The Department of Transportation is currently investigating Delta Air Lines to ensure that the airline is treating consumers fairly, as it continues to face challenges following a global tech outage that led to numerous flight cancellations.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg emphasized on social media that all airline passengers deserve fair treatment, and he is committed to upholding that right. He noted that the department has received “hundreds of complaints” regarding Delta’s handling of the situation.
Delta Air Lines, based in Atlanta, has been struggling to restore normal operations days after a flawed software update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike impacted various businesses globally. The defective update affected Microsoft’s Windows operating systems, leaving corporate users without access to their systems and causing issues such as the infamous “Blue Screen of Death.”
The incident took a toll on nearly every industry, but airlines and airports experienced substantial disruptions. On the Friday of the outage, over 46,000 flights were delayed, and 5,171 were canceled, according to FlightAware, with Delta being particularly hard hit.
The airline canceled approximately 3,500 flights over Friday and Saturday and reported over 2,500 canceled flights along with more than 3,400 delays on Sunday and Monday. As of Tuesday, 738 flights had either been canceled or delayed.
Delta CEO Ed Bastian acknowledged the hardships caused by these disruptions, stating, “Canceling a flight is always a last resort and something we don’t take lightly. I want to apologize to everyone affected by these events.” He also mentioned that many of Delta’s applications rely on Microsoft Windows, including tools necessary for crew tracking, which were unable to function following the system failure. In response to the situation, Delta has issued a waiver allowing customers to change their flights at no cost and is providing meal vouchers, hotel accommodations, and transportation options.