Delta Under Federal Investigation Over Chaotic Flight Cancellations

The U.S. Department of Transportation has launched an investigation into Delta Airlines following persistent cancellations and delays, compounded by a major CrowdStrike computer outage on Friday.

Five days after the computer outage that caused thousands of flight cancellations worldwide, Delta is still struggling to resume normal operations, making it the only one of the big three U.S. airlines still suffering the effects of a computer outage that occurred five days later. Delta canceled another 457 flights Tuesday, or about 12% of its domestic schedule.

In a statement, the DOT cited widespread flight disruptions and customer service failures, accusing Delta of failing to meet its commitments to passengers. The agency also said the investigation would evolve as the DOT handles a “high volume” of customer complaints.

“Our department will use the full scope of its investigative and enforcement authority to ensure that the rights of Delta passengers are upheld,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it is working closely with airlines to help them resume normal operations. In a statement to Newsweek On Tuesday, Delta confirmed that it was fully cooperating with the DOT and FAA investigations.

Delta passengers have expressed frustration and anger over the ongoing disruptions. At Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Delta’s hub, scenes of frustration unfolded as thousands of passengers were stranded.

Despite efforts to manage the crisis, the recovery process has been slow. Long lines stretched through the terminal as travelers sought help at customer service counters, where overwhelmed staff struggled to provide answers and support.

Atlanta airport is crowded. Mothers with young children on the floor of the terminal. The customer service line is a mile long. No rental cars. Few hotel options. People have been stuck here for 3 days.

If there were no more important national news- @Delta The CEO would be forced to testify. pic.twitter.com/tGSRGyxYG5

— Cole T. Lyle (@ctlyle1) July 22, 2024

As of Tuesday, Delta has recorded more than 5,386 cancellations since Friday’s outage, making it the hardest-hit airline in the U.S., according to FlightAware. Those cancellations accounted for nearly 30% of all Delta cancellations for all of 2023, according to DOT data.

Delta customer service line at Atlanta airport. People wait here all day. You can understand the frustration pic.twitter.com/Rqqs5fRQfX

– Sharief Ishaq (@ShariefWDSU) July 20, 2024

In contrast, American Airlines and United Airlines have only recorded about 80 cancellations combined in the past 24 hours as they quickly recovered from the weekend outage.

Domino effect

In a public statement to customers Sunday, Delta CEO Ed Bastian apologized for the disruption and blamed the problem on its “crew tracking” software, which was unable to process the unprecedented number of changes triggered by the system outage.

Bastian explained that the outage occurred during the busiest weekend of the summer, when its flights were already at over 90% capacity. This severely limited the airline’s ability to re-accommodate passengers.

Flights were not affected by the outage, which mainly affected airlines’ ground-based computer systems. However, a single system failure can have a domino effect in aviation, an increasingly common problem.

“Much of airlines’ IT work is outsourced, leading to a lack of control and rapid recovery when problems arise,” said William J. McGee, senior fellow for aviation and travel at the American Economic Liberties Project. Newsweek.

In a statement to NewsweekA Delta spokesperson confirmed that the initial issue with their crew tracking software was related to the CrowdStrike update.

“More than half of Delta’s IT systems worldwide are Windows-based. The CrowdStrike error required Delta’s IT teams to manually repair and reboot each of the affected systems, with additional time required for applications to synchronize and begin communicating with each other,” the statement said.

Delta’s problems are similar to those Southwest Airlines faced during the 2022 holiday season, when it had to cancel nearly 17,000 flights over more than a week due to a problem with its crew scheduling system.

“Integration between outsourced IT systems and airlines’ internal systems is often inadequate, leading to operational outages like Delta’s recent problems, and others that have been common even with the most advanced technology available,” McGee said.

“Bad leadership”

McGee said these types of disruptions stem from a culture of cost-cutting within the airline industry, where airlines’ current systems outsource their IT infrastructure but run at full capacity nearly all the time, making them extremely fragile.

“Airplane occupancy rates have increased from around 50% in the 1980s and 1990s to over 90% today, with virtually every seat occupied during peak periods. This high occupancy rate means there is no room in the system to accommodate passengers from cancelled or delayed flights, which exacerbates recovery problems.”

McGee also said Delta CEO Bastian should be held accountable for the prolonged crisis and poor communication with passengers.

“The five days of struggle and the lack of effective crisis management reflect poorly on the airline’s leadership and planning,” he said.

Delta announced an extension of its travel waiver for all customers booked for flights between July 19 and 23 due to recent cancellations and delays. The DOT also asked Delta passengers to share their travel stories with the federal agency.

“While you should first try to resolve issues directly with the airline, we want to hear from passengers who believe Delta failed to comply with USDOT’s passenger protection requirements during recent travel disruptions,” Secretary Buttigieg said.

“We will follow up,” he added.

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