The Department of Transportation is looking into Delta Air Lines to ensure that the airline is acting in accordance with consumer rights amid ongoing flight cancellations stemming from last week’s global tech outage.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg emphasized on social media that all airline passengers deserve fair treatment and pledged to uphold that right. He noted that his department has received “hundreds of complaints” regarding Delta’s handling of the situation following the tech failures.
Delta, headquartered in Atlanta, has faced difficulties in restoring full operations days after a problematic software update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, which occurred late Thursday and affected businesses worldwide. A flaw in this update disrupted Microsoft’s Windows operating system, leaving numerous corporate users without access to their systems and encountering issues like the infamous “Blue Screen of Death.”
The incident impacted nearly every major industry, with significant disruptions felt in healthcare, delivery services, retail, and finance. The airline sector, particularly, faced severe consequences: on Friday alone, over 46,000 flights were delayed and another 5,171 were canceled, according to FlightAware, with Delta experiencing the largest impact.
Delta reported canceling about 3,500 flights on Friday and Saturday. The airline further canceled more than 2,500 flights on Sunday and Monday while also delaying another 3,441 flights. As of Tuesday, there were already 738 flights 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 stated on 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 that Delta relies on a wide array of applications that utilize Microsoft Windows, including tools crucial for crew tracking, which struggled to adapt to the changes initiated by the system outage. In response to the disruptions, Delta has implemented a travel waiver allowing customers to change their flights without charge, along with offering meal vouchers, hotel accommodations, and transportation assistance.