Delta Air Lines Struggles to Recover from Tech Outage for Fourth Straight Day

Delta Air Lines continues to struggle for a fourth straight day as it works to recover from a global technology outage that has caused chaos for thousands of passengers. While other airlines are returning to nearly normal levels of service, Delta is still facing significant disruptions and drawing attention from the federal government.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has expressed concern over Delta’s high number of cancellations since the outage began on Friday. He has stated that his agency has received hundreds of complaints about the airline and expects them to provide accommodations such as hotels and meals for stranded passengers, as well as issue quick refunds to customers who choose not to be rebooked on a later flight.

Since the start of the outage, Delta has canceled over 5,500 flights, with at least 700 cancellations occurring on Monday alone. This has made them responsible for two-thirds of all flight cancellations worldwide, including the majority in the United States. United Airlines has also been impacted, but has managed to reduce their cancellations significantly by Monday.

Despite the challenges, Delta CEO Ed Bastian reassured customers that the airline is working diligently to restore operations. The outage, which coincided with one of the busiest travel weekends of the summer, severely limited Delta’s ability to re-accommodate passengers due to high booking loads exceeding 90%.

This incident is reminiscent of a similar technology debacle that affected Southwest Airlines in December 2022, resulting in a significant number of flight cancellations. Southwest faced a federal investigation and hefty fines for non-compliance with consumer-protection rules. The current issue has been attributed to a faulty update of cybersecurity software from CrowdStrike, affecting millions of machines worldwide.

As Delta and other airlines continue to navigate the fallout from the tech outage, passengers are advised to check for updates on their flights and travel plans. Stay tuned for more information on how the airline industry is coping with this challenging situation.