes the aiport's lack of preparation and poor communications during the outage: MyAJC - Zero communication, Airport had no plan for total power outage (Posted: 8:28 p.m. Monday, December 18, 2017)
Print Wikipost

Power outage in ATL

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
Old Dec 18, 2017, 12:46 am
  #316  
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: GYD
Programs: Azerbaijan Airlines Gold, Turkish Miles and Smiles, IHG Plat
Posts: 663
Thumbs down

Originally Posted by DCP2016
Most flights I am seeing from other airports have an ETD of 15:30, this will probably change.

Anyway, obviously this isn't Delta's fault but is there a way/possible chance to get compensation from ATL/the airport authority? I always here of airlines shelling out compensation but never airports, and while I've never had any issue with any airline that required more than getting me to my destination many airports/their operations have left a lot to be desired.
Wondered how long it would take for the inevitable 'compensation' question to appear. ((
MichaelBaku is offline  
Old Dec 18, 2017, 1:32 am
  #317  
Suspended
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Orlando, FL Area
Programs: Delta SkySponge ExtraAbsorbent, SPG Gold
Posts: 29,988
readywhenyouare is offline  
Old Dec 18, 2017, 2:09 am
  #318  
Suspended
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: RDU
Programs: DL DM, HHonors Diamond, Marriott Platinum, etc etc etc
Posts: 2,341
According to GA Power the fire caused the auxiliary switches to catch on fire.

My only question: who designed a system where the main and auxiliary switches are next to each other? Data centers, hospitals, and other critical infrastructure design their buildings to AVOID this.

In no no way is this DLs fault, they merely are renters at ATL. with that said put this in perspective.....

Pretend ATL is a hospital instead of an airport, if the design was the same we would be talking about a lot of dead people when there ventilators, and other machines shut off.
RealHJ and aquamarinesteph like this.
vincentharris is offline  
Old Dec 18, 2017, 3:41 am
  #319  
 
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 209
Originally Posted by sbm12
The APU uses so little power that the planes can run for hours. Especially when not worrying about a 45 minute diversion minimum. I've yet to see any reports of any planes that lost power. I've seen plenty of reports of planes that had lavs pumped while waiting.
I did see a comment where passengers were told planes that ran out of fuel on the tarmac were being evacuated first... who knows if that is accurate or not.
NoleATL is offline  
Old Dec 18, 2017, 3:42 am
  #320  
 
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Sunshine State
Programs: Avis Trump. Costco Exec. SPG PLAT PREM-90. WN A+/CP. AA SLV. Nat EE..
Posts: 456
Originally Posted by RealHJ
+1. I was thinking the same thing. I'd love to see the one-line diagram here also. That would answer a lot of questions. But, if ATL operates like DL, it's all about obfuscation -- the opposite of transparency, openness and honesty, so highly unlikely for them to come clean.
Pssh you know the answer to that is no. Everything will be veiled as “security sensitive”. The more embarrassing the more defensive they will be to not share info. Even though we could probably figure out most layouts from public records.
ucfjoe is offline  
Old Dec 18, 2017, 3:48 am
  #321  
 
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 209
Originally Posted by RealHJ
+1. I was thinking the same thing. I'd love to see the one-line diagram here also. That would answer a lot of questions. But, if ATL operates like DL, it's all about obfuscation -- the opposite of transparency,
Delta is an amateur at this when compared to the city of Atlanta.
NoleATL is offline  
Old Dec 18, 2017, 3:56 am
  #322  
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 698
Originally Posted by HDQDD


you could have a billion generators, but if the failure is in the transmission from A-B (which appears to be the case so far), it would be useless.
As someone who used to deal with IT systems, data centers, and business continuity, they likely could've designed the system better and had additional localized redundancies or contingencies in place. I do reflect on one instance where a data center was taken off-line through a similar electrical fire that changed how many data centers thought about their power systems. Major utilities usually have huge generators on tractor trailers that can be deployed within an hour or two to restore full (temporary) power. The airport should've had a plan to get people off of planes and Delta should've had additional protections in place since it is their hub (we shall see how they are impacted beyond ATL operations).

Originally Posted by jdrtravel
But some systems need hyper local power supplies, like emergency lights, which should have a battery pack at the light source. Moveable stairways are moved by trucks with their own engines.
Exactly
mysterym is offline  
Old Dec 18, 2017, 4:46 am
  #323  
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: ATL
Programs: Delta Skymiles
Posts: 355
No CLEAR. No trains.

Sucks. Nice communications Delta and ATL
CrazyEddie is offline  
Old Dec 18, 2017, 4:48 am
  #324  
Suspended
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: RDU
Programs: DL DM, HHonors Diamond, Marriott Platinum, etc etc etc
Posts: 2,341
Originally Posted by CrazyEddie
Sucks. Nice communications Delta and ATL
No CLEAR right now? Clear posted on Twitter they were opening at 5 AM to process people?
vincentharris is offline  
Old Dec 18, 2017, 4:58 am
  #325  
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: ATL
Programs: Delta Skymiles
Posts: 355
Originally Posted by vincentharris
No CLEAR right now? Clear posted on Twitter they were opening at 5 AM to process people?
No. They blamed it on TSA. Also the Sky Clubs are closed on D, E and F - but I only learned that when I got to D27.
CrazyEddie is offline  
Old Dec 18, 2017, 5:01 am
  #326  
 
Join Date: Feb 2017
Programs: DL DM, UA Gold, Alaska MVP, Bonvoy (lol) Ambassador
Posts: 2,994
Originally Posted by vincentharris
According to GA Power the fire caused the auxiliary switches to catch on fire.

My only question: who designed a system where the main and auxiliary switches are next to each other? Data centers, hospitals, and other critical infrastructure design their buildings to AVOID this.

In no no way is this DLs fault, they merely are renters at ATL. with that said put this in perspective.....

Pretend ATL is a hospital instead of an airport, if the design was the same we would be talking about a lot of dead people when there ventilators, and other machines shut off.

This is wrong, it is definitely Delta's fault. This is not some outstation that they service, this is their core hub and they closely partner with the Atlanta airport on everything (including master site planning like ATLNext as well as smaller projects like the TSA "innovation lanes").

When I work with clients and we do site strategy work, infrastructure and operational reliability is always a concern. You can contractually pawn off responsibility to a supplier but that doesn't mean you've actually pawned it off.

With that said, I don't blame Delta or the airport for this. I can guarantee you most airports (as well as most things like stadiums, etc) all have a master switch room that - if destroyed - would cripple the facility. They likely had redundant equipment such that if anything failed in the switch room it would still work, but they did not plan for physical destruction. Very, very few non-life safety critical places (data centers being an example*) actually invest in truly physically isolated redundant systems. It was probably acknowledged as a potential SPoF in the event of catastrophic damage and managed as an acceptable risk.

edit: * even then not all data centers physically isolate their systems such that they could survive catastrophic damage (not just component failure) to their electric system
ethernal is offline  
Old Dec 18, 2017, 5:07 am
  #327  
Suspended
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: RDU
Programs: DL DM, HHonors Diamond, Marriott Platinum, etc etc etc
Posts: 2,341
Originally Posted by ethernal
This is wrong, it is definitely Delta's fault. This is not some outstation that they service, this is their core hub and they closely partner with the Atlanta airport on everything (including master site planning like ATLNext as well as smaller projects like the TSA "innovation lanes").

When I work with clients and we do site strategy work, infrastructure and operational reliability is always a concern. You can contractually pawn off responsibility to a supplier but that doesn't mean you've actually pawned it off.

With that said, I don't blame Delta or the airport for this. I can guarantee you most airports (as well as most things like stadiums, etc) all have a master switch room that - if destroyed - would cripple the facility. They likely had redundant equipment such that if anything failed in the switch room it would still work, but they did not plan for physical destruction. Very, very few non-life safety critical places (data centers being an example*) actually invest in truly physically isolated redundant systems. It was probably acknowledged as a potential SPoF in the event of catastrophic damage and managed as an acceptable risk.

edit: * even then not all data centers physically isolate their systems such that they could survive catastrophic damage (not just component failure) to their electric system
Hospitals, data centers, and other critical infrastructure all plan for this, otherwise any power outage and people would die in hospitals all the time.

ATL apparently does not consider themselves to be a critical infrastructure.
aquamarinesteph likes this.
vincentharris is offline  
Old Dec 18, 2017, 5:10 am
  #328  
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Formerly at PIT, now planted near MSP.
Programs: No flights since April 2019 (Medical Issues). Lost all my status.
Posts: 1,483
Originally Posted by ethernal
...
Very, very few non-life safety critical places (data centers being an example*) actually invest in truly physically isolated redundant systems.
Nuclear power plants do. It's a key part of their PRA (Probabilistic Risk Assessment) program.
aquamarinesteph likes this.
RRDD is offline  
Old Dec 18, 2017, 5:14 am
  #329  
 
Join Date: Feb 2017
Programs: DL DM, UA Gold, Alaska MVP, Bonvoy (lol) Ambassador
Posts: 2,994
Originally Posted by vincentharris
Hospitals, data centers, and other critical infrastructure all plan for this, otherwise any power outage and people would die in hospitals all the time.

ATL apparently does not consider themselves to be a critical infrastructure.
Catastrophic destruction of a switch room (which is what is being reported) is not a power outage.

I don't think you fully appreciate what is required to physically isolate electrical equipment. As an example, high end hospitals do provide physical isolation for a separate circuit that powers equipment deemed to be life safety critical but that is usually it.
ethernal is offline  
Old Dec 18, 2017, 5:17 am
  #330  
 
Join Date: Feb 2017
Programs: DL DM, UA Gold, Alaska MVP, Bonvoy (lol) Ambassador
Posts: 2,994
Originally Posted by RRDD
Nuclear power plants do. It's a key part of their PRA (Probabilistic Risk Assessment) program.
Nuclear power plants fall under my life safety comment. And they are also some of the (if not the) most expensive structures that are built in the world owing to that hyper redundant and generally fail safe design.
ethernal is offline  


Contact Us - Manage Preferences - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

This site is owned, operated, and maintained by MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Designated trademarks are the property of their respective owners.