Delta Air Lines is facing ongoing challenges in the aftermath of a massive IT outage that has led to thousands of flight cancellations. While other airlines have returned to relatively normal operations, Delta passengers continue to experience significant disruptions.
The trouble began four days ago when a computer update issue caused over 5,000 flight cancellations globally. Delta, headquartered in Atlanta, canceled more than 1,200 flights on Friday alone—more than any other airline, according to the flight-tracking platform FlightAware.
Over the weekend, the airline grounded thousands of additional flights, and those cancellations continued into this week. FlightAware showed another 412 Delta cancellations as of early Tuesday morning.
Delta CEO Ed Bastian explained in a note to customers that the problem stemmed from a failure in the airline’s crew-tracking software.
“One of our crew tracking-related tools was affected and unable to effectively process the unprecedented number of changes triggered by the system shutdown,” Bastian wrote. He assured passengers that teams have been working nonstop to restore functionality.
The IT outage, attributed to a CrowdStrike software issue, affected 8.5 million computers running Windows globally. While many companies have recovered, airlines like Delta face the additional challenge of repositioning flight crews and aircraft, which complicates the return to normal operations.
Fast Company reached out to Delta for additional comment.
Adding to the complexity, the outage coincided with one of the busiest travel weekends of the summer, limiting Delta’s ability to rebook passengers.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has urged Delta to provide prompt refunds, free rebooking, and reimbursements for food and hotel stays for affected passengers.
On Tuesday, he tweeted that the U.S. Department of Transportation opened an investigation into the airline to ensure that it is “following the law and taking care of its passengers during continued widespread disruptions.”
As Delta works to resolve the ongoing disruptions, passengers are advised to monitor flight statuses and explore compensation options via Delta’s official channels.
In an update on Monday, the airline said it was still working to restore systems and posted a number of options for customer to seek recourse.