Thousands of flights have been canceled, delayed, or rescheduled since Friday, July 19, 2024 when a software update by CrowdStrike caused an information technology outage worldwide — but system operations at Delta Air Lines still have not recovered since then, as today, Wednesday, July 24, 2024 is Day 6 of The Great Delta Air Lines Meltdown of 2024, with the latest message from the chief executive officer of the airline.
Day 6 of The Great Delta Air Lines Meltdown of 2024: The Latest Message From the Chief Executive Officer
The meltdown has caused thousands of travelers to be stranded for as many as five days; left on hold on telephones for greater than ten hours; be without their luggage and other personal belongings; and left to fend for themselves in terms of financing food, beverages, lodging, and alternative transportation to their destinations as they miss meetings and major events.
The number of flights that have been canceled by Delta Air Lines since Friday is well beyond 6,000.
While most airlines and many companies which had been affected by the aforementioned information technology outage have generally recovered for the most part, Delta Air Lines has been struggling to return to normal operations. The Department of Transportation launched an official investigation of Delta Air Lines yesterday, Tuesday, July 23, 2024 “to ensure the airline is following the law and taking care of its passengers during continued widespread disruptions”, according to Pete Buttigieg, who is the current secretary of transportation of the United States.
The following message from Edward Bastian was duplicated in its entirety from Delta News Hub, which is an official Internet web site of Delta Air Lines:
An update for Delta customers from CEO Ed Bastian (July 24)
Delta CEO Ed Bastian shared the following message Wednesday morning as the airline continues to recover from the impact of last week’s CrowdStrike outage.
Since the CrowdStrike outage late last week, Delta’s team of the best professionals in the business has been working around the clock to restore the reliable, on-time operation you’ve come to know and expect when you fly with us.
While our initial efforts to stabilize the operations were difficult and frustratingly slow and complex, we have made good progress this week and the worst impacts of the CrowdStrike-caused outage are clearly behind us. Delays and cancellations were down 50% Tuesday compared to Monday, and we anticipate cancellations Wednesday to be minimal. Thursday is expected to be a normal day, with the airline fully recovered and operating at a traditional level of reliability.
I know the last few days have been difficult. To our customers who were impacted, I want to thank you for your patience and apologize again for the disruption to your travel.
We understand how important travel is in your lives, and we remain committed to taking care of those whose flights may still be impacted, with meals, hotel accommodations and ground transportation offered through vouchers and reimbursements. We’re also providing impacted customers with Delta SkyMiles and travel vouchers as a further gesture of apology.
I also want to extend my thanks and gratitude to Delta’s amazing team of 100,000 aviation professionals, who have been working tirelessly to take care of our customers and ensure their safety in a challenging operating environment.
We will continue to keep you informed via delta.com and the Fly Delta app for the latest information on your itinerary.
I’ve received emails from many of you who are understandably frustrated with the pace of progress and the difficulty in getting the service you deserve. I’ve also received many notes of encouragement and support commenting on the heroic efforts of our people, who are working under trying and stressful conditions. Thank you for your feedback, as well as your patience and understanding.
The following update was shared internally with all employees of Delta Air Lines yesterday, Tuesday, July 23, 2024:
Delta teams make progress to restore operation
The past few days have been extraordinarily difficult across Delta following the CrowdStrike outage on Friday morning. The efforts of Delta people have been nothing short of heroic and we’re moving firmly in the right direction.
“Teams are working around the clock to reposition planes and people to where they need to be so we can return to normal operations by the end of the week,” said John Laughter, Chief of Operations and President, Delta TechOps. “We’re seeing solid day-over-day progress across operating metrics that the entire team should be proud of.”
Some highlights of the team’s efforts to return the Delta operation to normal include:
- Mainline cancellations are trending downward with 50% fewer cancels day over day.
- Atlanta flight volumes continue to return to scale; we’re operating 43% more throughput than yesterday.
- Open trips for pilots started today down nearly 50% day over day; both pilot and flight attendant open time levels are starting to return to normal.
- Our crew tracking system queue that builds trip rotations contained a backlog of issues that is down 75% in the last 36 hours, and well on its way to normal.
- We’re making progress working through misplaced bags and leveraging our delivery partners to reunite customers with their belongings.
“With our collective focus, we will continue this momentum to be in good shape ahead of the busy weekend,” Laughter said.
Across the operation, Delta people on the ground, in the air and behind the scenes are working tirelessly to care for customers and each other. Through it all, we’re encouraged by the countless compliments we’re receiving from customers who are grateful for the level of care Delta people continue to deliver, even during this challenging time. Thanks to the 1,500 volunteers who’ve stepped up to support our teams through Behind the Wings shifts across the system.
“We know this hasn’t been easy. We have every confidence that Delta will quickly reclaim its position as the industry-leading, on-time machine that our customers have come to expect from us,” said Allison Ausband, Chief Customer Experience Officer. “In the meantime, keep supporting each other and our customers, and we’ll continue to keep you informed every step of the way.”
This is not the first time that Delta Air Lines has experienced a systemwide operational meltdown. As two examples, the airline has had its operations significantly disrupted in the summer of 2016; and an electrical power outage at the international airport which serves the greater Atlanta metropolitan area on Sunday, December 17, 2017 caused hundreds of flights that were operated by Delta Air Lines to be canceled. Edward Bastian seemed significantly more proactive during those disruptions with systemwide operations of the airline than he has been during the current meltdown.
The airline was criticized both times for its perceived poor recovery and response to customers — but this current meltdown promises to be historic and the worst one Delta Air Lines has experienced once it will have finally been resolved.
Final Boarding Call
Delta Air Lines was poorly prepared for what happened this past Friday. That needs to be addressed as much as how a software update can wreak havoc on so many companies in a number of industries worldwide, which is quite concerning. Questions remain on how such a significant meltdown can happen at an airline which considers itself as offering a premium product and service in commercial aviation in the United States.
Meanwhile, Delta Air Lines has once again extended the issuance of its travel alerts for all tickets that were issued on or before Friday, July 19, 2024 through Sunday, July 28, 2024; and Sunday, August 4, 2024 is the last day on which tickets must be reissued and rebooked travel must begin — but do not be surprised if this travel alert is extended yet again. Avoid the airline in the meantime until its systemwide operations are functioning normally once again — which will supposedly be as soon as tomorrow, Thursday, July 25, 2024.
My experience with Delta Air Lines has almost always been professional over the years. Customer service recovery from the airline was almost always satisfactory — and at times, even better than expected…
…so to see the systemwide operations of Delta Air Lines experiencing this meltdown is disappointingly sad — to the point where many customers vow to never use the airline again, as their perspective is that the damage is already done. The latest message from Edward Bastian seemed hollow and distant, with no real feeling, meaning, or empathy towards both customers and employees. Delta Air Lines needs to surprise and delight its customers with a customer service recovery like no other to let them know that they are indeed available and to convince them to fly as passengers with the airline in the future…
…but then again, its stock price has not suffered much since its high of $46.80 per share on Thursday, July 18, 2024. At the time this article was written, a share of stock in Delta Air Lines costs $43.85, which is a drop of slight greater than 6.3 percent since this past Thursday — so the airline may not be motivated enough financially to offer a substantial customer service recovery.
I have not traveled with Delta Air Lines since the meltdown of its systemwide operations started back on Friday. Have you?
All photographs ©2016, ©2023, and ©2024 by Brian Cohen.
