On Friday, Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian offered employees two free travel passes to express gratitude to staff affected by last month’s major disruptions, which were caused by a faulty CrowdStrike software update. The incident led to thousands of passengers and crew being stranded.
Delta Air Lines
Delta faced significant challenges in recovering from the outages, which took down thousands of Windows machines worldwide, impacting various sectors including healthcare and banking. The airline canceled over 5,000 flights between July 19 and July 24, exceeding its total cancellations for all of 2019, according to FlightAware. Bastian estimated the incident cost Delta around $500 million, roughly 40% of the airline’s profit for the second quarter. The disruptions were partly due to issues with a crew-tracking platform.
In a message to staff, Bastian acknowledged the difficulties and expressed regret, stating, “The disruption has been a humbling moment for our company. An operational disruption of this length and magnitude is simply unacceptable—you and our customers deserve better.”
During the disruptions, approximately 4,000 Delta flight attendants completed over 6,100 trips, earning extra pay, as noted in a separate staff memo.
The two “positive space” passes offered by Bastian guarantee seats, unlike the standby status typically available to airline employees. However, the Delta organizing committee of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, which is currently campaigning to unionize Delta’s flight attendants, criticized the passes as insufficient. The committee argued that the airline’s adjustments were minor and failed to address systemic issues that could prevent future incidents.
Despite Delta’s operations stabilizing, the cancellations and delays have damaged the airline’s reputation for reliability. Delta is known for its efforts to attract both leisure and corporate travelers by positioning itself as a premium carrier.
The airline has processed “thousands” of refund and reimbursement requests, according to a Delta spokesman. The U.S. Department of Transportation is investigating the disruptions, with Secretary Pete Buttigieg noting the impact of technology failures on air travel.
Delta has announced plans to pursue legal action against CrowdStrike and Microsoft to recover its losses and has engaged the law firm Boies Schiller Flexner. Microsoft declined to comment, while CrowdStrike stated it was unaware of any lawsuit and had no further comment.
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