May 20, 2002
Trying to Keep Computers in Line
NYT Times: WHEN United Airlines inadvertently sold tickets on its Web site last Tuesday for $5 apiece, it was simply another example in the struggle by Internet merchants to keep their computer systems from acting like disgruntled employees.
A United spokeswoman, Chris Nardella, said the company did not detect the problem for about 50 minutes, during which time consumers were able to buy $5 seats on all flights from and through Chicago and Denver. Ms. Nardella said United sold about 1,000 of the cheap tickets, which it will honor, before it shut down the online booking engine for a half hour and fixed the problem.
My spin: It can be scary when your computers get out of line and start spitting out $5 tickets that should cost a few hundred dollars!! Take steps to minimize costly "technical" errors
Get Small Business Technology Report
Via Email Every Tuesday
What is Smallbiztechnology.com?
Smallbiztechnology.com helps small-medium sized businesses strategically use technology as a tool to grow their businesses and provides news, articles, discussion boards, resources, analysis & events for the owners of small to medium sized busineses.
Subscribe to the Smallbiztechnology feed.
Recent Posts
- All In One Network Appliances. Know Your Options.
- 9 Simple and Effective E-Commerce Sales Booster Ideas
- Power Point Presentations: Let It Be An Experience (Learning From Al Gore)
- Pay-Per-Click Advertising for Peanuts
- Downloading Microsoft Windows Updates Can Be Bad For Your Health
- Time is Money. How Are You Tracking Yours?
- Are You Collaborating Creatively?
- When Technology Embarrasses Us! :)
- Is Online Marketing Confusing You?
- Email Marketing Providers: How to Choose
Join our Facebook group
The Third Annual Small Business Summit 2008 was a smashing success. Check out the Summit site for what you missed. See the 2008 Summit presentations, video and photos!
Post a comment