Delta Cancels Hundreds Of Flights As It Struggles To Recover From Crowdstrike Failures : NPR

Some problems persisted at airlines Monday after a faulty software update wreaked havoc worldwide and forced several carriers to ground flights, but the number of affected flights is declining. Here, a Delta Air Lines plane leaves the gate Friday, July 19, 2024, at Boston Logan International Airport.

Michael Dwyer/AP/AP

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Michael Dwyer/AP/AP

Delta Air Lines has canceled hundreds of flights for the third day in a row as the airline struggles to recover from Friday’s global software outage — even as other U.S. airlines bounce back and resume normal operations.

In a public letter released Sunday, Delta CEO Ed Bastian said the airline suspended flights after Friday’s outage, which resulted in the cancellation of about 3,500 flights from Friday through Saturday and into Sunday. Bastian said the outage occurred on what was considered the airline’s “busiest travel weekend of the summer.”

“Canceling a flight is always a last resort, and we don’t take it lightly,” he added. “Delta is in the business of connecting the world, and we understand how difficult it can be when your travels are disrupted.”

However, on Monday, as most U.S. airlines were recovering from the global outage, Delta continued to experience problems as more flights were delayed or canceled.

According to flight tracking site FlightAware, the Atlanta-based airline had canceled more than 800 flights and delayed about 1,500 flights as of Monday afternoon.

In his public letter, Bastian noted that several Delta applications run on Microsoft Windows, which meant that many tools were affected by the outage. Specifically, one of the airline’s crew tracking tools was found to be unusable and “unable to effectively process the unprecedented number of changes triggered by the system outage,” Bastian wrote.

The airline has offered travel exemptions to customers on flights affected by the outage, allowing them to change their itinerary and rebook their flights at no additional cost.

In a message posted on X, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Sunday decried the airline’s ongoing disruptions and “unacceptable customer service.”

“We have received reports of ongoing disruptions and unacceptable customer service conditions at Delta Air Lines, including hundreds of complaints filed with @USDOT“I have made clear to Delta that we will hold them to all applicable passenger protections,” Buttigieg wrote.

Buttigieg added that under the new federal regulations, customers are not required to accept the travel credit offered to rebook flights, but are instead entitled to a prompt cash refund.

“Delta must provide prompt refunds to consumers who choose not to rebook, free rebooking for those who do, and prompt refunds for food and hotel stays to consumers affected by these delays and cancellations, along with adequate customer service support,” he added.

Delta’s technical issues are similar to those that occurred with Southwest Airlines during the 2022 winter holiday season, when the Dallas-based airline canceled thousands of flights and left millions of travelers stranded.

The U.S. Department of Transportation ordered Southwest to pay $140 million in civil penalties, by far the largest the DOT has ever imposed on consumers, the department said in a statement announcing the fine.