Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian on Friday extended an offer of two free travel passes to employees in recognition of their efforts during significant disruptions last month. These disruptions, caused by a faulty CrowdStrike software update, resulted in thousands of customers and crew being stranded. The airline canceled more than 5,000 flights between July 19 and July 24, exceeding the total number of cancellations for all of 2019, according to FlightAware. This incident reportedly cost Delta approximately $500 million, which equates to about 40% of its second-quarter profit.
The disruptions were particularly severe for Delta compared to its competitors, affecting a wide range of industries globally, from healthcare to banking. The airline faced additional challenges due to issues with a crew-tracking platform, contributing further to the cancellations and delays. Delta’s recovery efforts involved manually resetting 40,000 servers, a process that Bastian described as a “humbling moment” for the company. In a note to employees, Bastian apologized for the difficulties endured and acknowledged that the level of disruption was unacceptable.
During the crisis, more than 4,000 Delta flight attendants took on over 6,100 additional trips, earning extra pay for their efforts. Bastian commended their “heroic” contributions and offered the two “positive space” passes as a gesture of gratitude. These passes guarantee confirmed seats, unlike the typical standby flying benefits for airline employees.
However, the Delta organizing committee of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, currently campaigning to unionize Delta’s flight attendants, criticized the gesture as insufficient. They argued that Delta’s management routinely makes minimal adjustments that fail to prevent future operational meltdowns.
The disruptions have since stabilized, but the incident tarnished Delta’s reputation for high reliability. The airline, which prides itself on winning over both leisure and corporate customers with its premium service, processed thousands of refunds and reimbursement requests in the aftermath. The U.S. Department of Transportation is investigating the disruptions, with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg noting the investigation’s significance.
In response to the incident, Bastian revealed that Delta plans to pursue legal action against CrowdStrike and Microsoft to recover losses incurred from the outage. The airline has enlisted the services of the law firm Boies Schiller Flexner for this purpose.
This incident highlights the vulnerability of airline operations to technological failures and the critical importance of robust IT infrastructure in maintaining service reliability.
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