Delta is facing increasing pressure from its customers and Washington as a meltdown caused by an IT outage on Friday continues.
In particular, Delta’s customer service practices have come to the forefront. Passengers have complained on social media that the airline hasn’t offered them refunds, reimbursement for hotel accommodations or meal vouchers. Some passengers have reported waiting for hours to get on the phone with a customer service agent and others have been rebooking their flights with a different carrier.
One traveler told Skift he was unable to talk to a customer service agent after being put on hold for three hours.
Tuesday looked a little better for Delta, with 467 cancellations and 1,067 delays as of 3:25 p.m. ET, according to FlightAware. On Monday, Delta canceled 1,160 flights and delayed 1,809. Since Friday, Delta has canceled over 5,000 flights.
Other airlines have recovered far more quickly than Delta after an issue with a CrowdStrike software update Friday caused systems that rely on Microsoft Windows to crash.
Delta has long prided itself on its operational reliability and on-time performance, but so far, hasn’t given a timeline for when it expects operations to stabilize.
Delta’s Meltdown Leaves Customers Frustrated
Delta CEO Ed Bastian told customers in a letter on Sunday that the airline would provide Delta SkyMiles and travel vouchers as a “gesture of apology.” However, some customers said they never received any vouchers.
Brian Sifford, a resident of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, said his flight back home has been canceled for two days. He said a customer service agent at Nashville International Airport initially told him that they weren’t giving any hotel vouchers. He was ultimately able to receive a hotel accommodation after speaking with the agent for 20 minutes. Delta also gave him a $36 food voucher, which he said didn’t cover meals for two days.
The Department of Transportation requires airlines to cover hotel accommodations if a flight is delayed or canceled overnight.
“Usually you book Delta knowing that they’ll get you there on time or 30 minutes late,” Sifford said.
Sifford said he hadn’t received any communication from Delta about providing SkyMiles for the disruptions. Some reported on X receiving an email from Delta that they would receive as many as 12,500 SkyMiles — worth about $140 — in the next five business days.
Hedy Carter, a resident of Austin, said she was traveling from New Hampshire but her flights got canceled. She said she then tried to get a flight from Boston, but those flights were canceled twice.
Ultimately, she was able to snag a flight from Boston to Nashville, but that flight was delayed causing her to miss her connection to Austin. She’s been waiting at the Nashville airport for six hours and hopes she gets back to Austin tonight.
Carter, who was booked to fly first class, said she received no vouchers from Delta and wanted the carrier to reimburse her for accommodations, transportation and food. She said she was also on hold with customer service for three-and-a-half hours. Delta said customers can record expenses for hotels, transportation and food for reimbursement on its website.
“They haven’t paid for my hotels, and they haven’t paid for my food, or my Ubers, or my anything,” she said.
Washington Probes Delta
Senator Maria Cantwell, the chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, sent a letter to Bastian on Tuesday outlining concerns with the carrier’s customer service. She wrote that Delta’s website did not “accurately and transparently reflect a passenger’s right to a refund.”
The 2024 FAA Reauthorization Act codified automatic refunds into law, saying passengers are entitled to a refund if their flights are significantly delayed, canceled or changed. The rule also applies to non-refundable tickets. Passengers aren’t eligible for automatic refunds if they accept an alternative flight from the carrier.
“While the technology outage was clearly not caused by Delta or any airline, I am nevertheless concerned that Delta is failing to meet the moment and adequately protect the needs of passengers,” Cantwell wrote in the letter.
The Department of Transportation is also opening an investigation into Delta due to the meltdown. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said the department would “leverage the full extent of our investigative and enforcement power to ensure the rights of Delta’s passengers are upheld.”
“Delta is in receipt of the Department’s notice of investigation and is fully cooperating. We remain entirely focused on restoring our operation after cybersecurity vendor CrowdStrike’s faulty Windows update rendered IT systems across the globe inoperable,” Delta said in a statement. “Across our operation, Delta teams are working tirelessly to care for and make it right for customers impacted by delays and cancellations as we work to restore the reliable, on-time service they have come to expect from Delta.”
A Crew Scheduling Issue Triggered the Slow Recovery
Delta said on Monday the CrowdStrike error required it to manually reboot and repair each affected system. More than half of Delta’s IT systems are Windows based.
The carrier added that its crew scheduling systems needed the most time to synchronize after the outage. As a result, Delta has not been able to get in touch with many crewmembers, causing the massive disruptions.
Daren Hartmann, the chair of Delta’s pilots’ union, wrote in a memo sent to union members on Tuesday that many crew members were unable to contact Delta “in any capacity.”
He said Delta told pilots that they would receive double pay for any shifts worked between July 19 and July 26.
“I share your frustration in seeing passengers stranded while we, as crew members, experience the same unacceptable obstacles,” Hartmann wrote in the memo.
Delta’s Association of Flight Attendants organizing chapter wrote a letter on Tuesday asking the carrier’s management to provide extra pay for those working from July 19. Similar to pilots, flight attendants have also had trouble getting in touch with the airline.
The letter also asked for increased crew scheduling staffing and more staff on the carrier’s hotel team so they could provide accommodations faster. Hartmann told pilots they should expense hotels if they’re unable to book one through Delta.
“This is a crisis and there’s no time for half measures,” the flight attendants’ letter read.
Dawit Habtemariam and Sarah Kopit contributed reporting.
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