The Atlanta-based airline has cancelled over 4,000 flights since Friday.
A Delta A220 (Photo: AirlineGeeks | William Derrickson)
As airlines across the United States recovered from Friday’s global IT outage, one airline struggled to resume normal operations. While most airlines had reduced their delays and cancellations to relatively normal levels by Monday, Delta Air Lines continues to struggle with its recovery.
Major IT issues spread around the world on Friday, stemming from a software update issued by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike that affected computers running Microsoft Windows. Travel disruptions quickly ensued, as key systems used by airlines and airports were affected.
Airlines in the United States have cancelled over 8,000 flights since the Friday outage, with Delta accounting for over 4,000 cancellations. The airline has stated that the main culprit has been a crew tracking-related tool. According to Delta Chief Executive Officer Ed Bastian, the tool was “unable to effectively process the unprecedented number of changes triggered by the system shutdown.”
By Monday, American Airlines and United Airlines had reduced their cancellations down to less than 100 flights each. However, Delta cancelled 1160 flights (30 percent of its schedule) on Monday and 511 flights (14 percent of its schedule) on Tuesday, according to data from Flightaware.com. As of 2:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on Wednesday, Delta had 48 flight cancellations for the day.
Reports of long lines to speak with airline staff and travelers stranded at airports filled news headlines throughout the weekend. While Delta has stated that it is offering meal vouchers and accommodations to affected passengers, it has not offered to reimburse passengers for flights booked on other airlines like Southwest Airlines did during its December 2022 operational meltdown.
The Atlanta-based carrier has also responded by issuing broad travel waivers that give passengers more flexibility in making ticket changes. It also suspended its unaccompanied minor services through Tuesday.
Crew members have also been hit hard by the disruptions, with many being stranded away from home, while others have picked up extra trips in an attempt to help improve the operation. The airline’s website and mobile app have also experienced performance challenges due to increased traffic.
The problems at Delta have led Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to announce that the Department of Transportation would be investigating the airline after it received a high volume of consumer complaints.
In an update to customers released on Wednesday, Bastian said that the airline expects to be fully recovered and operating normally on Thursday.
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