The Department of Transportation is investigating Delta Air Lines to ensure it is addressing consumer needs as the company continues to cancel flights following last week’s global tech outage.
“All airline passengers have the right to be treated fairly, and I will make sure that right is upheld,” Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said in a statement on social media Tuesday. Buttigieg mentioned his department had received “hundreds of complaints” about Delta’s response to the tech outages.
Atlanta-based Delta has struggled to fully resume operations after a botched software update by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike late Thursday impacted businesses globally. A defect in the planned update affected Microsoft’s Windows operating systems, leaving many corporate users without access to their systems and sometimes facing the “Blue Screen of Death.”
Almost every major industry, including healthcare, delivery companies, retailers, and financial institutions, was affected by the incident. Airlines and airports were hit particularly hard: on Friday alone, more than 46,000 flights were delayed, and another 5,171 were canceled, according to FlightAware. Delta experienced the most significant impact.
Delta reported it canceled about 3,500 flights across its operations on Friday and Saturday. According to FlightAware, the airline canceled more than 2,500 flights on Sunday and Monday and delayed another 3,441. By Tuesday, 738 flights had been canceled or delayed, according to FlightAware.
“Canceling a flight is always a last resort, and something we don’t take lightly,” Delta CEO Ed Bastian said in a statement Sunday. “I want to apologize to every one of you who have been impacted by these events. Delta is in the business of connecting the world, and we understand how difficult it can be when your travels are disrupted.”
Bastian explained Delta has a “significant number of applications” that use Microsoft Windows, including a crew tracking tool that could not process the changes triggered by the system shutdown. Delta has issued a travel waiver allowing customers to change their flights for free, along with providing meal vouchers, hotel rooms, and transportation.