by
Atlanta
CNN
—
Three days after a computer update problem caused more than 5,000 flight cancellations worldwide, the situation is almost back to normal, except at Delta Air Lines.
Based in Atlanta Delta canceled 1,500 flights on Friday, more than a third of its schedule. That’s more than any other airline in the world, according to flight-tracking service FlightAware. It grounded nearly 3,000 more flights over the weekend and canceled another 700 flights Monday morning, about 60% of the flights canceled by all airlines worldwide. Most other U.S. airlines canceled just 1% of their flights, compared with about one in six Delta flights.
In a note to customers Sunday, Delta CEO Ed Bastian apologized for the disruptions and blamed the problem on a computer program affecting its “crew tracking” software.
“One of our crew tracking tools was impacted and was unable to efficiently process the unprecedented number of changes triggered by the system outage,” he wrote in a note to customers. “Our teams worked around the clock to recover and restore all functionality.”
While many airlines, large and small, saw the CrowdStrike issue affect the computers that were supposed to check in passengers, Delta appears to have been the only airline whose crucial crew scheduling software was affected.
On Monday at Atlanta’s Hartsfield International Airport, friends Nicole DaSilva, Tiffany Denlinger and Melissa Levine had been traveling since Saturday to return home to Tucson, Arizona, after an international trip to Athens. But they were told they might have to wait until Wednesday or Thursday to find a flight for the final leg of their journey.
“We took several different flights, and they were all canceled,” DaSilva said, clutching a handful of tickets that couldn’t be used.
Denlinger remained glued to her phone, waiting to speak to a Delta employee. She held up her phone to show how long she was on hold: “Six hours and 20 minutes,” she said.
But the problem with the critical crew tracking system remained unresolved as of Monday morning, according to a video message to Delta staff from Bastian and Rahul Samant, the airline’s chief information officer.
“So we’re optimistic that we can get there,” Samant said in the video message. “There’s going to be some things, as Ed said, that we’re going to do today and tomorrow to get to a better situation by the end of the week.” He said IT staff is working “hard” and “around the clock” to resolve the issue.
Delta still doesn’t seem to know where its crew members are. Crew members who log into the airline’s computer system to check in for flights are getting messages and questions like: “Please provide the airport code closest to you below,” “What is your current status?” and “Please describe your current location.”
A person familiar with the airline’s operations provided CNN with screenshots of the messages. Delta declined to comment on the screenshots.
According to screenshots seen by CNN, Delta is offering crew members a pay bonus and additional benefits that will allow them to go home at the end of their shift. The pay bonus and benefits will remain in effect through Friday, another sign that the staffing issue may not be resolved for several days. Delta also declined to comment on the offers to crew members.
The problems with flight groundings and delays were a nightmare for travelers throughout the weekend. And they were just part of the “largest computer outage in history” caused by the strike, which crippled an estimated 8.5 million Windows-based computers worldwide, disrupting hospital operations, package deliveries, banking and retail transactions.
CrowdStrike said Sunday night that a significant number of affected computers were back online and operational. But for the affected airlines, it’s not just the computers that need to be fixed. It could take longer for the crews needed to fly planes to the right cities to be able to fly again.
“An airline is like your circulatory system. If it stops, even for a short period of time, the blood isn’t where it’s supposed to be,” said Michael Boyd, an airline consultant. “Getting planes back to where they need to be, getting passengers back to where they need to be … all of that takes time. So even if the flight is stopped for just a few hours, it can take five times as long to get it back up and running.”
The problem for passengers has been compounded by the peak summer travel season, according to Bastian’s message to Delta customers.
“The technical issue occurred during the busiest travel weekend of the summer, with our bookings exceeding 90%, limiting our re-accommodation capabilities,” he wrote.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg spoke with Bastian on Sunday about the issues and steps being taken to compensate passengers, according to a statement from the Transportation Department.
“I have made clear to Delta that we expect the airline to promptly refund customers who choose not to rebook, promptly rebook free of charge and provide meal and hotel refunds to customers affected by delays and cancellations, and adequate customer service assistance to all of its passengers,” Buttigieg said in the DOT statement. “No one should be stuck in an airport overnight or on hold for hours to speak to a customer service agent.”
Bastian told Delta passengers in his message that the airline “will continue to offer meal vouchers, hotel rooms and transportation where possible. And as an apology, we are also providing affected customers with Delta SkyMiles and travel vouchers.”
Delta’s problems are similar to those at Southwest Airlines during the 2022 holiday season, when the airline had to cancel nearly 17,000 flights over a period of more than a week. In that case, the problem was traced to its crew scheduling system, which Southwest unions called “outdated” and which Southwest executives vowed to fix following the collapse in service.
