The faulty CrowdStrike software update that led to a worldwide outage began disrupting major airlines and global air travel this past Friday. Many airlines scrambled to cancel flights and rearrange schedules in the wake of the crisis. The Department of Transportation estimated that more than half a million passengers were affected.
Most airlines have by now resumed normal operations, but Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines continues to struggle. As of Tuesday, Delta had cancelled more that 7,000 flights. Things are slowly coming back together, but problems still exist. On Tuesday itself they canceled more than 500 flights, down by more than half from Monday, but still accounting for almost two-thirds of all cancelled flight in the U.S. Only 51 flights were cancelled on Wednesday accounting for about 1% of their total schedule (according to FlightAware).
A company official has said the airline expects to return to normal operations by the end of the week.
It could still take days however for all passengers who had been booked on those canceled flights to get to their intended destinations.
Delta CEO Ed Bastian has said that in addition to reimbursements for meals, hotel accommodations, and ground transportation, those impacted by the service problems will receive frequent flyer miles and travel vouchers. The amount of those miles and vouchers was not specified.
U.S. Department of Transportation regulators have opened an investigation into Delta.
U.S. airline regulators have opened an investigation into Delta Air Lines to determine why the airline failed to recover as quickly as other airlines from the Crowdstrike breakdown and whether Delta’s treatment of passengers stranded by canceled and delayed flights violated federal rules.
DOT secretary Pete Buttigieg said his department will investigate “how it could be that days after the other airlines are back to normal, Delta is still canceling hundreds of flights.”
Buttigieg said they will also examine Delta’s customer service, including “unacceptable” lines for customer service, reports that unaccompanied minors were stranded at airports, and more than 3,000 complaints about the airline’s breakdown.
Delta’s collapse is considering even more striking given the fact that it is widely viewed as the best of the big U.S. airlines. It has been the most profitable before and after the pandemic, the best run, and in recent years has always ranked near the top for on-time performance.
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