Effect of Y2K bug of ff programs
May 3, 1999 | 5:35 am
#1
Original Poster
Original Member
Join Date: May 1998
Location: New York City
Posts: 3,525
Effect of Y2K bug of ff programs
Interesting article about the effect of the Y2K bug on our miles:
Frequent Flyers: Y2K From A Road Warrior's Point Of
View
Mileage Notebook
May 1, 1999 ... Among the many Y2K worries for travelers is accurate tabulation of frequent flyer accounts. Of course you
always maintain your own accurate records (if you don't, you should), not trusting the accuracy of any program any more than you
would accept your bank's figures on your financial accounts without review. Our projection is that there may be some problems
with smaller airlines that are part of major airline alliances, but the major players are far along the path to year 2000 computer
compliance. Only two majors (American and TWA) have blacked out January 1, 2000 for domestic award travel.
Meanwhile, for those who'd rather place their worry in a less populated area, consider September 9, 1999--the ninth day of the
ninth month of the 99th year--read by computers as 9999. Analytically speaking, your mileage account is in more jeopardy of
disappearing on September 9, since many computers are programmed to terminate on values such as all nines. Make it to
September 10 unscathed and you're likely to be home free (on, perhaps, a frequent flyer award ticket).
Frequent Flyers: Y2K From A Road Warrior's Point Of
View
Mileage Notebook
May 1, 1999 ... Among the many Y2K worries for travelers is accurate tabulation of frequent flyer accounts. Of course you
always maintain your own accurate records (if you don't, you should), not trusting the accuracy of any program any more than you
would accept your bank's figures on your financial accounts without review. Our projection is that there may be some problems
with smaller airlines that are part of major airline alliances, but the major players are far along the path to year 2000 computer
compliance. Only two majors (American and TWA) have blacked out January 1, 2000 for domestic award travel.
Meanwhile, for those who'd rather place their worry in a less populated area, consider September 9, 1999--the ninth day of the
ninth month of the 99th year--read by computers as 9999. Analytically speaking, your mileage account is in more jeopardy of
disappearing on September 9, since many computers are programmed to terminate on values such as all nines. Make it to
September 10 unscathed and you're likely to be home free (on, perhaps, a frequent flyer award ticket).
May 3, 1999 | 9:17 am
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Massachusetts, USA; AA 2.996MM & Plat Pro, DL 1MM, GM & Flying Colonel
Posts: 25,017
As (among other things) a consultant on strategic information systems issues to top managers of some good-sized outfits, I want to note that most Y2K hype is generated by people who stand to make a buck from it. The issue is real, but its two major effects on the general public are likely to be (1) shortages created by people hoarding because of the hype (that would not happen otherwise) and (2) frivolous lawsuits.
FF programs have been dealing with dates past Jan. 1, 2000, for a long time now - some programs for mileage expiration, the rest for award expiration. Airlines have booked seats into 2000 for over three months. It works.
Second, miles aren't going to "disappear." An FF database is a compilation of historical data. The data will still be there. The worst that will happen is that a program won't read them properly, so they could theoretically be inaccessible until that program gets fixed. If, in the absolute worst case, some obscure bug destroyed the entire FF database, airline computers are managed by pros and keep several generations of backups. (Clobbering the whole database, while incredibly unlikely overall, is more likely to result from something unrelated to Y2K than from the Y2K problem in any case.)
In terms of things to worry about, I'd put the Y2K effect on FF mileage accounts somewhere between being hit by an errant comet and finding a baby crocodile growing under your toenail.
FF programs have been dealing with dates past Jan. 1, 2000, for a long time now - some programs for mileage expiration, the rest for award expiration. Airlines have booked seats into 2000 for over three months. It works.
Second, miles aren't going to "disappear." An FF database is a compilation of historical data. The data will still be there. The worst that will happen is that a program won't read them properly, so they could theoretically be inaccessible until that program gets fixed. If, in the absolute worst case, some obscure bug destroyed the entire FF database, airline computers are managed by pros and keep several generations of backups. (Clobbering the whole database, while incredibly unlikely overall, is more likely to result from something unrelated to Y2K than from the Y2K problem in any case.)
In terms of things to worry about, I'd put the Y2K effect on FF mileage accounts somewhere between being hit by an errant comet and finding a baby crocodile growing under your toenail.