Cebu Pacific system upgrade

Cebu Pacific had its reservation system upgraded last March 31 (afternoon i think?) up to April 1 noontime. I first thought that this shouldn't cause much impact, but I was wrong. Not only did the online booking system gone haywire but also their call center. It's probably because most people who are booking online went with the phone booking way and yes siree, it caused a very negative impact. I called their hotline (7020888) on April 1 @ 2pm and the number is busy. I called again 4x that hour, and still the number is busy. I was able to connect at around 3:45pm and the automated answering system greeted and told me to wait for an available CSR. Time went by, 20 minutes, 30 minutes. I hung up. This is the first time for Cebu Pacific's service to suck big time. I can book a flight in less than 10 minutes before and the lead time for connecting to a CSR is less than 2 or 3 minutes.

I was able to successfully booked my aunt's flight yesterday afternoon, this time it took 10 minutes to connect to a CSR. And today I just got back from Cebu Pacific's ticket office in Galleria. I got my number at 11am. Went back at 1pm. And was able to pay at 5:30pm. It's all due to that system upgrade.

As an experienced developer, I can imagine the pain those people behind the upgrade is sufferring. But, they should have made a contingency plan for this. Upgrade is beneficial in the long run but the negative impact it can cause during its deployment cannot be ignored, especially if its a critical system.

I hope Cebu Pacific can learn from this experience. I prefer their rates compared to other airlines. Their online booking system prior to the upgrade is better than others too, personally.