By Kim Rahn
Passengers flying with Korean Air are having trouble with booking and checking in due to glitches with the carrier's new computer system.
Many customers are unable to use self check-in kiosks and are having difficulty contacting the airline's call center.
The carrier said Thursday that it adopted the new passenger service system, the Altea Customer Management Solution, on Sunday as part of its effort to upgrade customer services.
The program is supposed to handle all passenger-processing, from booking and checking in to ticket issuance and boarding. Some 110 airlines use it, according to the company.
"We are having minor problems in the transition period of changing the old system to the new one," a Korean Air official said.
Because the self-check-in kiosks, which passengers without baggage use for faster service, are unavailable, those passengers have to use check-in counters and thus all passengers now have to wait longer.
"The self-check-in service may resume in a month and we are trying to address other problems as soon as possible," the official said, without giving a detailed answer on how long it will take to resolve the issues.
The main complaint from customers comes from the use of the carrier's website, which also underwent an overhaul. Some services on the website are unavailable for the time being.
"Some customers are having difficulty using the new website. So they try to contact the call center but all lines are busy because a larger-than-usual number of clients are calling. We've increased the number of call center staff, but it is still not enough to handle the flood of calls," the official said.
He added there has not been a flight delay or cancellation because of the system issues.
Korean Air invested more than $100 million for the new system and has prepared for it since 2011.
Passengers flying with Korean Air are having trouble with booking and checking in due to glitches with the carrier's new computer system.
Many customers are unable to use self check-in kiosks and are having difficulty contacting the airline's call center.
The carrier said Thursday that it adopted the new passenger service system, the Altea Customer Management Solution, on Sunday as part of its effort to upgrade customer services.
The program is supposed to handle all passenger-processing, from booking and checking in to ticket issuance and boarding. Some 110 airlines use it, according to the company.
"We are having minor problems in the transition period of changing the old system to the new one," a Korean Air official said.
Because the self-check-in kiosks, which passengers without baggage use for faster service, are unavailable, those passengers have to use check-in counters and thus all passengers now have to wait longer.
"The self-check-in service may resume in a month and we are trying to address other problems as soon as possible," the official said, without giving a detailed answer on how long it will take to resolve the issues.
The main complaint from customers comes from the use of the carrier's website, which also underwent an overhaul. Some services on the website are unavailable for the time being.
"Some customers are having difficulty using the new website. So they try to contact the call center but all lines are busy because a larger-than-usual number of clients are calling. We've increased the number of call center staff, but it is still not enough to handle the flood of calls," the official said.
He added there has not been a flight delay or cancellation because of the system issues.
Korean Air invested more than $100 million for the new system and has prepared for it since 2011.
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