SKY airline passengers face problems accessing and managing your reservations through the websiteas well as difficulties communicating with the company through chat and telephone service.
The situation occurs after the migration of its sales and reservation management systems, originally scheduled to take place between June 6 and 9, was extended beyond the reported date.
Anyway, Industry sources recall that these types of complexities are typical of processes of this magnitude.. The old LAN (currently LATAM) switched from Amadeus to Saber in 2012, at which time there would have even been a loss of reserves, according to an expert on that implementation. After the merger with TAM, in 2018, LATAM Airlines Brasil also implemented this technology with the aim of unifying the systems of the entire group (see box at the end of the note).
The process, previously announced by SKY, involved the upgrading your systems from Radixx to SabreSonic, which promises to improve the passenger experience. During the migration period, passengers were informed that they would not be able to perform automatic or digital check-in, and must arrive at the airports earlier.
In addition, there was a “blackout period” last weekend in which purchases, changes or refunds of tickets were not allowed.
Migration of SKY systems is not yet concluded
However, as of June 12, passengers continue to report problems. Many They have not been able to manage their reservations onlinefacing long waiting times and difficulties accessing the airline’s service channels. On social network. The main complaint: they cannot access the “My Trips” section and have no way to contact the company.
When consulted by Chócale, SKY recognizes the temporary interruptions in its platforms and digital channels.
“After completing the migration process to SabreSonic, Some functions of our customer service platforms and digital channels have been experiencing temporary interruptions.typical of the stabilization stage of this process, which we have been communicating to our passengers,” said SKY.
Although migration also considered a new format of reservation codes (PNR) of the tickets, passengers will be able to continue using the old alphanumeric PNR that was granted at the time of purchase. From now on they are issued only with letters.
The company also stressed that have been making efforts to mitigate the inconvenience caused to passengers. “We understand and regret the inconvenience that this situation has caused our passengers. For this reason and as a mitigation measure, we have been deploying all our efforts to resolve these inconveniences as soon as possible, reinforcing our service processes and Contact Center and airport personnel,” the airline stated.
Despite the disadvantages, SKY assured that its operation has been maintained with complete regularity in all the countries where it operates. “It should be noted that our operation has been maintained with complete regularity in all our markets,” they reiterated in their statement.
The system change had been described in April by Holger Paulmann, CEO of SKY, as an “open heart surgery”, and seeks to optimize the customer experience using the SabreSonic system.
In addition, it will allow the company to develop new capabilities and integrations thinking that it will begin operating long-range flights when it receives the new A321XLR.
LATAM experienced the same process in 2012 and 2018
In 2018, the LATAM Airlines subsidiaries in Brazil and Paraguay were integrated into the SabreSonic system that the former LAN Airlines had adopted in 2012.
According to the company’s annual report, in the initial days after the change, A monitoring table was installed that was made up of 200 collaborators who took turns 24 hours a day to accompany the process.
“Passengers were permanently informed through the group’s contact channels: e-mail, social networks, institutional site, SMS and press releases,” LATAM said at that time.
Systems integration It took three years of planning and preparation, and involved first the migration of ticket sales systems to a single platform and then the migration of check-in at all airports. More than 3,000 and about 5 million tickets were updated, and the flight codes of the Brazilian subsidiary were modified, going from JJ to LA, with the exception of routes to the United States.
Regarding the process that LAN Airlines – currently LATAM – previously experienced, the company stated in another report that “the change process, carried out during September 2012, was subject to certain difficulties in its implementationbut it will generate important improvements in the provision of these services for both the airline and its passengers.”
