Delta cancels hundreds of flights as it struggles to recover after Crowdstrike failures : NPR

Delta Air Lines is struggling to recover from flight cancellations on Friday, cancelling hundreds of flights for a third straight day. Global software outage This comes despite other U.S. airlines recovering and returning to normal operations.

in Open Letter Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said in a statement Sunday that the airline grounded operations after Friday’s outage, leading to the cancellation of about 3,500 flights from Friday through Saturday and continuing into Sunday. Bastian said the outage occurred during what was considered the airline’s “busiest weekend of the summer.”

“Canceling a flight is always a last resort and something we don’t take lightly,” he added. “Delta is in the business of connecting the world and we understand how difficult it can be for our customers when their travels are interrupted.”

But on Monday, as most U.S. airlines recovered from the global outage, Delta continued to face problems, with more flights delayed or canceled.

As of Monday afternoon, Atlanta-based airlines had canceled more than 800 flights and delayed about 1,500, according to flight tracking websites. Flight Aware.

In his open letter, Bastian wrote that several of Delta’s applications run on Microsoft Windows, and as a result, many of the tools were affected by the outage. More specifically, Bastian wrote that one of the airline’s crew tracking tools was inoperable and “could not effectively handle the unprecedented number of changes caused by the outage.”

The airline offered travel waivers to passengers on flights affected by the outage, allowing them to change their itineraries and rebook flights at no extra charge.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, in a post on X on Sunday, slammed the airline for the ongoing disruptions and “unacceptable customer service.”

“Delta has received reports of ongoing disruptions and unacceptable customer service conditions, including hundreds of complaints. U.S. Department of Transportation“I have made it clear to Delta that we will hold them to all applicable passenger protections,” Buttigieg wrote.

Buttigieg added: Under new federal regulationsYou are not obligated to accept any travel credit offered to rebook your flight, but instead, you will be entitled to an immediate cash refund.

“Delta must provide prompt refunds to consumers who do not rebook, rebook at no charge to consumers who do, and provide timely refunds for meals and hotel accommodations and appropriate customer service assistance to consumers affected by delays and cancellations,” he added.

Delta’s technical issues are similar to those experienced by Dallas-based carrier Southwest Airlines during the 2022 winter holiday season. Thousands of flights canceled And millions of travelers were stranded.

The US Department of Transportation has ordered Southwest Airlines to pay $140 million in civil penalties, which it said are the largest penalties the department has ever imposed on consumers. Said in a statement announcing the fine.