AMR signs LOI with HP to develop new pass service system

[FWAAA]

Looks like a good idea - hire the best experts to keep AA's IT at top.

AMR Corporation Signs Letter of Intent With HP to Develop Next-Generation Passenger Service System

Jetstream to Bolster Overall Customer Experience, Further Establish AMR's Technology Leadership

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/AMR-Corporat...ml?x=0&.v=1

 

[The Goose]

Looks like a good idea - hire the best experts to keep AA's IT at top.



http://finance.yahoo.com/news/AMR-Corporat...ml?x=0&.v=1

On the surface it appears to be a good idea, but then one has to consider the idiotic labor reporting system the company is trying to implement. They can't even tell you how much it costs to do a given job on our own aircraft but say they want to play MRO.

AA's IT at the top? Of what?

 

[Skymess]

Looks like a good idea - hire the best experts to keep AA's IT at top.



http://finance.yahoo.com/news/AMR-Corporat...ml?x=0&.v=1

Sounds like a good idea to me. The first part that is really good news is that they are using a company with a well known name and a good reputation as opposed to our usual use of the unknown brands who make our shabby onboard personal electronic devices.

The only thing that could hold us back is if the powers that be at the top of the chain decide to pull their usual shenanigans and play the 'how much can we get for half the price?' game so that whatever system we get is the low end of the low that will be obsolete before it even reaches the training floor.

Let's review the EGR and electronic seat map technology for a good example.......
We have a computer that reads boarding passes and tells you when there is a seat dupe. A monitor shows you which seats have been assigned and how many are still available. Why is it that somewhere during EVERY boarding process at least one seat dupe will happen, and on EVERY flight the agents have to get on and page for people or physically count empty seats?

I dreamed a dream that things worked right......

 

[eolesen]

Mixed feelings on this one... As a disclaimer, I now work for a Sabre competitor, and one of the companies who was in the bidding for this piece of business. Disappointed to some degree our company didn't get the business, but also a little relieved, as working with AMR's IT department can be "interesting" to say the least...

I was also part of the first team to evaluate the three PSS solutions a few years back (2005), and about all I can say is that Sabre lost the business without any help from the other providers... A lot of people inside and outside AMR never thought they'd see the day where Sabre was given their walking papers, but fortunately, AA had the balls to walk away.

That said, I'm curious to see how HP (EDS) does with this. If it's a retread of Shares (you know, that clunky EDS system used at US and CO), then AMR made a huge mistake.

If it's truly a next generation platform, customer centric, built around relational databases, and also able to manage all the GDS to CRS connections necessary to survive in an interlining environment (something that Navataire Open Skies and New Skies still can't do very well), or an alliance environment, then it's a winner.

 

[The Goose]

Mixed feelings on this one... As a disclaimer, I now work for a Sabre competitor, and one of the companies who was in the bidding for this piece of business. Disappointed to some degree our company didn't get the business, but also a little relieved, as working with AMR's IT department can be "interesting" to say the least...

I was also part of the first team to evaluate the three PSS solutions a few years back (2005), and about all I can say is that Sabre lost the business without any help from the other providers... A lot of people inside and outside AMR never thought they'd see the day where Sabre was given their walking papers, but fortunately, AA had the balls to walk away.

That said, I'm curious to see how HP (EDS) does with this. If it's a retread of Shares (you know, that clunky EDS system used at US and CO), then AMR made a huge mistake.

If it's truly a next generation platform, customer centric, built around relational databases, and also able to manage all the GDS to CRS connections necessary to survive in an interlining environment (something that Navataire Open Skies and New Skies still can't do very well), or an alliance environment, then it's a winner.

Years ago, I thought IT was what I wanted to do when I grew up, but never could understand why someone inevitably dropped the ball and the customer never got what they actually wanted, yet the fools would pay for it anyway. Obviously, this was a function of the "One Size Fits All" mentality that was so pervasive in the software world years ago.

Now, with COBOL, FORTRAN, DYL, Assembly and their various subsets sent to the junkpile and the advent of the "C" languages and the ability to create and call an almost endless assortment of customized databases, why in hell is it so damned hard for a programmer to construct what the customer needs? Even with my old age, forgetfulness, "giveth-not-a-damn" attitude and the proper amount of beer I could probably toss something together with VS 77 that would function properly, but admittedly be an SOB for a human to interface with.

It seems AMR will buy a package and it will be useless - countless hours will be spent trying to make it work and eventually, the package will be scrapped. This is happening with their labor reporting system in the hangers at TUL - a major PITA. While I believe this mess had more to do with big screen TVs and other "consideration", the outcome is predictable and will probably be repeated many times in the future, no doubt with this "new and improved" platform you're speaking of.

I can see why you say AA's IT department is "interesting". Wouldn't "Cruising for Kickbacks" be a little more accurate?

 

[upsilon]

I'm resurrecting this thread after reading this.

Perhaps FWAAA or Eric could contribute information on this matter. Was there anything in the latest AMR quarterly report on it?

 

[JFK Fleet Service]

HP probably had unrealistic expectations of making money on a business venture and AA got confused as to who they were negotiating with and figured the usual sit at the table and do nothing strategy would yield results.

 

[eolesen]

I've heard absolutely nothing, which isn't surprising considering the HP system proposed to AA was vapor-ware at the time they signed the LOI.

Arpey did answer a question on the earnings call about Jetstream:

Kevin Crissey, UBS: I want to see if you could give an update on jet stream, if there’s any?

Gerard Arpey: Yes, Kevin. I think the best I could tell you at this point is we announced last year that we had signed a MOU with HP on that project. As we sit here today, we have not signed a definitive agreement. We have been engaged in very detailed and comprehensive and good conversations with HP. We just hadn’t pushed it over the finish line yet, but we’re still heavily engaged and expect to do so sometime in the near future.

Staying with Sabre was ruled out about two years ago, and AMR decided going with HP would allow them the ability to have more direct control over functionality than they felt they'd have with Amadeus. There's also the Dallas area connection between EDS and AMR, which probably helped. Amadeus's reputation has been more Euro-centric, although they've been building up a local presence in North America during the past two years (including opening up an office in Chicago to support UAL's migration to Altea in 2008 -- http://www.amadeus.com/amadeus/x115083.html).

Can't say it's a bad decision from AMR's perspective, but there's something to be said about being on the same platform as your alliance partners. Amadeus is the industry leader in market share for Europe and the Middle East. My opinion since 2005 was that the Amadeus offering was the best mix of technology and stability -- they're now almost entirely off TPF and on a SOA architecture running Linux and Oracle -- and their technology would have allowed them the ability to control a lot of the functional aspects outside of the bounds of the community model. Having had a lot more exposure to Amadeus's platforms over the last three years, that opinion has been reinforced.

 

[upsilon]

Eric, thanks for your take on this matter. I recalled your comments on Post#4 above back last August.