(Still) No App for That

The Lufthansa strike brought a series of headaches to my travel schedules. I admit it's been a while since the lat major disruption (see the Volcanic Panic post). Unfortunately very little has changed on the IT technology front since then. I spent again several hours on a phone waiting in line for "the next available agent".

The case seems simple. I'd expect logging to the portal of the airline that is experiencing service interruptions and being presented with available options. Exactly what an agent offers me on a call after the long wait. Unfortunately this is not the case. It is still humans doing the tedious work that computers could easily handle, given a relatively simple set of rules.

Interestingly the same applies to online travel agents, such as Expedia. Most of flight modifications and cancellations has to be done via call center agents. Long waits. Long talks. Still no app for that.