Delta Airlines faced a significant disruption in its operations due to a mass IT outage caused by a flawed update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike. This led to a staggering 5,470 flight cancellations between Friday and Tuesday, surpassing the total cancellations for 2018 and 2019 combined. The impact was felt globally, with other major airlines like United, American, and Spirit also experiencing delays and groundings.
While most airlines were able to recover and resume operations by Monday with only a few cancellations, Delta continued to face challenges, manually rebooting systems affected by the IT meltdown. The airline even made the decision to temporarily bar unaccompanied minors from traveling to prevent potential separation from families during disruptions.
Delta's handling of the situation drew scrutiny, leading to an investigation by the Department of Transport to ensure compliance with passenger rights and regulations. The transportation secretary emphasized the importance of fair treatment for all airline passengers during times of disruption.
Delta's CEO, Ed Bastian, expressed optimism that operations would return to normal by Thursday, with only one flight canceled as of early morning. The airline also reported progress in reducing the number of misplaced bags and improving customer service response times.
