Just as a side note, my bag did come second off the carousel when I arrived on NW1020 this evening. Attached the the priority tag from MSP was both the station-to-station printout and the ACARS printout that went to 584 while in flight. Everyone made sure that what needed to be done got done, and I have a special teddy bear for my nephew when he wakes up tomorrow afernoon from the surgery. (although perhaps the bear would have preferred the Disneyland stop along the way).

Steve

Or perhaps a back-up of a back-up connection. It's happened to CO/DL (on a system-wide basis) as well this past year, so perhaps back-ups don't really help much:

http://www.kpvi.com/index.cfm?page=n...s.cfm&ID=17819
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,118744,00.html

aloha

Down again. Maybe the lights when out somewhere again. I hope not. I'm traveling today.

NW did find our bag around 10:30 CDT last night. And delivered it this morning.

That all depends, in that if they actually had there most critical systems back and on-line, then they were technicly back up. However, they most likely have a priority similar to how there is a priority of who gets upgraded as to which systems and applications are brought up first and in what priority. Also while I suspect the SOC which is at the airport and relies heavuly on some of those systems located in Eagen, the SOC I suspect was able to stay on-line to support A/C enroute due to data feeds from other external sources. The SOC may not have known where a bag was however they knew were the A/C were even if having to rely on semi-automated procedures.

Yes and No, No they did not have their act together in that they let their systems be disrupted, the systems that they depend very heavily upon. Yes they had their act together in that they were able to revert to backup and contingency plans including hand checkin and were able to keep things somewhat moving. Sure you were late and inconvineced, however it sounds like you were able to get to your destination. Had NW not had their act together at all most of the flights would not have gotten out at all yesterday. As a society we are growing more and more dependent upon our digital toys and lifelines (computers, cell phones, internet, etc.) and take many things for granted. The power outages in the NE last summer should have been a wake up for many, and many did wake up and realize they need to improve their automated systems, however they also need to have backup in case they should lose those systems, many of which are rather fragile to reduce and contain costs. If NW is trying to survive by relying on computers and technology, then they need to protect them like they would protect one of their A/C which means lots of backup to avoid and contain problems. Think about what happens if you lose all of your phone numbers and contact info in your palm pilot or phone that you may be so dependent upon.

Having been stuck in similar situations in the past, I know how frustrating it can be, however I would be upset with why NW did not spend the $$$ to have all of the adequite backups to avoid such a disruption. Hopefyllt some extra miles will show up in your account. - H