TRINIDAD – Further to the official changeover of the Air Jamaica JM code to BW, Air Jamaica also recently changed its reservations and booking system. This decision is in alignment with the philosophy of having one airline with two brands: Caribbean Airlines and Air Jamaica.
This migration has become necessary to increase the efficiency of the operation and to realise the cost synergies anticipated from the acquisition of Air Jamaica routes. When the migration from two separate reservations systems to one system is complete, customers will eventually be able to book their own tickets, check in from the comfort of their home and create their itineraries as they have in the past.
The actual changeover in the reservations and booking system took place in phases. The final phase was completed on June 30, 2011, in time for the July 1, 2011 cutover to the BW code. This final phase consisted of the transfer of reservations data from the previous Air Jamaica system to the Caribbean Airlines system.
Unfortunately the date of this changeover to both the BW code and the new reservations system simultaneously was unavoidable, and also coincides with the start of our summer super peak period.
When migrating airline systems there will be teething problems, and customers may experience lengthy waiting times for their transactions to be processed. Airlines are often susceptible to the initial problems associated with the migration of large amount of data since there is also a steep learning curve for our personnel.
When the transfer of the reservations information is totally complete, this should increase functionality and ultimately, our service offering to our valued customers.
We are in no doubt that this transition was a step in the right direction and are conscientiously increasing our efforts to work with all our stakeholders to ensure that these issues are resolved in the immediate future. We apologise to our valued customers for the inconveniences currently being experienced and thank them for their continued support and patience during this change.
Caribbean Airlines remains confident that they will be able to offer an improved service in the Air Jamaica reservations and check in system upon completion. We also look forward to the full integration of our state of the art Boeing 737-800 aircraft into the fleet before the end of the summer period.
