Thousands of passengers stranded as Delta cancels flights due to global computer outage

U.S. airlines including Delta, United and American recorded hundreds of flight cancellations Friday due to a global technology outage, disrupting travel for tens of thousands of people.

Delta had the most flight cancellations of any U.S. airline, canceling more than 700 flights, or 19% of its scheduled flights, on Friday, according to data from FlightAware.com as of early Friday afternoon. More than 990 additional Delta flights were delayed.

“A disruption caused by a global IT outage is resulting in a ground shutdown impacting our operating system globally,” a Delta advisory said.

Credits: John Spink

Credits: John Spink

In a statement updated before 8 a.m. ET, Atlanta-based Delta said it has resumed some flight departures after suspending its global flight schedule early Friday morning due to a vendor technology issue that impacted multiple airlines and businesses around the world.

The issue affects many users of Microsoft products, but it doesn’t concern Microsoft itself. CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity firm, said one of its security updates triggered the outages. The companies said fixes have been identified and are being implemented, though the impact could be long-lasting.

Delta also issued a travel waiver this morning that will allow customers scheduled to travel on Friday, July 19, to manage changes to their itinerary through http://Delta.com or the Fly Delta app. The airline said it is waiving the fare difference for customers who rebook in the same cabin before July 24.

“All customers whose flights are affected will be notified by Delta via the Fly Delta app and text message,” Delta said earlier this morning on X. “Customers should use the Fly Delta app for updates. We apologize for the inconvenience while our teams work on this issue.”

Credits: John Spink

Credits: John Spink

While some customers were able to use Delta’s app and website, others reported issues accessing the app, which sometimes displayed a screen that said, “We’re sorry… An error has occurred. Please try again later.”

At Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, which typically handles about 300,000 passengers a day, long lines for Delta customer service stretched from the waiting area to the domestic terminal corridor, along the baggage claim carousels, Friday morning.

Airlines including Frontier and Spirit also had long lines outside their ticket counters.

Spirit announced Friday morning that because of the outage, it was unable to reschedule flights for people whose travel plans were disrupted. It had canceled more than 120 flights by midday Friday, according to FlightAware.

Credits: John Spink

Credits: John Spink

Delta said it expected additional delays and cancellations Friday.

When flights are canceled, it can lead to more cancellations throughout the day as planes and crews get moved around. A flight from New York to Atlanta that gets canceled in the morning, for example, means the plane doesn’t make it to Atlanta for the next departure, and crews are also moved around for the next leg of their itinerary. After unexpected disruptions, these impacts can continue throughout the day.

Delta departures to Hartsfield-Jackson were delayed an average of more than 6 hours as of noon Friday, according to the Federal Aviation Administration’s National Airspace System Status page, which listed a ground delay in effect for Friday.