Delta canceled more flights between Friday and Tuesday than it did in 2018 and 2019 combined following a mass IT outage connected to a flawed update issued by the Texas-based cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike.
There were 5,470 flight cancellations for the airline between Friday and Tuesday, per FlightAware, a flight tracking data platform.
By contrast, a total of 5,370 flights were canceled by Delta across the whole 2018 and 2019, according to data collected by the Department of Transport.
It also represents significantly more cancellations than the 3,621 Delta reported for all of 2021. Cancellation numbers for 2020, 2022, and 2023 were significantly higher.
That data includes flights operated by Delta, and does not include codeshare partner flights.
The CrowdStrike issues caused disruptions to travel worldwide. United Airlines, American Airlines, Spirit Airlines, and others grounded flights and announced delays in the US. Passengers were hit with travel chaos in airports, with many waiting hours to retrieve luggage and rebook flights.
Delta struggled to restore operations to full capacity, resorting to manually rebooting each system affected by the meltdown as most airlines began to recover.
By Monday, cancellations for most air carriers moderated to the tens and single digits, while Delta was continuing to cancel hundreds of flights a day, data by FlightAware showed.
In the wake of the outage, Delta made the decision to bar unaccompanied minors from traveling, a move its competitors did not implement. Two parents told Business Insider the pause left their children temporarily stranded.
Delta told Business Insider in a statement it suspended solo children from flying “to protect minors from being separated from their families and caregivers in the event of flight disruptions or cancellations.”
“We take seriously the trust caregivers place in us with their children’s travel, and sincerely apologize that that trust was compromised through confusion around the embargo,” Delta said.
The Department of Transport announced on Tuesday that it had opened an investigation into Delta. The transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg, said on X the aim is to “ensure the airline is following the law and taking care of its passengers” during the period of disruption.
“All airline passengers have the right to be treated fairly, and I will make sure that right is upheld,” he added.
.@USDOT has opened an investigation into Delta Air Lines to ensure the airline is following the law and taking care of its passengers during continued widespread disruptions.All airline passengers have the right to be treated fairly, and I will make sure that right is upheld.
— Secretary Pete Buttigieg (@SecretaryPete) July 23, 2024
Delta’s CEO, Ed Bastian, said operations were expected to return to normal on Thursday. It canceled one flight on Thursday, as of 6.30am ET, according to FlightAware.
The airline said in a statement on Wednesday that “the number of misplaced bags continues to be significantly reduced by major initiatives at all Delta hubs to reunite customers with bags, by ground delivery or via operating flights.”
It added that customer wait times for Delta’s call center and messaging service have reduced.
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