CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — Atlanta Airport has gone from being the world’s busiest airport to possibly the world’s busiest airport for all the wrong reasons.
Passengers say an ongoing global IT outage has caused a complete meltdown for three days.
Elizabeth Rollins on Channel 2 The broadcast was broadcast live from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, where chaos continues.
As of 11 p.m. Sunday, there were still 1,100 flight delays and more than 600 cancellations.
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Channel 2 Action News It turns out Delta isn’t allowing unaccompanied minors to book new flights, and those already booked won’t be allowed to board until at least Tuesday.
Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said one of its crew tracking tools was affected by an IT outage, making it difficult to process the changes.
Passengers are also sitting in chairs while waiting in customer service lines because the wait is so long.
“I’ve been up in two different airports for the last 40 hours … sleeping on two different airport floors,” traveller Anthony Augliaro said.
Delta Airlines has been hit the hardest by the number of delays and cancellations, accounting for nearly half of all flights canceled in Atlanta, according to data reported by Flight Aware.
“I finally booked a flight today, but it’s a Tuesday morning flight and I had to book it with Southwest Airlines,” traveler Damond Washington said.
delta Apologized And now offering Travel exemption For passengers who have been stranded for days, but many are still sleeping on the floor or on their luggage.
“It feels like no one cares about us,” Augliaro said.
In a statement Channel 2 Action NewsA Delta spokesman said the airline is “contacting affected customers directly to acknowledge the confusion, apologize and issue SkyMiles program miles or travel vouchers.”
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“Nobody’s going to make it easy for us,” Augliaro said.
Vouchers and waivers have helped, but even the alternatives have left passengers frustrated by long wait times.
Whether at the airport or by ground transportation, most travelers are still a long way from their destination.
“I was planning on taking a Greyhound from here and taking the 15-hour drive home,” Augliaro said.
There were also several bags of luggage, and travelers were likely stranded at another airport.
So College Park city officials created care packages for the many travelers in need of personal care items, which were distributed Sunday and disappeared within minutes.
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