September 14 , 2001

Reservation system in chaos

Nunatsiaq News

IQALUIT — Reservations agents at First Air couldn’t do their job after the airline company’s reservations network failed late Tuesday.

This meant any callers who wanted to book or re-book flights on Wednesday morning on either First Air or Air Inuit were out of luck.

"We don’t have a clue as to who’s on a flight," said a First Air reservations agent who said she was unable to handle any reservation queries because no information was available.

The huge Saber Network that handles First Air’s reservation information is based in Dallas, Texas, but also routes through New York City.

Some of its lines appear to have been affected by the attack on the World Trade Centre, said Tracy Beeman, First Air’s marketing director.

Beeman said three lines for reservations were finally routed through Cambridge Bay so reservations agents could access flight and passenger information.

Canadian North’s independent reservations system was not affected by any service disruptions.