The Department of Transportation is currently investigating Delta Air Lines to ensure the airline is properly addressing consumer concerns following a series of flight cancellations that began after a global technical outage last week.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg emphasized on social media that all airline passengers deserve fair treatment, highlighting that his department has received “hundreds of complaints” regarding Delta’s handling of the situation.
Delta, headquartered in Atlanta, has struggled to fully restore its operations after a faulty software update by the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike affected multiple businesses globally. This issue also resulted in problems with Microsoft’s Windows operating systems, leaving many corporate users unable to access their systems and experiencing critical errors.
The impact of the outage extended to nearly every major industry, including healthcare, delivery, retail, and finance, but airlines faced particularly severe disruptions. On Friday, over 46,000 flights were delayed, and an additional 5,171 were canceled, with Delta experiencing the most significant challenges.
The airline reported that it canceled approximately 3,500 flights on Friday and Saturday, with more than 2,500 cancellations on Sunday and Monday, alongside over 3,400 delays. As of Tuesday, 738 flights had also been canceled or delayed.
Delta CEO Ed Bastian issued an apology to all customers affected by the disruptions, stating that canceling flights is always a last resort for the airline. He noted that Delta relies on a large number of applications running on Microsoft Windows, including a crucial crew tracking tool that was hindered by the system failure.
In response to the ongoing challenges, Delta has implemented a travel waiver allowing customers to change their flights at no cost and is providing meal vouchers, hotel accommodations, and transportation assistance.