Bad news for Delta Air Lines passengers: the travel nightmare continues as the airline canceled hundreds more flights early Tuesday morning. The chaos, stemming from last week’s global tech outage, shows no signs of stopping anytime soon.
As of 6 a.m. ET, Delta had canceled 383 flights, with its regional carrier Endeavor Air canceling another 18. This comes after more than 1,250 flight cancellations on Monday and 4,500 over the weekend. The root of the problem? A software update by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike late Thursday night that crashed Windows software, causing a ripple effect across the airline industry.
Most airlines recovered by the end of the weekend, but Delta has been unable to fix its crew tracking system, leaving it unable to locate the pilots and flight attendants needed to operate its planes. According to Rahul Samant, Delta’s chief information officer, the problems will persist for at least a few more days.
Delta’s customers are understandably frustrated, with tens of thousands stranded and unable to return home. Many have booked alternative flights, only to face additional cancellations. With a shortage of hotel rooms, many passengers are forced to sleep in airports and wait on hold for hours trying to reach Delta for assistance.
Wow. Many Delta passengers have been stranded at the Atlanta airport for 3 days due to the global Microsoft Crowdstrike internet outages on Friday. The largest IT outage in history
No hotel rooms or car rentals available.
— Juanita Broaddrick (@atensnut) July 23, 2024
Delta’s crew members are facing similar frustrations, stranded in airports far from home with no way to be placed on flights due to the airline’s inability to locate them. Some crew members, like their passengers, are also sleeping in airports due to a lack of hotel accommodations. Airport employees are left dealing with irate customers who don’t understand why their flights are canceled when crew members are visibly present.
In a desperate bid to fix its staffing issues, Delta is offering premium pay to crew members and assurances they will be able to return home at the end of their work periods. However, this problem is expected to continue through Friday, indicating that the chaos isn’t ending anytime soon.
The service meltdown is a costly blunder for Delta, tarnishing its reputation and hitting it financially. Savanthi Syth, an airline analyst for Raymond James, estimates that Delta has already lost around $163 million through Monday due to lost revenue. This figure is likely to rise as additional staff pay and customer reimbursements are factored in.
Delta has long boasted about its on-time performance and customer service, with 39 cancellation-free, brand-perfect days earlier this month. However, this meltdown is a significant blow to that hard-earned reputation.
The scale of this fiasco brings to mind Southwest Airlines’ service meltdown during the year-end holiday travel period in 2022, which cost the airline nearly $1.2 billion. Delta could face similar long-term consequences, including losing future bookings from disgruntled customers.
Delta’s troubles have also left thousands of pieces of luggage scattered around baggage claim areas at airports like Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson, waiting to be reunited with their owners.
Delta Airlines continues to grapple with a global technology outage caused by a faulty software update. The airline is offering refunds, bonus SkyMiles and travel vouchers to affected passengers. pic.twitter.com/P5m5YfzlKr
— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) July 22, 2024
Other airlines, like United, were also affected by the computer problem but managed to recover more quickly. United canceled more than 1,000 flights but returned to near-normal operations by Monday, using FedEx to deliver lost baggage to passengers.
As Delta continues to grapple with its system meltdown, passengers and crew alike are left navigating the fallout of this ongoing travel disaster.