| Recurring |
unknown |
(a) The software failure incident having happened again at one_organization:
The article does not mention any previous similar incidents within American Airlines or with its products and services. Therefore, it is unknown if a similar software failure incident has happened again at American Airlines [65547].
(b) The software failure incident having happened again at multiple_organization:
The article does not provide information about similar incidents happening at other organizations or with their products and services. Hence, it is unknown if a similar software failure incident has occurred at multiple organizations [65547]. |
| Phase (Design/Operation) |
design, operation |
(a) The software failure incident in the American Airlines case was related to the design phase. The incident occurred because the system mistakenly granted too many pilots time off during the busy holiday season, leading to a shortage of pilots for thousands of flights [65547].
(b) The software failure incident in the American Airlines case was also related to the operation phase. The airline had to offer extra money to pilots to cancel their holiday plans and cover the shifts, indicating an operational issue caused by the software error [65547]. |
| Boundary (Internal/External) |
within_system |
(a) The software failure incident reported in Article 65547 falls under the within_system category. The failure was caused by an error in the company's computer system that mistakenly granted too many pilots vacation time during the busy holiday season, leading to a shortage of pilots for approximately 15,000 flights. American Airlines had to offer extra pay to pilots to cancel their vacation plans and cover the shifts, indicating that the issue originated from within the system's scheduling software [65547]. |
| Nature (Human/Non-human) |
non-human_actions |
(a) The software failure incident in this case occurred due to non-human_actions. The incident was caused by an error in the company's computer system that mistakenly approved too many pilot vacation requests during the busy holiday season, leaving thousands of flights without assigned pilots [65547]. This non-human error led to a crisis situation for American Airlines, requiring them to offer extra incentives to pilots to cover the gaps and avoid flight cancellations. |
| Dimension (Hardware/Software) |
software |
(a) The software failure incident related to hardware:
- The software failure incident reported in the article [65547] was not directly attributed to hardware issues. The incident was caused by an error in the company's computer system that mistakenly granted too many pilots time off during the busy holiday season, leading to a shortage of available pilots for flights.
(b) The software failure incident related to software:
- The software failure incident reported in the article [65547] was directly attributed to a software error. The system error in American Airlines' computer system led to the scheduling problem where thousands of flights were left without assigned pilots due to the software incorrectly granting vacations to too many pilots. |
| Objective (Malicious/Non-malicious) |
non-malicious |
(a) The software failure incident in the article is non-malicious. The incident occurred due to an error in the company's computer system that mistakenly granted too many pilots time off during the busy holiday season, leading to a shortage of pilots for approximately 15,000 flights [65547]. This error was not intentional but rather a technical glitch that caused disruptions in flight schedules and required the airline to offer extra pay to pilots to cover the shifts. |
| Intent (Poor/Accidental Decisions) |
poor_decisions |
The software failure incident related to American Airlines leaving thousands of flights without pilots for Christmas was primarily due to poor decisions. The incident occurred because the company's computer system mistakenly granted too many pilots vacation time during the busiest air traffic period of the year, between December 17 and 31 [65547]. This error led to a crisis situation where the airline had to offer extra pay to pilots to cancel their holiday plans and cover the shifts, with the Allied Pilots Association describing the situation as a "crisis" in pilot management [65547]. The decision to allow too many pilots to take vacation during a critical period was a poor decision that resulted in significant operational challenges for the airline. |
| Capability (Incompetence/Accidental) |
accidental |
(a) The software failure incident in the American Airlines case was not explicitly attributed to development incompetence. The incident was described as a result of the company's computer system granting too many pilots time off during a high-traffic period, leading to a shortage of pilots for thousands of flights [65547].
(b) The software failure incident in the American Airlines case was described as accidental. It was mentioned that the company's computer system mistakenly granted too many pilots time off between December 17 and 31, causing a crisis situation with thousands of flights affected [65547]. |
| Duration |
temporary |
The software failure incident reported in Article 65547 was temporary. The incident occurred due to the software system of American Airlines granting too many pilots vacation time during a specific period, leading to a shortage of pilots for thousands of flights during the Christmas holiday season. The company took immediate actions to address the issue by offering extra money to pilots to cancel their vacation plans and cover the shifts, as well as paying 150% of the hourly wage to cover the gaps. The incident was described as a "crisis" by a U.S.-based aviation union, and the airline was working diligently to resolve the problem and avoid flight cancellations during the holiday season [65547]. |
| Behaviour |
omission, value, other |
(a) crash: The software failure incident in the article resulted in a situation where American Airlines' system assigned too many pilots' vacations during the busy holiday season, leading to approximately 15,000 flights being affected by the error and not having pilots assigned [65547].
(b) omission: The software failure incident led to the omission of assigning pilots to thousands of flights during the Christmas holiday period due to the system error that granted too many pilots time off simultaneously [65547].
(c) timing: The timing of the software failure incident was critical as it occurred during the busiest air traffic period of the year, between December 17 and 31, leaving a significant number of flights without assigned pilots [65547].
(d) value: The software failure incident resulted in the system assigning vacations to pilots incorrectly, causing a shortage of pilots for the scheduled flights during the holiday season. To address this, American Airlines offered extra pay to pilots to cancel their vacation plans and cover the shifts [65547].
(e) byzantine: The software failure incident did not exhibit characteristics of a byzantine failure as described in the article.
(f) other: The software failure incident in the article can be categorized as a scheduling error caused by the system, leading to a crisis in pilot management for American Airlines during the busy holiday season [65547]. |